Holy ship! April has so much to offer for the music lover! Ever since Coachella went to two weekends a few years ago we get a lot of bonus shows this month -- bonussss! A reminder to all readers, I assist booking the Casbah for openers and full nights based on the leftovers from the main booker, and I now host every Tuesday at the Merrow in Hillcrest showcasing local music. I do what I can to make it happen for so many of our local bands, and you should too, SD! That being said, I have some fine events listed below that feature local and touring bands. Peruse at your leisure ...
April 2: Pumphouse, Los Pinche Pinches and Roode at the Casbah. A night of local music. Support local music ...
April 3: The Dickies, the Queers and Sculpins at the Casbah. Two legends in punk rock and a local opening up.
April 4: Brian Fallon at the Belly Up. The man behind the Gaslight Anthem (guitar, vocals, lyrics).
April 5: Electric Six and Northern Faces at the Casbah. Fire in the disco! Fire in the Taco Bell! Remember that? Did you know Jack White is featured on that track? Chris Cote of Kut U Up opens the show!
April 6: Agent Orange, Social Spit and the Grids at the Casbah. Punk rock from Placentia that began in 1979 and two local bands that are legends among those in the know.
April 7: JD Wilkes and Legendary Shack Shackers Unplugged, Scott H Biram, Rod Melancon and Low Volts at the Casbah. The Shack Shakers shows are a raucous rock & roll party, so I'm curious what it's like unplugged.
Local
April 8: Prong and Powerflo at Brick by Brick. Thrash, groove-funk and industrial from Prong, who formed in 1986. Powerflo features members of Biohazard, Cypress Hill, Fear Factory, Downset and Worst.
April 9: Kevin Morby at Casbah, Matt and Kim at the Observatory or Soccer Mommy at Soda Bar. Damn Daniel, those are some good shows, just pick one!
April 10: Frankie Cosmos at Queen Bee's. She is Greta Kline and has a new album called "Vessel" out on SubPop; plus, she is the daughter of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates. Indie anti-folk pop. Presented by Soda Bar.
April 11: The Night Howls, Imagery Machine and Future Human at the Casbah and yes, I booked it. Support local music!
April 12: Angel Olsen at Music Box, David Byrne at San Diego Civic Theater or Kate Nash at the Observatory. Choices, choices, choices ...
April 13: Yamantaka // Sonic Titan at Soda Bar. "Psychedelic noh-wave opera group fusing noise, metal, pop and folk music into a multidisciplinary hyper-orientalist cesspool of 'east' meets 'west' culture clash in giant monochrome paper sets."
April 14: The Soft Moon at the Casbah. Post-punk in the vein of Suicide and Bauhaus.
April 15: Fleet Foxes at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. Acclaimed Indie alternative Americana rock from Seattle.
April 16: Dale Watson (ask him about Chicken Shit Bingo at Ginny's in Austin) at the Casbah or Ibeyi at the Belly Up or Jungle at the Observatory, say what?! And if you liked Korn, I suppose you could go see Jonathan Davis at the House of Blues. Our cup runneth over ...
April 17: Tank & the Bangas at Belly Up. Funk and soul group from New Orleans that won NPR's 2017 Tiny Desk Concert.
April 18: Dashboard Confessional and Beach Slang at House of Blues. Emo is back and so is Chris Carrabba! And Beach Slang is influenced by the Replacements -- OK, I'm in.
April 19: Alt-J at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay or Haim at the Observatory. More Coachella overflow ...
April 20: King Krule at the Observatory. See what the buzz is all about from this UK artist also playing Coachella.
April 21: Unwritten Law and Pivit at the Observatory. Legendary local pop-punk bands performing their seminal albums and Presented by Loudspeaker on 91X, celebrating 30 years on the air!
April 22: Erasure at El Foro. Remember the '80s? Then you probably danced to something by Erasure, who are playing Tijuana and returning to play San Diego in August.
April 23: Marian Hill at the Observatory. Or, come to a show I booked at the Casbah with Low Points, Bit Maps, the Exbats (signed to Burger Records) from Bisbee, Arizona, and Pony Death Ride at Casbah. Support local music and local music from Bisbee ...
April 24: Prof at Soda Bar. Minneapolis based hip-hop artist on the Rhymesayers record label, the label formed by Slug and Ant of Atmosphere.
April 25: The Distillers at the Casbah. Way sold out, but it's the return of Brody Dalle, yesssss!
April 26: Blackalicious at Soda Bar or Melvins at the Casbah. Gift of Gab or King Buzzo?
April 27: Art Garfunkel at the Balboa Theater or the Suicide Machines at Soda Bar. Even minus Simon, it's worth seeing. Plus, the return of a band that mixes ska, Punk and were part of the third wave of the ska revival.
April 28: Smoking Popes at Soda Bar, the Sherlocks at the Casbah or Sum 41 at House of Blues. What is a music lover supposed to do? Indie pop-punk, UK indie alternative or a band that helped define pop-punk.
April 29: Thursday at the Soda Bar. Emo IS back! Have you been to a local Emo Night? The lines are ridiculous. Probably sold out, but what an intimate show.
April 30: Cigarettes After Sex at the Observatory. Brooklyn-based Ambient Pop Group.
Always check the club for tickets and sold out shows. Several I mentioned are already sold out, but I couldn't not mention them! April is a music lover's paradise -- there's so much going on, and you don't even have to go to Coachella to see some of the best acts. If you see me at a show, please come up and say hello -- especially if you are in a local band. But that's a given, so as always, signing off, and I'll see you at a show!
Tim Pyles, a longtime local who grew up in La Jolla, is the unofficial mayor of local music and hosts Loudspeaker via 91x every Sunday from 7-10 p.m. He also books local acts at the Casbah, hosts the weekly Anti-Monday League, books/hosts the monthly Maryjane's Underground at the House of Blues and is an entertainment writer for Pacific San Diego Magazine. Check out his website thelocalpyle.com and and follow him on Twitter @thelocalpyle. You can reach him directly here pyleste@yahoo.com
