Music

The Funky Biscuit To Temporarily Close After Aug. 31
By David Rolland You only have one last weekend to enjoy The Funky Biscuit. The beloved Boca Raton concert venue and restaurant announced on its Facebook page that it will be temporarily closing after its final show on Monday, Aug. 31. “It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that we announce that …

How COVID-19 Shutdowns Changed the Local Music Industry
The New Music By David Rolland Featured in the Digital Edition Music to our ears They say hindsight is 2020, but from this side of the quarantine it seemed in early 2020 South Florida really might have had a golden age for local live music. There were plenty of great musicians, lots of cool venues, …

Conquering COVID: The Funky Biscuit
The Funky Biscuit celebrates its ninth anniversary in quarantine. By David Rolland This was supposed to be a great weekend for Albert Poliak’s live music venue, The Funky Biscuit. The Boca Raton music hotspot is set to host its nine-year anniversary party with two nights of Mike Zito shredding some blues guitar on Friday, …

Johnnie Brown’s In Delray Beach Reopens Post-Quarantine
Johnnie Brown’s Reopens: Music to Our Ears By Darien Davies After weeks of dealing with an abandoned downtown, Atlantic Avenue is finally reopening and shaking back to life. Everyone is welcome to sit down at their favorite table, belly up at their can’t-go-without watering hole, and join their fellow community members for a Friday …

Pandemicpalooza: The State of Local Music
How We Won’t Let Coronavirus Stop the Music by David Rolland It has been over two months now since anyone’s been to anything resembling what we once called a concert. Even with businesses starting to open up, six foot social distancing and facemask mandates make it difficult to imagine the rituals we’ve come to …

Sierra Lane
Sierra Lane, Feet Grounded But Flying High by David Rolland Photos: Jakob Takos It was hard for singer/guitarist Sierra Lane to pick what was most surreal of playing in front of thousands of people on the main stage of last December’s Riptide Music Festival. “I always go to music festivals and concerts. To be part …

Hell & Hollar
Hell & Hollar: Dirty and Loud Rock & Roll by David Rolland Photos: Jakob Takos Blake Burns wants to make sure people know the correct spelling of his rock band Hell & Hollar. “Hollar has an a. That puts a Southern drawl on an old term that means piss and vinegar.” It’s a fitting emphasis …

Hurricane Party
Hurricane Party, Freakin’ What They Feel by Darien Davies Photos by Roberto Badillo If you can understand and fully decipher their music, you’re missing the point. The lyrics just sort of happen, the shows are a product of the energy, and the beat never stops, which produces a sound that can’t easily be duplicated and …

Rust & Wax
West Palm Beach Record Store Brings A Vinyl Revival By Sean Gordon Photos by Alexis Paige Founded in 2014 by vinyl enthusiasts, Jesse and Melanie Feldman, Rust & Wax is West Palm Beach’s destination for vinyl records and vintage pieces. What began as a labor of love through online stores and occasional pop-up stands on …

What’s on Brian Trew’s Playlist
Brian Trew began his love with the music world at age 11 when he first picked up the viola in his middle school orchestra. Instantly hooked, he and his friends created an Irish folk group, Celtic Rogues, and were heavily influenced by Celtic groups such as The Chieftains, Altan, and The Clancy Brothers, as well …

Meet Musician Matt Brown
Prolific Multi-Instrumentalist Brings the Soul By David Rolland Photos by Alexis Paige When Matt Brown rattles off what he’s been up to lately, you wonder how the local soul, funk, and R&B musician has the time to conduct this interview. Besides keeping to the strict schedule of writing, producing and releasing a new single the third Friday …

Jakob Takos
South Florida Sunshine Soul By Adam Sheetz Local musician, Jakob Takos, has been bringing good vibes across South Florida with his particular sound of sunshine soul. Bright and beachy, with a tinge of soul and blues and an undertone of folk, Takos has created a unique sound of melodic instrumentation and tight rhythms. Takos has …

Guide To Sunfest
SunFest with the Best By Darien Davies You know what summer smells like? SunFest. Well, to be specific, it’s loud music, louder screams, glitter, sweat, beer, grass, suntan lotion and more beer, on repeat. SunFest is back, baby, so plan for music and plan for fun. Regardless if this is your first go at being …

Matt Cahur
THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC AT GUANABANAS AND ROOTS MUSIC, INC. By Stella Alves The producer, guitarist, band manager, event coordinator and recording label head has been sharing his love of music and advocating raw talent for decades. For Matt Cahur, music has never seemed to escape his life, even when he’s off stage. After …

Haute Tension
KEEPING THE FUNK HOT, HOT, HOT By David Rolland Last summer Haute Tension found the perfect exercise to test their endurance as a band. They would play 31 South Florida shows in 31 days. “It was a challenge to book it until we said there’s no limit to where you can play,” said guitarist Alexandre …

Artikal Sound System
Spinning That Ass, Over and Over By Darien Davies Photos: Ryan Noeker Regardless if you like to tap the drums, slap the bass, or stroke the chords, Artikal Sound System will get you moving in all the right places. The team of multi-faceted musicians blends unique harmonies and mellow melodies with a fat ounce of …

Crazy Uncle Mike’s
OWNER MIKE GOODWIN BRINGS CRAFT BEERS & JAMS TO BOCA By David Rolland “My nieces and nephews always called me Crazy Uncle Mike”, Mike Goodwin tells The Atlantic Current while mopping the floor of his new Boca Raton spot, Crazy Uncle Mike’s, named after his pseudonym. He makes sure to clarify — “not crazy like …

Tin Roof Delray Beach
Atlantic Avenue’s Newest Venue For Food, Drinks & Live Music By David Rolland Tin Roof Delray Beach bills itself as “a live music joint”. Located on 8 East Atlantic Avenue, Tin Roof does its darndest to fill their concert calendar with a different musician each of the seven days a week it is open. The first …

Dance Floor Sessions @ Voltaire
New Weekly Party is Brainchild of Local DJ Kasha McKee By David Rolland “People get intimidated when they hear house music or electronic dance music. I wanted to have a night where we just break it down to dance music. We want to play music with melody and big bass beats,” said Kasha McKee …

Elizabeth Ave Station
Revolutionizing West Palm’s Music and Retail Experience By David Rolland When Danni Zelaya moved back to her hometown of West Palm after years of art school in New York City, she found herself feeling a little down. “I was excited to be back with my family and my then boyfriend, now husband, but I was …

Julian Marley Headlines Guanabanas’ 6th Annual Dirty River Reggae Fest
Guanabanas Brings The Irie Vibes In A Big Way by David Rolland Guanabanas Restaurant and Bar is going to be jammin’ on Sunday, October 7. Starting at 12:30 in the afternoon, the Jupiter hangout will be hosting the 6th annual Dirty River Reggae Fest. The free event is open to guests of all ages has …

SpiderCherry
Meet Delray Beach’s Piano Man by David Rolland It all started with a vacation, SpiderCherry says, on how he became Delray Beach’s preeminent keyboardist. “My family moved to Boca. I was down here on a vacation playing some open mic nights,” remembers the English born and bred musician. “I played Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and the …

Heavy Pets’ Strawberry Mansion Album Review
by Danny Wright I’m a music nut. Always have been. Most of my waking hours are spent digging into streaming service’s high-res audio to listen to stuff I’ve loved all my life or researching new music and artists I’m just learning about. I heard The Pets had a new album out and I was anxious to …

Spred The Dub
Good Time Reggae Group Releases New Record, Friends & Enemies by David Rolland Above Image by Chelsea Erwin If you’re feeling down in the dumps we make sure you have a good time,” is how Mick Swigert described his band Spred the Dub’s tagline of Good Time Reggae moments before they took the stage for …

Lindsey Mills
Surfer Blood’s Bassist By Day, Feminist Environmentalist Troubadour By Night by David Rolland Photos: Dustin Wright A fifth generation Floridian, raised in a musical family whose father taught her guitar and whose mother quit her job to become a jazz singer, Lindsey Mills was out of college living in New York City when she had …

Voltaire
New Music Venue Brings Versatile Lineups by David Rolland Photos: Snappin Necks Photography If anyone knows the local music scene, it’s Steev Rullman. In the early ‘90’s he owned the all ages club Wormhole, and later he booked and marketed for Respectable Street and helped launch Propaganda. Most recently he’s been concentrating on publishing his …

Mona Lisa Tribe
An All-Girl Tribe With Fold Ties by Darien Davies Photos by Jahnoi Smith If you’re wondering what the harmonic, Southern sound is around town, it’s The Mona Lisa Tribe. They’re getting bigger and bigger with each gig they play, so catch them while they’re still jammin’ out on the local scene. The Tribe was the …

Top Restaurants For Live Music
by David Rolland Other than peanut butter and jelly and maybe Simon & Garfunkel, there are few combinations that work together as cohesively as music and food. Whether it’s because a grooving soundtrack can help ease your digestion or because you want to replenish the calories you burned off while on the dance floor, there …

The Funky Biscuit Keeps The Jam Going
Owner Albert Poliak On Six Years Of Providing Live Music by David Rolland Photos: J. Skolnick These days, The Funky Biscuit often has a packed house to see national touring acts or local favorites. However, owner Albert Poliak says that wasn’t always the case. Growing up in Washington D.C., Poliak was used to having lots …