Whiskey Flavoured Microphone
The saddest, most whiskey fuelled bastards of indie folk are coming to the London Forum on September 3rd, straight from their home in the Catskill Mountains of New York and their original gigging ground in the rat infested subway tunnels of New York City. While The Felice Brothers used to have to play exceptionally loud to be heard above the din of a Brooklyn Bound L train at Union Square, these days there’s no need for fans to toss their loose change into an open guitar case on a urine soaked floor, for the brothers are up on stage with a new album to boot and they’re absolutely killing it.
I first stumbled across this band in the winter of 2010 in a small University town in Western New York on the shores of Lake Erie. All the students had cleared out for the holidays aside from a few of us, so we had free reign over the empty bars and all of the alcohol in them. There was one bartender who would give me and one or two of my friends free drinks on the exceptionally cold evenings while playing The Felice Brothers’ albums Tonight at the Arizona and Adventures of The Felice Brothers Vol. 1 on repeat. During this time, songs such as The Ballad of Lou the Welterweight, Frankie’s Gun and Ruby Mae became the perfect soundtrack to a warm, friendly haven in a dark, cold place at a lonely time of year and I’m glad to see they’re returning to London to promote their new album Favorite Waitress.
This album can be seen as a milestone for the Felice Brothers because, surprisingly enough, it is the first to be recorded in an actual recording studio. With that being said, they do their best to recreate the carefree atmosphere that was often evident on their earlier albums in the form of dogs barking and people talking over each other in the background or during group vocals. The song off their new album that will probably stand out to long-time fans as the most ‘true to their sound’ would have to be that of Cherry Licorice, which already seems to be getting major play and TV airtime in the States.
While tickets are still available for this show, they are going fast. Although many ticket providers may tell you they have zero left, there are still general admission tickets available from Songkick.
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