today-friday
Jack White heads up rock band Raconteurs at the Republik
The Raconteurs, the group of rockers who turn out superb songs without being a supergroup, come to The Republik this week for two nights, with a No. 1 album in tow.
Jack White, a seminal figure in the revival of the garage band movement, makes his return to Hawaii after performing here four years ago at Blaisdell Arena. He formed the Raconteurs in 2005 with friend and fellow Detroiter resident Brendan Benson, who at the time was building a solid solo career, and bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler of the Greenhornes, a popular Cincinnati garage band. They’ve eschewed the label “supergroup,” though some call them that, because they considered themselves a band made up of old friends, rather than a group of established musicians who got together to play temporarily.
“It’s not four guys who are all very alike,” White told Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” in September. “We all have similar tastes in music, but very different personalities.”
The group produced two hit albums, “Broken Boy Soldiers” (2006) and “Consolers of the Lonely” (2008). Both reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and were nominated for the Grammy for Best Rock Album, with “Consolers of the Lonely” — which refers to mail carriers — receiving praise for expressing “every possible exclamation point: explosive guitars, abrupt tempo changes, a floorboard-rumbling rhythm section and a climax where the whole band starts laughing” from Rolling Stone magazine.
This summer the band released its third album, “Help Us Stranger,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, rock and alternative rock charts this summer. It features hard-rock numbers laced with interesting guitar licks, like the single “Bored and Razed,” as well as the introspective acoustic ballad “Only Child,” which was inspired by the fact that Benson is an only child and White is the youngest of 10 children. The album has been praised for its references to traditional rock idioms while still seeming new and inventive. “Their classicism seems fresh, not stale,” says Allmusic.com.
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CONCERT
An Evening with the Raconteurs
Where:
The Republik
When:
8 p.m. Thursday and Friday
Cost:
$52.50-$57.50
Info:
jointherepublik.com or 941-7469
today
Dub Trio puts electronic, instrumental rock on display at HB Social Club
Electronic music goes on the wild side when Dub Trio visits HB Social club today.
The Brooklyn-based trio, consisting of bassist Stu Brooks, guitarist D.P. Holmes and drummer Joe Tomino, hasn’t met a genre of music it won’t tweak, using reverb, echo and distortion effects to create an immersive, intense soundscape. What’s more, they’ll do it live and onstage, yet still create an experience as refined as a studio recording.
“Everyone plays multiple instruments, in addition to just the bass, drums and guitar,” Tomino told the arts website Consequence of Sound in 2010. “There are three keyboards on stage, a bunch of external microphones for effects, like delays and reverbs.… Lots of multitasking and a lot of listening is involved, too. We recreate these songs that we record, but at the same time there is an element of improvisation that keeps it really fresh.”
Dub Trio started in the early 2000s, captivated by the work of Jamaican producer King Tubby, who took reggae rhythms and sounds and ornamented them electronically. The band’s initial album, 2004’s “Exploring the dangers of,” featured a reggae vibe with songs like “Drive-by Dub” and “Scoop and Smash ‘Em.” But they moved towards a noirish, heavy metal sensibility.
Their latest album, “The Shame of Dub to Come,” released earlier this year, is their first since 2011, and features power-bass driven songs like “Spyder” and “Bad Comrade.” Allmusic.com praises the album’s “great sounds, impressive guitar riffs,” and “fun collaborations.”
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CONCERT
Dub Trio
Where:
HB Social Club, 1680 Kapiolani Blvd., 2nd floor
When:
8 p.m.
Cost:
$12
Info:
hbsocialclub.com or 946-1343
saturday
Na Leo Pilimehana sings sweet holiday music
The holidays are a perfect time for joyful music, and in Hawaii, there’s no one better to perform it than Na Leo Pilimehana.
Childhood friends Nalani Jenkins, Lehua Kalima and Angela Morales have been harmonizing since they were students at Kamehameha Schools in the mid-1980s. They went on to win the Brown Bags to Stardom, the long-running local youth talent competition, in 1984.
With a smooth, melodious singing style and repertoire that includes Hawaiian and pop standards as well as their own compositions, they’ve won more than 20 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, including four Song of the Year awards (“Flying With Angels,” “Rest of Your Life,” “Saving Forever” and “I Miss You Hawaii”). Their most recent CD, “Beautiful Day,” received this year’s Hoku for Contemporary Album of the Year.
Na Leo also is noted as a leader in the Hawaiian business community, which was recognized this year with an O‘O award from the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce. “Na Leo owns 100% of their sound recordings and music production copyrights, something few, if any, Hawaiian artists have been able to accomplish,” the chamber noted in giving the award.
Na Leo is well-known for giving Mother’s Day concerts, but this is its first holiday concert program in 10 years.
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CONCERT
Na Leo Pilimehana Hawaiian Holidays 2019
Where:
Hawaii Theatre
When:
7:30 p.m.
Cost:
$35-$75
Info:
hawaiitheatre.com or 528-0506
saturday-sunday
Reggae band Rebelution branches out
Raise a brew or take in a hit from Rebelution, the chart-topping Southern California reggae band, which comes to The Republik this weekend.
Aside from producing hit albums for more than a dozen years, they spiced things up last year with a taste of beer — brewing it, not drinking it, which surely they’ve been doing since their student days at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Their beer, Rebelution IPA, was created by Rock Brothers, a Tampa, Fla.,-based brewery that has created beers for Hootie and the Blowfish, Mofro and other musicians. Keyboard player Rory Carey and drummer Wesley Finley worked with the brewers to define the taste of the brew, which Carey described “as a little less bitter than a traditional IPA” with “a little more fruity, tropical, mellower punch.”
Meanwhile, frontman Eric Rachmany has been working on behalf of the Last Prisoner Project, an organization working towards the release of people imprisoned on marijuana charges. He’s been on a solo acoustic tour raising money for the group. “I feel uncomfortable guilt that we’re making money from cannabis, like many others are, when there are people locked away for doing the same thing,” Rachmany told Billboard in October.
The group continues to create chart-busting songs. Their latest album, “Free Rein,” was the runner-up best-selling reggae album of 2018, and a box set released earlier this year was a best seller. The group has produced six full-length albums, all of which were well-received, including 2007’s “Courage to Grow,” which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard reggae charts, and the 2016 album “Falling Into Place,” which earned the group its first Grammy nomination.
Bassist Marley Williams rounds out the group.
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CONCERT
Rebelution
Where:
The Republik
When:
8 p.m.
Cost:
$45-$50
Info:
jointherepublik.com or 941-7469
