Slingshot Dakota with Petal

Home / Events / Slingshot Dakota with Petal

Dec 14th 2018 7:30 pm
$10 in advance | $12 day of show Website 610-332-3378
Presented by: ArtsQuest

When

Dec 14th 2018    
7:30 pm

Where

Fowler Blast Furnace Room
101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA, 18015

Event Type

Loading Map....

Opening Act: Small Mess

Buy Tickets

Doors: 7:00 pm | Show: 7:30 pm

SLINGSHOT DAKOTA

IT DOESN’T SEEM POSSIBLE THAT THE FUZZED-OUT RHYTHMS AND WALLS OF SOUND COMING FROM BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA COULD BE PRODUCED BY ANYTHING OTHER THAN A FULLY-FLEDGED GUITAR BAND.

But, all that noise, energy, and fun is the work of Carly Comando and Tom Patterson, the wife and husband duo who together make Slingshot Dakota the little band with the big sound. Combining a robust low-end with sweet and delicate melodies, Carly makes full use of her heavily effected keyboard while also providing vocals that are, in turn, sweet and polished or earnest and raw. Tom fills out the sonic middle ground with his drum kit, knowing just when to hold back, and when to let loose and whale away. It’s a little bit pop; it’s a little bit punk; but it’s 100% fun.

PETAL

Despite our best efforts, there are some things we just can’t outrun. Everything catches up to us in the end, no matter what we do to hide from it. It’s a reality that Petal’s Kiley Lotz examines on Magic Gone, the band’s latest full-length album on Run For Cover.

Recorded over the course of a month at Studio 4 in Conshocken, PA, Magic Gone is a bitingly honest look at adulthood, accountability, responsibility, and mental health and the difficulties that go along with each of them. “There comes a moment where all the paranoia, anxiety and pain become too much and you realize the structure you built to survive is no longer is going to serve you,” says Lotz of the three year period that inspired the album. “I had to make some very big life changes to make sure I didn’t die. It was not easy taking that level control over my life after spending many years worrying about upsetting others and being the best and most successful person I could be.”

That’s not to say that the last few years have only been negative for Lotz – there were a lot of great moments, too. She moved from New York City to Philadelphia, toured with Julien Baker, Slingshot Dakota and Kevin Devine, and chose to come out and live openly as queer, just to name a few. Still, the good wasn’t able to outweigh the bad, and in early 2017, Lotz found herself hitting a breaking point. Ultimately, she made the difficult decision to move back to her hometown to enter intensive treatment for her mental health issues.

It was that duality – the valley between the positives and negatives of life that she’d experienced – that inspired Magic Gone and its two halves. Side A, titled Tightrope Walker, features songs Lotz wrote before entering treatment, while Side B, Miracle Clinger, is comprised of songs she wrote in recovery. “I think those two parts of me are what kept me alive,” Lotz explains. “I became so skilled at the act of getting through every day that I trusted that ability, but knew if I slipped I could face a bad end. Still, I couldn’t help but have faith in myself and people and God and that things could be better, even though I felt so lost and hopeless.”

The culmination of it all is an album that showcases Lotz’ prowess as both a vocalist and a songwriter, drawing equal influence from ‘70s powerhouses like Queen and Nina Simone as it does modern vocalists like Solange and Mitski. Producer Will Yip distills Lotz down to her purest form, lending an unprecedented rawness to her sound. Track by track, the singer transforms her vulnerability from a curse into a tool with which to examine both where she went wrong and where she went right in her struggle for survival. Lotz offers a lesson for each of us on having the courage to face our demons and make the best choices for ourselves. “Inevitably, we all have to make decisions that will be hard. But if we don’t at least try, then we may never know what life could be like.”

SMALL MESS:

Here at Tape Swap Radio, we love when some of our favorite Lehigh Valley bands and artists collaborate to make new music. One of our recent favorites is Small Mess–the Bethlehem indie rock outfit that sees singer-songwriter Becca Maye teaming up with other established Valley musicians in the DIY scene. Becca is no stranger to Tape Swap, having performed on our stage at Allentown ArtsFest in 2015 and 2016 as a solo artist. Joining Becca are Mitch (guitar) and Jordan (drums) from Broski and Jared (bass) from FAKE CULT, both of which recorded Shards Sessions of their own in 2014.

The results are Becca’s personal, and sometimes heart-breaking lyrics, set to bouncy, energetic post-punk. The band’s versatility shows on songs like “More Than Miles” which build slowly, knowing when to let the spotlight shine on Becca and when to unleash the whole band’s wall of sound. Small Mess had their first release in April 2017, a digital self-titled EP. Later this year, they teamed up with Square of Opposition Records to release a limited run of 20 5″ lathe cut single records featuring “Out the Window” and “Fourth of July.” Small Mess joined us at Shards in May 2017.
– Tape Swap Radio

**Please bring canned food to be donated to families in need for the holidays!**

Day of show ticket price will be waived for those who donate canned food.

We will be hosting a basket raffle to raise money for Lehigh Valley Girls Rock. LVGR is a week-long empowerment camp that enables girls, trans and nonbinary youth ages 10-17 to play an instrument, form a band, write an original song together, and then perform their song at a *real* concert for their family, friends, and future fans. Campers will spend the week making new friends, attending educational workshops, and collaborating with local women + trans and nonbinary folks to create music and art.