Seattle Music Insider Celebrates 5th Anniversary, Launches New Website & App
Seattle Music Insider’s 5 Year Anniversary Show
Columbia Tower in Seattle, Washington
By Marcus Shriver, Student Correspondent
The Seattle Music Insider has been promoting emerging artists through their website and a weekly radio show for half of a decade, becoming a part of the ecosystem of people in Seattle who help elevate local music.
SMI celebrated the launch of their new website and “Insider’s App” earlier this month in conjunction with their fifth anniversary and it was as much of a reunion as a rock show, especially given it was a BYOB affair in the Columbia Tower rather than a typical bar show. Local bands BGP, the Mama Rags and secret headliner Fly Moon Royalty provided the live music at this intimate little party thrown by the SMI crew, a group that just obviously loves live music.
Production and booking came from the Watt sisters of Seattle Living Room Shows and Seattle Secret Shows fame, who seem to be doing cool things all over town as well. The collaborative vibe was echoed by the performers too; BGP had only awesome things to say about the support SMI has given them over the years and Ian Cunningham, the drummer of the Mama rags, used to contribute to SMI. There’s a lot going on in the Seattle music scene but entities like SMI make it seem so much smaller.
Musically, with great piano and strong vocals alongside the best banter of the three bands, the BGP was great to dance to and they also adorably brought up Greg Roth the founder of SMI to sing with them.
The BGP
The Mama Rags, one of the heavy pushers of classic rock in Seattle, with their long locks of hair and their silk button up shirts, also threw a set that connected intimately with the audience. The band shine most on their most popular song, “Change You,” which is a bit softer than most of their material and showcased not only the vocals of front man TJ Kelly but the intricacies of Jane Booker’s bass, Colin Meon’s great guitar work and Cunningham’s drums. The band calmly but energetically got the whole crowd to bob along with the song and performance.
The Mama Rags
To put a ribbon on the night, secret headliner Fly Moon Royalty brought out dancers and a talented guitarist who made tons of interesting laser sounds. This gave the part of the audience that liked more dynamic shows something to love, while the duo, which normally has a pretty relaxed, jazzy vibe on stage, warmly took care of the rest. Singer Adra Boo exudes confidence and charm but more importantly she has the ability to engulf an audience in her powerful, entrancing vocals. The additional rapper/instrumentalists who joined Boo and Action J added a nice nuance to the group as they played some new songs from their upcoming album. I am very excited to see if these additional performers appear on it.
Fly Moon Royalty
Moral of the story: if you’re a music fan, get yourself connected to the all-new Seattle Music Insider.
(Marcus Shriver is a student at Seattle University, where he serves as the Promotions/Live Event Coordinator for KXSU Radio.)