Tag Archives: wordsmith and the concert g’s

MUSIC
The Rooks, The Rooks, The Rooks Is On Fire

The Rooks, the fantastic and fantastical Wesleyan funk outfit featured previously on this blog, finally made its live-audience debut this past Weekend—opening for the legendary Josh Smith & The Concert G’s (with whom the band shares a few members), no less. Wesleying has obtained a few high-quality film clips from this show. If your Wednesday night needs a gluten-free funk injection, look no further.

As always, The Rooks’ lineup includes Garth Taylor ’12, Nate Mondschein ’12, Spencer Hattendorf ’12, Graham Richman ’11, Louis Russo ’11, and Gabe Gordon ’11. Taylor adds that the bands will be participating in the Hartford Battle of the Bands on Saturday, December 17th, at the Webster Theater. “We have tickets for $8 that people can get in advance,” Taylor adds, “and tickets at the door are $10. Doors open at 4 PM.” (If you’re in Bermuda on the 17th, you can probably just catch these cats on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. If anyone wants to make them a Last.fm band page, I’m sure they’ll repay you in cupcakes and sprinkles.)

Anyway. Saturday’s show. Photographic content and moving picture media. Past the jump.

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Post-Wordsmith/MadWow Street Parade Pix & Vid

So, back on Sunday I posted a submission call for pictures and videos on the massive impromptu after-party walkabout thing that followed  WordSmith & the Concert G’s and Mad Wow‘s last show at Wesleyan. Since then we’ve received a couple of pictures from Rachel Pincus ’13 and Ally Bernstein ’13, as well as a really short and shaky video clip from former ACB-mogul and current big daddy Peter Frank ’12 that has a certain Bigfoot/Cloverfield quality to it. The pictures can be viewed at the mosaic at the bottom, and the video can be found after the jump.

It was fun partyin’ with you folks, Wes-kids. We should do this shit again some time.

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Callin’ Fo Yo Cameras: Were you there last night?

Old-school pic of Mad Wow, cuz' we got no new-school pics.

So, last night staple Wes-bands Mad Wow and WordSmith & the Concert G’s played their last show ever at Beckham Hall. (Until some sort of reunion occurs, I would expect.) And heck, it was pretty damn great.

But there was this massive impromptu after-party walkabout thing that happened after that, you see, where a good portion of the horn section took to the streets of Wesleyan blarin’ out tunes in Mardi Gras-esque fashion. Weskids were dancin’ up and down the street, mobs were mobbin’, and PSafe cars passed by probably quite unsure as to whether the whole thing was an infraction of school regulations or not.

And it was fun, man. It was so fun A-Batte punched me in the face without knowing it, and I didn’t know it ’til I woke up this morning with a strange lump on my left cheek.

But here’s the problem: In all that grand revelry, my Wesleying associates and I didn’t manage to snap any pictures, videos, or any sort of documentation of this wild, wild thing. And we’d like very much to digitally immortalize that mobile street party, ya know?

So if you were there, at that show, at that party, and if you have pictures or videos or some sort of chalk etching of it all that you’d like to share, do send us a copy over at staff(at)wesleying(dot)org. If you’d like the transfer to be simpler, you can arrange a super-duper-cool drop off with us. Email us and we’ll figure out something. We can’t give you cash or anything, but we can give you our love.

Cheers!

MUSIC
New Wordsmith Mixtape Drops

wordsmith

Mike Rosen ’11 writes in:

Maybe you’ve seen their names on fliers, read the slanderous chatter about them on the ACB, spotted them around campus (probably, they’re both super tall), or perhaps you even saw them perform at Psi U in the fall or at the Brother Ali show a few weeks ago, but do you really know Josh “Wordsmith” Smith and Jared Paul?

The two make for an incredible duo in the booth and are planning the re-release of The Lab, Volume 1, a mixtape they put together that features a number of other Wes students as well. Take a look at the interview I just posted over at Are You Here to Confuse Me? where you can also hear and download their first single “Book of”. The mixtape will be re-released along with part 2 of the interview at the same site.


Are You Here to Confuse Me: Presenting Wordsmith and Jared Paul

EVENT
Confirmed: Brother Ali to play at Wes

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is true, Brother Ali will bring his unique blend of bouncing beats, wicked, insightful rhymes, and Midwestern panache to Wesleyan on April 11th. Wes’s own mix master DJ Bastille will open the show and be followed by Wordsmith and the Concert G’s sick, passionate combination of sharp lyrics and trumpet blasts. Props to the organizers, ICBM, for putting together an epic show.

WHAT: Brother Ali, Wordsmith and the Concert G’s, and DJ Bastille
WHERE: Beckham Hall
WHEN: Saturday, April 11th, 10:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m.

Tickets will be $7, and go on sale Monday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and again from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at a table in Usdan. We sincerely recommend that you get there early on Monday, cuz’ these babies are going quick.

MUSIC
Weekend Music

A brief roundup of shows to check out this weekend, from Aural Wes:

Friday, February 20th:

Earth House, 10:30 pm:

  • Future Folk Showcase: Adam Tinkle, Mute with Stupefaction (Ben Seretan ’10), Aliza Simons ’09, See/Saw (Fareed Sajan ’09).

    Hey, remember that time we told you about FUTURE FOLK RECORDS, the brainchild of brainchildren Max Horwich and Rod O’Connor? …Well. Tonight’s show celebrates three new Future Folk releases, all of which are original, high-quality, and free (!).

Psi U, 10:00 pm:

  • WordSmith: Josh Smith ‘11 (the WordSmith) rhymes with raw emotion on a serious level as images of late night innovation, childhood innocence, and liberating contemplations concerning coming of age, soulfully dance through the lyrics. Through the incorporation of the Concert G’s, WordSmith embodies a sophistication and depth that is often lost in music today.
  • Dear Lamp: The southwest twanging of Carlos Nugent ‘11 and rhythmic banging of John Myers ‘11 lent to my ears as the sweet violin of Katherine Schahill ‘11 intoxicated my heart. Lost in the sophisticated interplay of guitarists Hannah Overton ‘11 and Ian Cross ’11 with bassist Daniel Hymanson ‘11, I knew the notes that danced around the dust-ridden shelves should not be forgotten in the back of that thrift store.
  • The Last Minutes slow down anxious thoughts by diverting them toward uplifting chord progressions and strong rhythms. The beautiful voice of Katherine McDonald ‘11 harmonizes with guitarist, Ryan Rogers ‘11. Ben Block ‘11 and Bella Loggins ’10 sustain the funky core with bass and drums.
Saturday, February 21st:

Crowell Concert Hall, 8-10 pm, $5:

  • Jubilee, with Lancelot Drummonds ’06.

    Breath of fresh air, anyone? If so, you might want to head on over to Jubilee. Lancelot Drummonds ’06 will be here to provide some much needed r&b rhythm. this Saturday. You heard me; Wesleyan’s Black History Month cultural show stands to really liven things up! Apart from a number of student performances, singer/songwriter

Interview with WordSmith and the Concert G’s

Steph Freitag ’11 sat down with Wesleyan’s own WordSmith & The Concert G’s (Josh Smith ’11 and Jared Paul ’11) for an interview, posted below.

Check them out this Friday at Psi U.

WordSmith & The Concert G’s is one of numerous bands among a network of friends who practice and perform at 316 Wash. Their style is innovative, their lyrics are playful—easily one of the best bands on campus. They stay true to their unique backgrounds—in fact, WordSmith himself flat out refuses to front. Through defying genre boundaries, WordSmith and the Concert G’s have created a sound that is inherently their own.

Steph Freitag: When did you form WordSmith?

Josh Smith: Well, I am WordSmith so I formed myself (laughs). But I started rapping in probably 8th grade. My friend’s godfather had a studio so we got some free time there and I just recorded a couple of tracks. Over the years I got more serious with it, recorded more songs in the city with my producer down there—his name is Illustrious. Hey Jared, want to talk about how the band started?

Jared Paul: Yeah, well we started making tracks last year, collaborating and this year we started more intensely doing that. Starting at the beginning of this year we decided we needed to put together a live band. We just happen to know a lot of really good musicians and actually had no trouble at all finding those people for our band.

JS: Yeah, we were at our friend Gabe’s party at low-rise and we had been talking that night about forming a band and all these people were out on the grass…

JP: And we were like Hey! (Silly voice) We’re making a band…

SF: Describe the song writing process, lyrically and melodically.

JS: Oh, that’s good.

JP: It usually starts late at night, pretty much we start with either a sample or a basic idea and we’ll be chillin’, some kids will be playing Smash and we will all record over it and Josh will go in the booth and blow everybody’s mind.

JS: We experiment a lot, everyone rapping, trying ideas out. For my solo stuff, my subject matter tends to be more serious and kind of gritty. Basically, I’ll hear a beat and usually a first line will come to me and a general feel of what I want to talk about.

Usually that original line will carry me through. I tend to construct my stuff pretty technically.

SF: Where can fans find your music?

JS: www.myspace.com/wordsmithmusic

JP: http://www.myspace.com/jaredpaulnc or http://www.myspace.com/wearethenoms

Listen to some sample tracks: