Black Jake & the Carnies Welcome intrepid travelers Home to Ypsi; keep energy up!

Joe isn’t looking at genres, he’s looking at energy.

Joe, as bassist for Black Jake & the Carnies, is often looking at the energy when it comes to live musical performances; often, if you’re standing too close, you’ll find he’s not looking, more feeling, freaking, grooving, even leaping, with his bass cradled meticulously, all around the stage. All the Carnies cut rugs like pure bottled lightning, they don’t play so much as they gracefully pummel, they pinball, even, from song # 1 to song #13 ½ …or however long their sweaty sets go.

Set aside their eclectic music, the Carnies’ blend spindly bluegrass and honky-tonk croons to some psychobilly-bent for punk-spat pirouetting; swampy yet sophisticated, old timey like a jukebox’s warble but warped and shoved and shunted with a rock n’ roll romp.

That can make it hard to pair-up what some conventional show-goers would consider “a natural fit” for concert line-up.

But, at Woodruff’s in Ypsi on June 29^th, they’re assured that their guests will bring as much inspired agitation, crowd instigation…and pure musical exhilaration to fit in nicely with the Carnies’ charming chaos.

Set aside that Possessed By Paul James and Delaney Davidson are both one-man acts (who won’t fill up a stage as much the Ypsi/Arbor sextet, let alone if you throw in their carnival games’ set up) and set aside that each, be it the TX-based PPBJ (a.k.a. Konrad Wert) or the New Zealander Davidson might dial their ballads a few clicks further one way (folk/punk) or the other (blues/punk) than their characteristic “crabgrass” sound.

And expect the Carnies to bring it, the energy, if not more so – since a.) it’s been about five months since they’ve played a show in their beloved stamping grounds and b.) this might be their only local stop for the summer.

Black Jake & the Carnies were a natural fit for Groovebox Studios (http://vimeo.com/39424569) – a live-focused audio documentarian collective that welcomes touring North American bands into its space to capture “one band / one take / one room” – affecting the alluring spontaneity inherent to any given live rock concert.

“The great thing about Groovebox for us,” Black Jake said, “is that it costs us nothing to put out a quick and dirty EP, and a video that’s much better than any of our other live show you tube videos out there.” But don’t assume the Carnies are so caution-to-the-wind in a studio as they are on a stage, their recent releases, like Sundry Mayhems prove they’re keen to cut the best record they can, and Jake still prefers that measured approach to the more ready-set-go ethos of GBS.

Still, though: “…a fun night,” said Joe. “we got to have an intimate show for a small group of friends and fans. We really appreciated everyone’s support to make it happen and it allowed (Carnies’ mandolinist) Zach to show of his bacon making prowess; since a pound of bacon was one of the rewards for supporting the kickstarter campaign.”

The Carnies have a batch of new songs ready and are looking forward to a summer dotted with notable festival performances (including the Sonic Lunch in AA’s Liberty Plaza. Beyond that, more eccentric “merch goodies” and eventually another European tour.

Until then, with that same sensibility for achieving audio excellence for their recordings, the band also strive to keep things as fresh as possible. “We’re under constant self-applied pressure to step up our games for the live shows,” Jake said. “Our philosophy is: if it works, try something different next time so people don’t get bored. I’m partially kidding, but, we work to keep the basic ‘crabgrass’ sound and feel but also don’t want to make the same songs twice.”

To commemorate this show, a special limited-edition T-shirt will be available featuring unique poster art by Talenthouse award winning artist, Jenny Harley.

Also notable: Possessed By Paul James new music video (filmed in Ypsi and featuring members of the Carnies) “We Welcome You Home”
Watch: