Looking for some place new to try? Check out one of these places which we've checked into recently or click over to the Reviews page for more information.
For nearly two years the folks at Surf Skate Music Culture have been working their asses off to promote the local music, aiming to do for videography and photography what ListenUp has aimed to do with its writing and coverage — and that's bring you an inside look at what's happening on the scene.
Led by founder Chris Canada, SSMC continues to breathe fresh life into its various pursuits with a relentless enthusiasm that's found many local bands, venues and other groups getting involved with everything they do from T-shirts and surf teams to making music videos and recording live footage at various events around town.
We first wrote about SSMC last fall, higlighting the original music some of its members were making and the awesome surf videos they'd put out and since that time they haven't slowed down one bit, also getting involved with putting together shows — including an upcoming New Year's Eve party with Prowler — and doing tons of other bits and pieces to help local music continue to thrive.
Here's a look at a few of the group's latest videos, many which have been getting noticed well beyond just the beach. If you like what you see, make sure and check them out online at http://www.surfskatemusicculture.com/
Before you read this...please check out the video first. The footage from Friday night is a signifcantly better representation of the night's experience than any words.
In front of a giddy crowd of delighted hipsters, dancing stage people and fans of all ages and sizes, Gregg Gillis — better known as Girl Talk — brought the House of Blues to a full boil Friday night, closing out the summer in what had to be one of the most high-energy nights of entertainment this season.
Girl Talk lit up the stage both literally, with an elaborate network of lighted platforms on stage, and methaphorically, with a barrage of mashed-up tunes and a variety of interactive elements that kept the crowd on its toes throughout the night.
The lights were bright for a good portion of the night...The 31-year-old DJ/mashup artist brought mix of danceable hits from late 90s and early 2000s hip-hop and pop that flowed seamlessly over beats both modern and well-worn.
Throughout the show you could pick out bits and pieces of classic tracks such as "the Ramones' Blitzkreig Bop" and Black Sabbath's "War Machine," old-school (at least for the 20- and 30-something crowd) hits like Dr. Dre "Forgot About Dre" and Blur's "Song 2" and modern tracks like Calvin Harris' "Feels So Close."
There were enough moments of easily-reconizable clips and sing-along hooks to keep the crowd plugged in to what they're hearing, but some of the show's best moments came in the in between parts when the music blended to the point that fans seemingly lost track of what they were listening to and simply let go, moving along mindlessly to the danceable beats pounding from the speakers.
A number of "stage people" congregate near the backstage door, waiting to be let on stage to dance.Often during these moments, Girl Talk's support staff — surrounded by 50 or so "stage people" chosen from the crowd to dance on stage — would appear with some trick to keep things interesting. These silly, yet fun, items included toilet paper blowers which slung white stuff streaming into the crowd, confetti blasters and huge inflatable bags which bounced across the top of the crowd.
From the time he took the stage, hundreds of balloons began to rain from the ceiling and their subsquent hitting and popping made up the sights and sounds of the early part of the performance. Later, larger confetti-filled balloons bounced around before being busted in an array of colorful paper.
Having not seen Girl Talk previously — it was his first trip to Myrtle Beach — and being roughly a decade older than the median age of the majority of his fans, I wasn't sure what to expect from the crowd, but I was pleasantly surpirsed.
What appeared to be a young and frat-boy-heavy crowd on entrance didn't cause any of the annoyances one might expect and for the most part the Gril Talk's fans ended up being a quite considerate and fun-loving bunch.
Other interesting accents from in and around the colorful crowd included a dude in full-on 1990s MC Hammer gear, crowd surfers and more shades of florescent pants, wigs and headbands that one could count.
Overall, I found this modern take on a "live" music event to be high-impact, exciting and a lot of fun. It was, for me, a unique experience with more bells and whistles than your average rock or rap show and definitely a night that made me want to check out other concert-like DJ events in the future.
Myrtle Beach Music: From left, Bates Holman, of Pawleys Island, Taylor Lee, of Wilmington, N.C., and Jordan Gravel, of Charleston, perform as Holman-Gravel & Friends at Aspen Grille on April 12. In painting the former Jasmine Supper Club as the sole bright spot in an otherwise dim landscape noted Jazz site AllAboutJazz.com once mentioned that Myrtle Beach is "a town where Jazz is obsolete."
Though this may have seemed harsh at the time, the sentiment has been mostly true in the five-plus years since the the once-happening hotspot on Kings Highway closed its doors in 2006. There's been a severe lack of support for local jazz in Myrtle Beach music.
Luckily, there's been a few signs to the contrary lately, the most recent being last weekend's Gold Key Jazz Society Jazz Festival at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
But even the most starved fans of the music would agree, it's going to take more than once-a-year events to bring the genre back to notoriety locally.
Luckily, there's places such as Aspen Grille, 5101 N. Kings Hwy., which are doing their best to keep the music alive on the beach. This classic fine dining establishment located in the heart of Myrtle Beach has been hosting live Jazz on a regular basis since chef/owner Curry Martin took over the restaurant in 2009.
Myrtle Beach Music: Aspen Grille, 5101 N. Kings Hwy., offers Jazz 3 nights a week and live music Wednesday through Saturday.In addition to top-notch cuisine and charming ambience Aspen Grille currently offers four nights of live music, running Wednesday through Saturday each week.
There's a combination of cool jazz and more upbeat music for dancing with well-known vocalist Jackie Beaumont and pianist Lee Layman on Wine Down Wednesdays where 1/2 price wine is offered by the glass, Thursday nights host jazz trio Holman-Gravel & Friends, Fridays are reserved for singer-songwriter/ keyboardist Becca Bongiorno and on Saturdays Layman performs a variety of classic and modern favorites on piano.
We recently caught up with drummer Bates Holman and pianist Jordan Gravel, who along with a rotating crop of players perform as Holman-Gravel & Friends to talk about their weekly gig at Aspen Grille, the state or Jazz in Myrtle Beach and where the genre is headed. Here's what they had to say:
Catch Holman-Gravel & Friends beginning at 6 p.m. each Thursday at Aspen Grille. Visit www.aspen-grille.com for more information on showtimes & reservations or check out www.batesholman.com for more on the music.
Myrtle Beach Music: A screen from "The Stalker"It’s been more than three decades since the release of the film which carries Prowler's namesake, but this Friday the 13th the local horror metal group will breathe fresh life into “The Prowler” with the release of a new music video for its song which pays homage to the classic 1981 slasher flick.
“The Stalker” was the third single to be released by the band — formed in September 2010 — and the first off its “Prowler, Pt. 2” EP, which was released in June of last year. Frontman Patrick Best says the band plans to make videos for each of its singles, which have been released periodically as two-song EPs that will culminate in a full length release at a later date.
Best and bandmates Jak Sumwalt (drums) and Shawn Bruce (bass) will celebrate the release with a headlining spot Friday night at The Sound Hole, 1004 Chester St., playing alongside local death metal group Conception of Being and Wilmington-based metal group Salvacion.
The release party begins at 9 p.m. (All ages, $5 cover) and will be sponsored by Crystal Head Vodka, Surf Skate Music Culture (SSMC) and ListenUp. In addition to Prowler’s new video, the costume party — fans are encouraged to dress like their favorite horror movie character — will also mark the debut of Conception of Being’s first EP “Unearthed.”
Click to view flyer larger.Prowler’s third video release is by far its most elaborate effort to date with work with SSMC and local independent filmmaker Dwayne King (Kluckin Films) both contributing to its making.
Filming took five video shoots, five different sets, more than 200 takes, and countless hours of editing from SSMC Director and Producer Chris Canada. King, who has produced the band’s previous videos for “The Dead Rise Again” and “Friday The 13th,” acted as the Director of Photography during the initial shoots.
SSMC’s Mark Massey also contributed to the shoot helping with gaffing and electric work on the set and even Canada’s wife, Barbie, as a last-minute call-up to be the star — aka victim — of “The Stalker.”
Best says the video was a lot of fun to shoot and in addition to the horror themes in depicted, a strange twist of fate during shooting also gave the video a deeper meaning.
“We were filming in an actual classroom, with our ‘victim’ tied up to a chair and I looked up on the wall they had a flyer that said January was National Stalking Awareness month, which was really ironic and just gave me the perfect solution for the video,” said Best. “So we figured that if we shot the video to double as a stalker awareness month video and for people to see the seriousness of the crime, with the stalker chasing a female victim that would really help drive it home and address the violent nature of the video.”
And while bringing this ominous piece of work has been a lot of effort for both the band and the production team, it’s been a labor of love for all involved.
“I have been working countless hours on this project,” says Canada. “Seems like most every free hour this past month has been devoted to either filming, editing, helping promote the events.”
The SSMC creator — an up-and-coming videographer who’s nearing a degree in his craft — has done the work on Prowler’s video pro bono as a showcase for both his production company and to help promote the talent within the Myrtle Beach music scene.
“Everyone involved so far in this portion of the production, has been awesome to work with,” he said. “Overall I’ve enjoyed working with Prowler and now it’s all about the release! And for the future, who knows what’s next.”
While the future remains an uncertainty, both SSMC and Prowler remain focused on continuing to build support for their own projects while contributing to the growth of the scene.
“We were really lucky to have the greater support of both the local and regional music scenes,” says Canada.
With our friends at Surf Skate Music Culture doing such a killer job with its local music videos, we've kinda taken a break from doing our "Behind The Scene" video interviews which were such a big part of what ListenUp was all about early on (Check out all our past profiles here).
However, we decided to get back on the wagon this week and had a chance to catch up with a longtime local who we'd heard a lot of good things about but hadn't yet had the pleasure of talking with.
Jeff Hans (aka Kramer), has been performing as a solo acoustic cover act for the past six years, playing from North Myrtle to Murrells Inlet and beyond. Though he keeps a more manageable schedule with a day job nowadays, the soon-to-be 40-year-old Hans has performed as many as 12-13 cover gigs a week in the past.
Along the way he's learned a trick or two about keeping a crowd pleased, how to be a professional and when it's OK play obscure Flaming Lips & Flogging Molly covers and when to stick to the classics.
We sat down with Hans during a brief gig at the Myrtle Beach Beer Lovers Happy Hour at Damon's in North Myrtle Beach Wednesday and talked to him about how he keeps his cover act fresh aand why he loves playing in Myrtle Beach. Here's what he had to say:
At basically every show we go to, we see fans out in full force with their cell phones recording away piling up footage of their favorite bands. Though we're usually busy trying to take photos or notes to capture the moment, we often join in on the action capturing plenty of performance video along the way.
Though it can sometimes be overwhelming how much great stuff can pile up over a couple weeks worth of shows, we try to make an effort at the end of each month to sit down and sift through what we've shot and bring you a quick recap of just some of the amazing music happening along the Grand Strand.
We're guessing you didn't need convincing, but if you need any further proof that Myrtle Beach Music is not dead, check out any of the clips below and see for yourself:
Much like their name suggests the possibilities are wide open for the newly-formed local band Wide Open.
With the ability to play everything from full-on rock and blues to acoustic cover tunes and soulful original songs, the quartet of Eric Heinemann (vocals/harmonica), Steven Diaz (guitar), Peter Dilallo (bass) and Norton Johnson (drums) has the potential to go just about anywhere in local music.
One of their next stops is the House of Blues on July 16 for the upcoming Myrtle Beach Rocks The South showcase playing alongside to great out-of-town bands Midway Blue and Sequoyah Prep School. This will be the first appearance on the big stage for the band, which just solidified its lineup with Johnson on drums about two months ago.
Perhaps this is an indicator of big things to come for the group or perhaps just a good connection as Dillalo, the band's bassist, also runs sound at HOB. Either way, these guys are definitely worth keep an eye on as they go along.
We caught up with them recently the Grand Opening of The Carolina Tavern to talk about their music, their plans for the future ... and Eric's hair! Check it out:
This past weekend, we finally got around to making our first trip up to North Myrtle Beach's favorite oceanfront spot, Molly Darcy's Irish Pub & Restaurant and despite being a bit skeptical about athrowing a St. Patrick's Day party in June, we were very impressed by what we found.
Not only did the well-kept bar have plenty of space, a nice performance area/dancefloor and a great outdoor patio, but we also enjoyed the entertainment which had been booked for the evening. It featured the N.Y. Shields Pipe & Drum Corps opening, followed by local duo Band on the Rum and Charleston-based band Of Good Nature closing out the night (do yourself a favor and check them out here).
After the show, we had a chance to catch up with local favorites Band on The Rum, a group of retired NYPD officers, to talk about their experiences playing on the Grand Strand. Here's what they had to say:
Learn more about Band on the Rum via Myspace or check out our photos from the event here.
In our never-ending quest to bring you the week's music news in a more entertaining manner, we're continung our redux of the ListenUpdate, this week taking the show on the road to Rosa Linda's in Murrells Inlet for a look behind the scenes of bike week.
Please take a moment to check out the video below as ListenUp Editor Chris Mowder and his co-host Jerry Harrison run down the 5 hottest shows, concerts & events of the weekend, talk to some bike week attendees and hear some live music from local funk/rock band Painted Man.
We think we've made some big improvements this week, but we still want to hear your feedback, so comment below or drop us a line with ideas on where we should go, who we should talk to and what we should cover in the coming week.
Show notes
Here's a rundown of what we cover in this week's show:
The Top 5 - 2:01
1. Bonnaroo Buzz Tour presented by StubHub! featuring Grace Potter & The Nocturnals with Futurebirds, Gary Clark Jr. and Julian McCullough. 8 p.m. Saturday at the House of Blues, $20-40. Details on HOB.com.
2.The Independents & The Slobz and Grave Intentions, 10 p.m. Saturday at Island Bar Surfside, $5 for under 21. Details on Facebook.
3. Atlantic Beach Bikefest, May 27-29, various times and prices. Check out BlackBikeWeek.US for more details and events.
4. David Archuleta headlines Memorial Day Celebration, 8 p.m. Saturday, Downtown at former Pavilion site, Free, Fireworks at 9:30 p.m. Details at myrtlebeachmayfest.com.
5. The Delta Saints, 9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Tuesday May 31, Oceanfront Bar & Grill, No Cover. Also Tuesday, June 1 at Oceanfront Merchants' Hot Summer Nights Kickoff party in Plyler Park. Details at MyrtleBeachDowntown.com.
Bike Week Interviews- 10:15 Jerry Harrison talks with Sam Favata of Rosa Linda's as well as some Bike Week attendees.
On Stage: Painted Man- 12:06 Performance clip from the band playing at Rosa Linda's on May 19.
Since we started ListenUp, (almost) every week our editor Chris Mowder has run down the five hottest shows concerts and events in a roughly 5-minute show we call the ListenUpdate. While the show has often been rich in information, we're quick to admit that the production value has been less than stellar.
So after enlisting the help of a few friends, we've taken our show on the road and moved out of the living room and into the bars and venues which keep this music scene going. With the addition of former MB Nitelife host Jerry Harrison, the newly-expanded show now takes a stab at some of the weeks top local music stories, as well as still running down our 5 picks for the best musical events of the week.
As always the show (like the site in general) is a work-in progress, and over the next few weeks we'll be tweaking the new format in order to maximize the new 30-minute web show format. Soon we plan to not only talk music but also interview local acts, have live performances and do whatever else we can to get the word out about local music.
Please check out the show below, or if you don't want to be tied to watching it online you can subscribe via iTunes, Miro or RSS feed. We hope you enjoy!
If you have suggestions (yes, "you suck and should stop doing this" is a suggestion, but we're hoping more for constructive ideas) please contact us here.
Show notes
Here's a rundown of what was featured on this week's show:
Intro at Handleys Pub & Grub (www.handleyspub.com) in Carolina Forest - 2:04
Share Article 
For nearly two years the folks at Surf Skate Music Culture have been working their asses off to promote the local music, aiming to do for videography and photography what ListenUp has aimed to do with its writing and coverage — and that's bring you an inside look at what's happening on the scene.
