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Hatcher boys & Mr. Briggs on form
The Pyramid - Winnipeg - Fri, Nov 12, 2010Posted 11/14/2010 by Goshawk
From The Fuse to The Six to The Big Beat to The Blue Shadows to Hatcher Briggs, the brothers Hatcher and David Briggs have amazed me for the better part of three decades. And they did not disappoint on Friday night playing two tight sets that showcased their melodies and guitar hooks that left me only wanting more after ending with a rockin' version of Carl Perkins' Slow Down. And their two, three and four part harmonies were never better. Highlights included Is Anybody Here, Out of Time, Deliver Me, If I Were You and Sad Eyes. I feel bad for those that missed this show in the intimate confines of the Pyramid Club (a great venue for live shows). Next time, don't you dare miss it. To Jeffery, Don, Paul and David...thank you.
Favourite moment: A haunting version of Deliver Me and the roof raiser Slow Down.
Opening act(s): Hawkins? and Sons of York - Ticketmaster
29. “In My Hour of Darkness” by Hatcher-Briggs -- One of the principals of the above-mentioned Blue Shadows was Jeffrey Hatcher. Prior to forming the Shadows, Hatcher had played with his siblings and friend David Briggs in Canada under various aliases (The Fuse, The Six, Jeffrey Hatcher & The Big Beat) with varying degrees of recognition. The reunited group has lately released a brand new album of bracing roots rock. One of the highlights is this swaggering treatment of the Gram Parsons’ nugget. Next time someone says they don’t make ‘em like this anymore, respond by spinning this (from Getting There From Here) - No Depression -The Roots Music Authority
TWANG TRUST 2010 STATS
TOP 15 ALBUMS OF 2010
1 - JIM BRYSON & THE WEAKERTHANS - The Falcon Lake Incident
2 - LEEROY STAGGER - Little Victories
3 - THE MASTER PLAN - Maximum Respect
4 - BRIGHT LITTLE FIELD - Treatment Bound: A Ukelele Tribute To The Replacements
5 - IMELDA MAY - Mayhem
6 - HATCHER-BRIGGS - Getting There From Here
7 - JASON & THE SCORCHERS - Halcyon Times
8 - JON DEE GRAHAM - It's Not As Bad As It Looks
9 - GIRL IN A COMA - Adventures in Coverland
10 - JESSE MALIN & THE ST. MARKS SOCIAL - Love It To life
11 - SIT DOWN TRACY - Roaring Noon
12 - BOBBY BARE JR. - A Storm, A Tree, My Mother's Head
13 - SUSAN COWSILL - Lighthouse
14 - GIL SCOTT HERON - I'm New Here
15 - JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE - Harlem River Shuffle
BUBBLING UNDER (Alphabetical)
Del Barber, The Beauties, Ridley Bent, Kasey Chambers, Elizabeth Cook, Luke Doucet, Drive-By Truckers,
Imaginary Cities, Freedy Johnston, Jesse Malin, Carolyn Mark & Tolan McNeil, Robert Plant, The Sadies, Peter Wolf,
The Wilderness of Manitoba, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby
TOP 20ish SONGS OF 2010
1 - LEEROY STAGGER - Everyone's On Drugs
2 - ELIZABETH COOK - El Camino
3 - THE MASTER PLAN - Suburban Soul Man
4 - HATCHER-BRIGGS - The Last Ones
5 - ROBERT PLANT - Angel Dance
6 - ALICIA KEYES - Empire State of Mind (Pt. 2)
6.5 - JESSE MALIN - All The Way From Moscow
7 - RODNEY DECROO - You Ain't No One
8 - JON DEE GRAHAM - Beautifully Broken
9 - FREEDY JOHNSTON - Don't Fall In Love With A Lonely Girl
10 - JASON & THE SCORCHERS - Twang Town Blues
11 - SIT DOWN TRACY - Always When You're Not Wanted
12 - CHRISTINA MARTIN - Daisy
13 - BOBBY BARE JR. - The Summer of '93
14 - FRAZEY FORD - Blue Streak Mama
15 - JIM BRYSON & THE WEAKERTHANS - Up All Night
16 - KASEY CHAMBERS - Train Wreck
17 - THE DEL-LORDS - When The Drugs Kick In
18 - GIL SCOTT HERON - Me & the Devil
19 - THE FABULOUS GINN SISTERS - Hey Doll
20 - JACKPINE - Ed
TOP FIFTEEN BEST LIVE SHOWS OF 2010
1 - C.R. AVERY (w/ his String Quartet)
February 15, W.E.C.C.
2 - NQ ARBUCKLE
July 22, Times Change(d) H&L Club
3 - THE BOTTLE & THE TRUTH (Ridley Bent, Dustin Bentall, Cameron Latimer)
June 16, Times Change H&L Club
4 - C.R. AVERY & THE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
November 3, Park Theatre
5 - WUSSY
March 27, Sauce, Minneapolis, MN
6 - ARCADE FIRE
September 23, MTS Centre
7 - JOHN K. SAMSON
Haiti Relief Fundraiser, W.E.C.C.
8 - HATCHER-BRIGGS w/ JIM HAWKINS MEMORIAL R&B BAND
November 12 & 13, Pyramid Cabaret
9 - CHUCK PROPHET
October 19, Turf Club, St. Paul, MN
10 - THE WARPED 45s
November 19, Stu Dome
11 - GIRL IN A COMA / THE WEDDING PRESENT
April, 400 Club, Minneapolis, MN
12 - JOSH RITTER
October 28, W.E.C.C.
13 - TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS
June 19, MTS Centre
14 - MIKE PLUME
November 28, StuDome
15 - RIDLEY BENT w/ KERI LATIMER
October 9, Park Theatre
- CKUW University of Winnipeg Radio
BROTHERS Jeff, Don and Paul Hatcher, along with their boyhood compadre David Briggs, have definitely stood the test of time in the Winnipeg music scene. All those years ago when they were collectively known as the Fuse, and rocked and rolled local venues with their post New Wave pop smarts, the band could be counted on for an evening's worth of appealing harmonies, charging guitars and good vibes a-plenty. With Getting There From Here the band and their local gang of long-serving talented hired hands present a dozen tracks that range from danceable to dark, all conveyed with the kind of musical skill fans have come to expect.
This is a band that definitely falls into the "coulda been a contender" category and it's obvious by the vibe here that a velvety layer of melancholy now surrounds their collective hearts. Fully half the album's songs deal with regret, loss and opportunities lost. Balance those with customary tuneful, rootsy Hatcher-Briggs radiance and you have one of the better albums of this, or any, year. - Winnipeg Free Press
Discography
1.Jeffrey Hatcher and The Big Beat
Cross Our Hearts (Upside/Columbia/Sony)
2.Getting There From Here (Unherd)
3.The Fuse,The Six,The Big Beat and Other Stories (Unherd)
4.The Six (Unherd)
5.The Blue Shadows
On The Floor of Heaven (Bumstead/Sony)
6.The Blue Shadows
Lucky To Me (Bumstead/Sony)
Photos
Bio
Getting There From Here: Hatcher-Briggs’ musical journey arrives
“One of the best albums of this, or any, year” says Winnipeg Free Press
WINNIPEG -- 'Getting There From Here' is an appropriate title for the latest stop on the musical journey of the Winnipeg-based Hatcher-Briggs Band. The record presents 12 brand new songs from Hatcher-Briggs, a collection of musicians whose creativity and collaboration dates back to the late 70s Canadian music scene. As The Fuse (later The Six), siblings Jeffrey, Paul and Don Hatcher and longtime friend David Briggs quickly became a phenomenon on Winnipeg’s underground rock scene. Later relocating to Toronto and taking the name Jeffrey Hatcher & The Big Beat, the group scored a hit with the song “The Man Who Would Be King” (from their Upside/Columbia album Cross Our Hearts). And in mid-90s Vancouver, Jeffrey Hatcher formed with 60s pop legend Billy Cowsill the storied alternative-country band The Blue Shadows. Hatcher’s songs were also the subject of a superb tribute record – Natural Wonder – by Vancouver singer Wendy Bird, who provides guest vocals on 'Getting There From Here'.
Getting There From Here (out now via Unherd Music) represents the first time Briggs and the Hatchers have teamed up in the studio together at the same time in over 20 years. "Music, and especially music that has something to say, has always been a part of our lives, and the bond we have as a band has always endured,” says multi-instrumentalist Don Hatcher, who produced and engineered 'Getting There From Here' in his studio.
Adds guitarist-singer-keyboardist Briggs: “These songs come directly out of our own lives and experiences. But anyone who knows our very first records and listens to 'Getting There From Here' will definitely hear the thread that runs through all of our music.” In describing that sound, guitarist-singer Jeffrey Hatcher notes, “Whenever we get together, we find we're aiming for, not strictly the sounds, but more the feeling we always got from early rhythm 'n' blues and rock ‘n’ roll.”
Whether it’s the barroom swagger of “Goodnight Mrs. Brown,” the baroque pop of the elegant “What Yesterday Took,” the mournful piano balladry of “Bring Me An Ocean” or the group’s adrenalized cover of Gram Parsons’ “In My Hour of Darkness,” Hatcher-Briggs demonstrates a range of style and emotion that is rare in overly-formatted modern music.
“We fell in love with music where country songs, rock songs and R&B songs, naturally live right beside each other. And all of our favourite artists gravitate towards incorporating different styles of music into their records in an effort to find their own voices. "We're still music fans, and that’s what we aspire to as a group, and what we continue to reach for in our own work,” says drummer Paul Hatcher.
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