TheFourFour

Waking the Dead Horse(s): Bottlefish and Jah Roots return this weekend

Posted on 15. Dec, 2009 by thederosh in Features, Looking Ahead

Because your holiday season simply hasn’t been crazy enough already, we’re hit with the double whammy that the recently relaxing (i.e. taking a break, rather than a “hiatus”) alt-country/Americana rock group Bottlefish is playing a show at The High Life Live Martini Lounge this Friday night, December 18, followed by the first Jah Roots concert in 10 months the night after. Sounds like a nice weekend full of opportunities to be naughty, which is just what the holiday season is all about. Peep the details after the break.

We’re gonna get all chronological with this and start with the Bottlefish return Friday night opening for Salad Bar Jam at the High Life. There are four significant things you need to know about this set:

1. If you come to this show, you will leave intoxicated. The music and the band members all encourage it, in words and by example. It’s also singer Jeff Thompson’s birthday, which is added incentive, not that any is needed.

2. This isn’t likely to be a short set. Drummer Yankton Sothern wrote to tell us the band would be playing from 10 to 11:30 p.m., so watch for a dose of new material and perhaps a new cover or two.

3. This is the band’s first show since September 19, when the band played an impressive bill with Bringers of the Dawn at the High Life while FourFourFest raged on outside on South Avenue. After a period of considerable activity between booking shows and preparing the band’s debut album (which is still in the works, by the way), the band decided to take a break and relax a bit before ramping things up again.

4. The band writes some damn good songs, one of which you can still find for FREE download on the Bottlefish website. The song in question, “Sleepwalking,” features an album cover with one of the most hilariously awkward roadside photographs ever, which also became the inspiration behind the band’s logo and T-shirt art (pictured above).

You can stand in exactly the same spot 24 hours later* and see another big show, one more than six months in the making. A quick recap: When singer Josh Heinrichs left the popular local reggae group Jah Roots this past spring, the remaining band members announced that, rather than split the band up, they would perform and write new material together under a new name. The decision was to raise rapper Aaron “I-Ron” Berger’s profile as principal lyricist in the group and figure out a new name to perform under. While that is supposedly still the plan, the group is putting together a show in the interim to give its long-waiting fans what they want. Saturday’s gig calls for Berger to be joined by several guest lyricists onstage while the band members perform at least one more time under the name they’re best know as. Since no band has performed in Springfield under the name “Jah Roots” since the Sertoma Chili Cookoff in February, this will likely attract a lot of people. It’s all conjecture at this point, but look for a lot of old favorites with a dose of the new songs the band has been working on through the summer and fall. Reggae and Santa hats? Why not!

* Please don’t stand in the same spot for 24 hours until the next show. You will be cold, lonely and exhausted, and High Life Manager Scotty Dickinson might choke you with his bare hands.

Tags: aaron berger, bottlefish, bringers of the dawn, concert, fourfourfest, friday, high life, i-ron, jah roots, jeff thompson, josh heinrichs, live, local, music, salad bar jam, saturday, sertoma chili cookoff, show, springfield, yankton sothern