Buffalo Rising Online

Big Head Todd and the Monsters are a rock band with an indie alternative sound. They have been described “as classy as American rock gets” by The London Times. Their music has often been described as independent and alternative.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters were formed in 1986 by a trio of friends that attended high school together. The band built a following in Denver and Boulder and began touring throughout the Mountain States and the West Coast. The band is known for their powerful live performances. Indigenous starts things off. Indigenous is a Native American blues-rock group that formed in the late 1990's from Marty, South Dakota and is headed by Mato Nanji. The bands sound has been heavily influenced by guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana.

DJ Nix spins deep grooves on the patio tonight.

Formed in 1999, Burnt Sugar was conceived as a contemporary version of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew band, exploring the connective tissue binding jazz, rock, funk, twentieth century composition, and African music in a lyrical, seductive, exploratory, improvisational manner.

Employing Conduction, an interpretative system for improvisers developed by Lawrence“ Butch” Morris, Tate guides the band through improvisations on each of its song forms. As a result, each performance is an original mutation in tune with the collective personality of the audience as well as the individual character and talents of the players.

Each of the players are masters of their instruments, many of whom are name artists on the contemporary scene—notably the Egyptian turntablist DJ Mutamassik; trumpeter Lewis ‘Flip’ Barnes of William Parker’s lauded O’Neal’s Porch Group; bassist Jared Nickerson who has toured and recorded with The The, Freedy Johnston and Gary Lucas; and pianist Vijay Iyer, recently named “one of today’s most important pianists” by The New Yorker.