Festival Spotlight ::: Shaky Knees Festival Saturday

After an incredible first day, albeit a very wet one, Shaky Knees day two looks to be dryer and insanely packed with talent. When I schedule starts off with two of the bands I want to see the most at a festival you know things are looking up.

Piedmont Stage
12:45p-1:30p
Wake Owl

Wake Owl is an folk/psych rock band based in Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland, Oregon. An interesting combo for any band. The band's core members are singer and songwriter Colyn Cameron and multi-instrumentalist Aiden Briscall.

Following several years of international travel during which Cameron wrote songs primarily as a hobby, the band released its debut EP as a free internet download in 2012, and was rereleased January 29, 2013 on Vagrant Records.The band toured both Canada and the United States to support the EP.

The band garnered a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2014.

The band's debut full-length album The Private World of Paradise was released March 4, 2014 on Rezolute Music. The album is described as more experimental and pop-oriented than Wild Country, with an increased emphasis on rhythm and synth-pop textures.

Our love for this band goes back very far. Back to our third ever posting!

 Peachtree Stage
1:30p-2:15p
Apache Relay

Come on! What do you want to know about the Apache Relay that you can't learn from our interview with
this earlier this week! You Ought to Hear This band!







Ponce de Leon Stage
2:15p-3:00p
Gregory Alan Isakov

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and calling Colorado home, Gregory Alan Isakov has been traveling all his life. Songs that hone a masterful quality beyond his years tell a story of miles and landscapes, and the search for a sense of place.

Music has been a stabilizing and constant force. “I’ve always had this sense about music and writing that I sort of have to do it. Like I’ll implode without it. I probably wouldn’t do it if I felt any other way.”

His song-craft lends to the deepest lyrical masterpieces, with hints of his influences, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen. He has been described as “strong, subtle, a lyrical genius,” but the source of his writing often remains a mystery to him. “My songs have nothing to do with me; they have a life of their own. A lot of times I won’t know what a song is about when I’m writing it. It just has a certain feeling about it.”

 Piedmont Stage

4:00p-5:00p
Lord Huron
Lord Huron is an American indie folk band based in Los Angeles. The group's debut album, Lonesome Dreams, was released in 2012 on Iamsound in the U.S. and Play It Again Sam in UK & IE in January 2013. Following the release of the album the group appeared on The Tonight Show.
Founding member Ben Schneider began writing music in his hometown of Okemos, Michigan. In 2005, Schneider moved to Los Angeles. In 2010, Schneider formed Lord Huron as a solo project, recording his first few EP's entirely on his own and steadily adding members to help play in live shows, most of whom he had known since childhood.
Nothing but high praise from the group's live performances.

Peachtree Stage
5:00p-6:00p
Dawes

A band that we are incredibly excited to see for the first time. Dawes has somewhat become a unicorn band for us. We've been at festivals, dating back to 2011 Bonnaroo, and had tickets to multiple shows of theirs and something always comes up. Pray not today. Dawes is composed of brothers Taylor (guitars and vocals) and Griffin Goldsmith (drums), along with Wylie Gelber (bass) and Tay Strathairn (keyboards).


Piedmont Stage
6:00p-7:00p
Portugal. the Man

Another unicorn band for some of us. Something keeps us apart. Pray not today, as we are ready to dance

and sing along to this amazing group, who released one of our top 5 albums of 2013, Evil Friends. From their facebook. It was last spring 2012, and John Gourley—frontman of Portugal. The Man—found himself in New York City about to ring the bell at Danger Mouse’s apartment--a long way from his current home in Portland, and farther still from his real home in Alaska. Six full-length albums in six years, nonstop touring, a stint with The Black Keys and festival stops at Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza—up until this moment, Portugal. The Man embodied all dimensions of DIY rock range. 

When it came time to begin work on the seventh album, Gourley thought long and hard about the next move and kept coming back to one concept: The most satisfying work is collaborative work. From building houses with his father in Alaska to building a devoted fanbase, he had sought partnerships. So he took a bold step — bold for a proven band, bolder still for its uncertainty of sound — a step up to the apartment of a possible collaborator, Danger Mouse.
“I walked into his place,” Gourley remembers now. “And it wasn’t going to happen. He was like, ‘Hey, man, just so you know, I don’t really want to record a rock band.’ And I was a little relieved. We’d done this by ourselves before, and we knew we could do it by ourselves again.”
But then they got to listening, and to talking about how much Danger Mouse had loved In the Mountain in the Cloud — the 2011 followup to Portugal. The Man’s break out record The Satanic Satanist. “From that very first meeting,” says Danger Mouse, “we were very ambitious about what we could do…otherwise there was no point. So we decided: Let’s try and make something really special.”

Boulevard Stage

7:00p-8:00p

Houndmouth

Indie/Americana rock band Houndmouth formed in 2011 in New Albany, Indiana, a town across the river from Louisville, Kentucky. Founding members included guitarist/vocalist Matt Myers, keyboardist/vocalist Katie Toupin, bassist/vocalist Zak Appleby, and drummer/vocalist Shane Cody. The driven group of musicians quickly built a loyal following based on its fervent live shows, and was soon sharing stages with like-minded bands such as Drive-By Truckers and the Lumineers. In 2013, Rough Trade Records released the band's debut, From the Hills Below the City, a hearty collection of ragged country-informed rock & roll. Thanks to All Music


Piedmont Stage
8:00p-9:15p
The Replacements

The Replacements is an American rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1979, and are considered pioneers of alternative rock. The band was composed of the guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bass guitarist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars for most of its career. Following several critically acclaimed albums, including Let It Be and Tim, Bob Stinson left the band in 1986 and the band experienced several line-up changes; Slim Dunlap joined as lead guitarist and Steve Foley replaced Mars in 1990. Towards the end of the band's career, Westerberg exerted more control over the creative output. The group disbanded in 1991, with the members ultimately pursuing various projects. However, a reunion was announced on October 3, 2012. The Replacements never experienced any significant commercial success but did influence a variety of alternative rock acts.

Peachtree Stage
9:30p-11:00p
Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse was formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington and over the last decade has become the indie rock standard and one of the few bands capable of treading the narrow path where massive popularity is possible without sacrificing their longtime fans.
The band released their first full-length album, This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About, on the Up label in 1996. With therelease of their second album, The Lonesome Crowded West in 1997, the band’s status reached new heights with a legion of fans and critical acclaim. In 2000, Modest Mouse was signed to Epic Records and released their third album, The Moon & Antarctica. In 2004 came the release of their breakthrough album, Good News For People Who Love Bad News, which included the hit “Float On,” has sold over 1.5 million copies and earned the band two Grammy nominations
The most recent Modest Mouse album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, was released on March 20, 2007 and immediately entered the Billboard Top 200 chart at #1.
On August 4th, 2009 Modest Mouse released a special EP, No One’s First, And You’re Next. This new EP contains eight songs, six of which were released as limited edition 7” vinyl singles. Also included on the EP is ‘King Rat’ which was a limited promo-only 7” single free with the purchase of We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank in 2007 and ‘I’ve Got It All (Most)’ which was the b-side to the ‘Float On’ single in 2004 and is currently out of print. No One’s First, And You’re Next debuted at #15 on the Billboard Top 200 and was the #2 Digital Album.
Simultaneous to the EP release, Modest Mouse released the highly anticipated Heath Ledger directed video for ‘King Rat,” a track also included on the No One’s First, And You’re Next EP.