In 2006 I made the trip to Ontario to go interview one of my favorite bands at the time, Sleeper Set Sail. This interview was part of my Ph.D. research looking at how punk/indie/emo/hardcore record labels influenced the content of the music/lyrics/packaging on records they release. Sleeper Set Sail was on Sonic Unyon and the album Eyes Just Like Forest Fires is one that I wish I could reissue on vinyl some day. One of the guys that I met at the show had another new label called Blacktop Records. He passed along a CD, beautifully packaged in a printed brown paper lunch bag by the band A Walk With Anastasia.
We did an interview to add to my doctoral dissertation and kept in touch via MySpace over the years and have since continued our connection. I see Ben Andress still putting out records about 12 years after he started Blacktop and has releases from Jonah Matranga, Open Hand, Lisa Loeb, and Wheatus alongside many more artists on the roster. He's also an artist and performs as The Smile Case. He's coming to Syracuse this Friday to play a show at The Vault (Tickets).
Ahnest!, The Traditional, SAVE FACE, Everyone Leaves and The Smile Case make up the $8 show. Ahnest! is the only Syracuse act on the bill so you'll be able to catch a little something from bands out of Buffalo, Ohio, New Jersey and Canada as well. Here's a taste of them on bandcamp:
I've not yet made my first visit to The Vault but it looks like Friday will be the day. Get all of the details on the show here. I'll leave you with a little bonus from SSS.