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TBLFAS #78: Happy Heartbreak, Ian Ketterer, Timmy Tombstone, Byland & Bryan Jones

Posted by TBASA May 30th, 2016 2 Comments »

On June 2, the 78th installment of my recurring acoustic showcase, TBASA’s Lo-Fi All-Stars, goes down at the Substation venue in Ballard. Here are some thoughts on this month’s performers.

Happy Heartbreak

Happy Heartbreak describe their sound as “happy sounding sad songs,” which means they’ve selected a very literal band name. Below is a video of them performing down the street at the High Dive. Let’s see how their indie rock sound translates to the lo-fi acoustic setting on Wednesday.

Ian Ketterer of Among Authors

There once was a local band called Faintly that amazed me at least four times. Sadly, they broke up before too many people caught on, so when I heard many of the band members had a new project called Amoung Authors I invited them to play Substation right away. It turns out they’re not quite ready for a full band set, so I invited front man and pianist extraordinaire Ian Ketterer to play TBASA’s Lo-Fi All Stars this month.

Here’s Ian and his goons performing at the defunct Benbow Room last February.

Timmy Tombstone

I caught Timmy’s shtick at one of Substation’s weekly Burlesque shows, Grotesque Gorelesque. The performer’s banter with the raucous crowd was infectious and humorous, but I was set to discount him as a variety show hack. I was wrong. His songs are ironic, well-constructed gems that most of you idiots probably won’t understand.

Here’s Timmy singing about robots and dinosaurs in what I presume is his bedroom:

Byland

This husband and wife duo hit me up for a show a few months back. Upon listening to the first track on their BandCamp page, “I-84,” I knew they would be a perfect fit for TBLFAS. The song contains everything I want from the singer/songwriter genre: beautiful vocals with compelling harmonies and an effortless guitar sound. I’m excited to see them perform.

Here is a video of one half of Byland sitting on a bench in the park:

Bryan Jones

With 3,645 different musicians named “Bryan Jones” on the Internet, you have to be pretty sure of yourself to use your birth name as your stage name. Luckily for this Bryan Jones, great songs like “The Unlikely Death of Moses” help him stand out from the pack. It’s one of those songs that transports the listener to a different place, much like good cinema. I can’t wait to hear him play it live at Substation on Wednesday.

Here is a video of Bryan performing live: