We love THEESatisfaction and you should, too. On July 4th the group released a brand new mixtape called "THEESatisfaction Loves Stevie Wonder Why We Celebrate Colonialism" and yes, it is as awesome as its name.

Preview and purchase the new mixtape here:
http://theesatisfaction.bandcamp.com

And for you Northwesterners, check out these upcoming shows:

July
7/24- CHBP Neumo's Stage, 5:15- 6pm
7/28- The Song Show @ Triple Door, 6pm

August
8/7- Columbia City Theater w/ OC Notes & Chocolate Chuck, 9pm
8/13 & 14- Doe Bay Fest
8/20- Menz Room @ The Branx w/ Telepathic Liberation Army 10pm

September
9/6- Bumbershoot @ the EMP Skychurch
9/11- MusicFest NW

Northwesterners, now is your chance to see Amplified Seattle, the amazing short documentary series directed by John Jeffcoat. These thirteen pieces follow the real lives of all artists featured in $5 Cover Seattle, and this is your one shot to see it before $5 Cover's release. So go to the Seattle International Film Festival this week, say hi to John, support these bands, and be the envy of all your friends.

Amplified Seattle
Neptune Theatre - May 22, 2010 2:00 PM and May 26, 2010 9:15 PM

Buy tickets at http://www.siff.net/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=43827&FID=166

In Seattle, the City of Music, you can find musicians rehearsing and performing at almost every hour of the day, in bars and basements, and even the Metro buses, all over the city. In this collection of short documentaries, director John Jeffcoat (Outsourced, winner of the SIFF 2007 Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Film) intimately portrays 13 Seattle bands ranging from alt-country to hip-hop and punk rock to electronica.

Jeffcoat shot the Amplified Seattle docs as complementary pieces to the second season of MTV’s popular online web-series, $5 Cover: Seattle, directed by Lynn Shelton (Humpday). These portraits delve into the real soul of the works and the process behind them—deep into the bedroom closets and kitchens where songs are written and recorded, and revealing the background stories that helped shape the sounds of groups like Champagne Champagne, Thee Emergency, the Light, the Spits, and more.

These gorgeously shot powerful portraits make you feel like you’re right there, live, with these creators of the new Seattle sound.

Champagne Champagne is headed to a town near you!  The national tour kicks off this weekend in Tucson and will criss-cross the country through early June.  These folks put on an incredible show and are one of the many excellent bands featured in $5 Cover Seattle, so do yourself a favor and check it out.  And don't act like you have something better to do in Wyoming on a Wednesday night.

For more Champagne Champagne click here, and click on the venues below for event/ticket details for a show near you:

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Tucson, Arizona - Rialto Theatre

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Los Angeles, CA - Key Club

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

San Luis Obispo, CA - Downtown Brew

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Orangevale, CA - The Boardwalk

Friday, May 07, 2010

Reno, NV - Knitting Factory Concert

Saturday, May 08, 2010

Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Seattle, WA - Neumos

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Boise, ID - Knitting Factory

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Murray, UT - Murray Theater

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Casper, WY - Downtown Grill & Venue

Friday, May 14, 2010

Colorado Springs, CO - The Black Sheep

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Iowa City, IA The Blue Moose Tap House

Monday, May 17, 2010

Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Milwaukee, WI The Eagles Club

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Cleveland Heights, OH Grog Shop

Friday, May 21, 2010

New York, NY The Gramercy Theatre

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Providence, RI Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Allston, MA Harper’s Ferry

Monday, May 24, 2010

Philadelphia, PA The Trocadero Theatre

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Towson, MD Recher Theatre

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Greenville, SC The Handlebar

Monday, May 31, 2010

Orlando, FL The Social

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Atlanta, GA The Masquerade

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Nashville, TN Exit/In

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Chicago, IL Ronny’s Bar

Sunday, June 06, 2010

St. Louis, MO The Firebird

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Denver, CO The Marquis Theatre

This weekend $5 Cover Amplified took home two well-deserved statues at the Mid-South Emmy Awards. Congratulations to Alan Spearman, John Hubbel, Andria Lisle, Eileen Meyer, Craig Brewer, and everyone involved. We already knew they were awesome but, you know, this helps.

The Amplified documentary series, profiling the artists featured in $5 Cover Memphis, snagged the Cultural Documentary Emmy for pieces on Ben Nichols and Valerie June, as well as the Photography Award for the Valerie June piece and "What It Is" featuring Craig Brewer, Paul Taylor, and Jason Freeman.

Check out the winners below.

Ben Nichols

Valerie June

What It Is

Lynn sat down with MTV News to talk about the Seattle Music scene, past and present. 

Click here to check it out.

$5 Cover Seattle director Lynn Shelton and friends are invading the 2010 Sundance Film Festival this weekend.  Keep an eye on this blog and www.mtv.com for interviews, photos, and clips of a live performance by $5 Cover band/Northwestern heartthrobs The Moondoggies.

And of course, if you are in Utah this weekend, come on out to our official $5 Cover Sundance events:

Lynn Shelton on $5 Cover Seattle - 9pm Saturday January 23^rd, New Frontiers on Main, 333 Main St

Director Lynn Shelton (Humpday) leads us through the creative process behind $5 Cover: Seattle, the rocking MTV multiplatform musical series inaugurated last year with Craig Brewer’s look at the music of Memphis. Featuring thirteen up and coming bands playing themselves, the project offers an improvised, immersive look at one wild weekend in Seattle. From lovin’ to brawlin’, from pop to punk, this is real life for working musicians.

MTV, Sub Pop Records, and Washington Filmworks Present

The 8th Annual Seattle Party

Celebrating MTV's $5 Cover Seattle

With performances by the Moondoggies and Beach House

9pm Sunday January 24^th at Star Bar, 268 Main St

Great interview with $5 Cover Seattle director Lynn Shelton in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Check out the full article here.

Seattle PI:

Everyone in Seattle is rooting for Lynn Shelton, an award-winning filmmaker who seems to be carrying on as if unworried, unhurried and undoubtably unfazed. After all, she's already brought not only three feature-length films into fruition, one being the Sundance success story "Humpday," a bro-mance that tests the loving limits of two hetero-bros, she's also brought a Web-based TV show to our neck of the woods.

That show is MTV's "$5 Cover." Now in its second season, Shelton takes over from where the show's creator Craig Brewer ("Hustle & Flow," "Black Snake Moan") left off.

Meeting with Shelton over tea in her Greenwood neighborhood, she explains the genesis of the project. "[Craig Brewer's] idea was to take actual bands--real people--and then have some of the musicians act out little narrative threads, playing themselves and playing out scenarios that were inspired by their own lives in some way. Then there were some actors in there as well. Then he created this hub, this recording studio--he did some things that were more contrived--and every single episode has a musical performance incorporated into it as well. So it's either at the recording studio or live at a club, somewhere like that. The idea is that it's a way to experience a particular city through the city's music that's happening now. That's what's so cool about it."

Shelton's is a lithe mind that flutters quickly from topic to topic, always steering towards simple but exact explications, often distracted by details and more perfectly formed exactitudes, all the while whimsical and excitable, especially when talking about music. A topic that sends her mental butterfly into a fragmented--albeit giggly--hyper-drive.

"I'm in love with music. If I could be a musician" she trails off, her eyes rolling back, her hands clasping, her mind searching for words, her breath held briefly before exploding, "Getting to sit in a room when people are making music who--that's just what they do--and they can just make it--to me, it just seems like magic. I'm just like 'how do you even live with yourselves, you're so fantastic!' You know what I mean, I'm just like 'I'm in heaven! I'm just in heaven.' "

Shelton is, without a doubt, perfectly suited for an MTV show about the Seattle music scene, though regarding season two, she is quick to point out, "My aesthetic is really different than Craig Brewer's aesthetic."

"[MTV] totally understands that and they don't expect me to remake his version. Craig's is filled with women in their underwear and I'm afraid to say that I'm going to have a lot more men in underwear than women."

Yet, Shelton isn't as interested in the differences as she is in describing what her unique sensitivities will bring. Namely, humor.

"Very character based, low-grade--not slapstick--but out of authentic relationships, the humorous interactions that people have."

At that moment, Shelton straightens to make one point absolutely clear, regardless of undergarments, "["$5 Cover"]'s very much about the music."

 

"Thee Emergency are a frenetic band with equal doses aptitude and ferocity who are capable of one of the most energetic live shows you’ll see this side of…anything, really."

-- Keenan Bowen,Stranger

Five members, one house. This band is as tight musically as they are personally. The house they share in Seattle’s University District has a practice space in the basement, perfect for practicing not only music but their moves. Sliding across the stage, ripping guitar riffs on their backs, jumping to a kneel; this is why Thee Emergency’s shows have a reputation of being “riotous”.

Their sound has been best described as “purveyors of sexually charged, balls-to-the-wall Rock & Roll, yet not content to be simply that. Yes, that’s a capitalized Rock & Roll for those who noticed, because let’s be honest, not to many people make it like that any more. It’s founded on the blues, it’s experimental and loud and fun, but most of all, it’s meant to make you move.” Zana “Dita Vox” Geddes and her band mates, bassist Adm "Nick Detroit" Taylor, guitarist Matt "Sonic Smith" Bracher and Tom "T. Drummer" Meyer began performing in 2005. They recorded their first album “Can You Dig It?” a year later in Detroit under the direction of Jim Diamond. “Solid”, their self-released sophomore album came out in 2008.

To learn more, visit http://www.myspace.com/theeemergency or http://www.theeemergency.com

photo:Ryan McMackin

There are towns where no matter what kind of music is playing or how good the band, the audience will not dance. Strange as this sounds, this is the norm for Seattle. This being said, it is impossible to stand still at a Champagne Champagne show. The energy on the stage, the heavy electro hip hop beats and the raw talent displayed on stage demands some serious booty shake.

Champagne Champagne was formed in the summer of 2007 when DJ Gajamagic (Mark Gajadhar) and Pearl Dragon teamed up and started writing songs. Thomas Gray joined several months later and the trio started performing around some of Seattle’s well-established venues like Chop Suey and Nectar Lounge. In March, they released a download-only self-titled album with 11 tracks.

Download it at http://www.champagnechampagne.net

And learn more at www.myspace.com/champagnechampagne

On Saturday night, Harvey Danger - fronted by $5 Cover performer Sean Nelson - played its final show. While the band has a well-earned reputation for threatening retirement over the years, this time is the real deal. An official announcement was made on May 29th: "After 15 years, three albums, hundreds of shows, and far more twists and turns than we ever imagined possible, we've decided to put Harvey Danger to rest. The decision is totally mutual and utterly amicable."

Following a cross-country farewell tour that included dates in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and three shows in Seattle, they said their last good-bye at the Crocodile late Saturday night. It was an amazing three hour set, with incredible performances, a great energy, and some very funny stage banter. Spirits were high; the crowd and band were clearly having a blast. The night ended with a brand new track, "The Show Must Not Go On," and that was that.

Here's the mind-blowing bit: the final 120 minutes were comprised almost entirely of requests. Between songs, fans were instructed to raise their hands if there was a song they wanted to hear. The catch: Audience members needed to first ask an interesting question, and if the band deemed it worthy, they would answer and play the song. It was a session of "Requestions," as Sean put it. The highlight, of course, was the age old query, "have you ever masturbated to animation?" Someday that will be inscribed on my tombstone.

For a great review, photos, and full setlist check out Spin magazines coverage:

http://www.spin.com/articles/harvey-danger-play-final-show