On Stage: Pink Martini is tough to define

Final rush of shows coming this weekend before holidays

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

With the arrival of the homestretch for the 2016 concert season, many acts are on the road – trying to get in a few more shows before the holiday season arrives in full swing.

There is a full slate on interesting area shows for December 15 including a multi-genre “little orchestra,” a top Americana act and a young local band on its way up.

The multi-genre “little orchestra” is Pink Martini, which will headline a show at the Keswick Theater (291 N. Keswick Avenue, Glenside, 215-572-7650, www.keswicktheatre.com).

Saying that Pink Martini’s music is hard to describe is putting it mildly. Putting a label on the music made by Pink Martini is about as easy as finding a Hatchimal on a store shelf – just when you think you’ve got it, it slips away.

In one of its earlier press releases, the 15-piece group from Portland, Oregon is described as “somewhere between a 1930s Cuban dance orchestra, a classical chamber music ensemble, a Brazilian marching street band and Japanese film noir.”

If you want to form your own opinion of the talented and very versatile band, head to the Keswick Theatre tonight to catch Pink Martini on its current tour in support of its most recent album “Je dis oui!”

Pink Martini is the brainchild of classically-trained pianist Thomas M. Lauderdale and consists of a musical lineup featuring trumpets, trombone, violin, cello, congos, upright bass, bongos, guitar, koto, harp, mandolin, vibraphone, percussion, piano and the vocal talents of China Forbes and Storm Large.

Featuring more than a dozen musicians, Pink Martini performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America and North America. Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden.

Since then, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London.

Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out engagements for New Year’s Eve 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2011; four sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Governor’s Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; and the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia.

In its 20th year, Pink Martini was inducted into both the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. Pink Martini’s debut album “Sympathique” was released in 1997. “Je dis oui!,” which was released earlier this year, is the band’s 10^th studio album.

“We started working on the album in May and it went really fast,” said Lauderdale, during a phone interview from a tour stop in Raleigh, North Carolina. “It took a couple months and it was done.

“We recorded it in Portland at Kung Fu Bakery, a studio we’ve used for years. Then, the studio closed. We were the last ones to record there. So, we had to finish the album at other studios around Portland.

The album title — pronounced “zhuh dee wee” — means “I say yes” in French, and is the optimistic mantra of the album’s first single, “Joli garcon” (Pretty Boy), one of three songs co-written by the band for the soon-to-be-released film “Souvenir” starring legendary French actress Isabelle Huppert. The LP’s 15 tracks, many of which are original, are sung in eight languages — French, Farsi, Armenian, Portuguese, Arabic, Turkish, Xhosa and English.

According to Lauderdale, “This is the happiest album we’ve made in years. And it affirms the band’s 22-year history of global inclusivity and collaborative spirit.”

Like all Pink Martini’s albums, the new disc has been released on the band’s own label – Heinz Records.

“The album started with three French songs,” said Lauderdale. “They told the story of a singer who has faded into obscurity after losing to Abba in the Eurovision song competition and was working in a pate factory.

“A lot of songs were ones I had been listening to for years – listening to non-stop for years. I wrote some new songs and recorded others that I really love. When we record in another language, we work with a language professor for each country.

“Pink Martini albums are like diaries. They reflect who I’m spending time with and countries I’ve visited. It’s like an aural diary.”

Video link for Pink Martini –https://youtu.be/nuzaSmVyBlA?t=10.

The show at the Keswick will start at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices range from $35-$75.

The Black Lillies began as a solo project by Cruz Contreras. Recorded in Contreras’ home in 2009, the album showcased his skills as a writer, guitarist and arranger.

Since then, the Black Lillies have released three more albums and are still basically a solo project – albeit a solo project in a band format. Cruz and his current bunch of players are still touring in support of the Black Lillies’ most recent album “Hard to Please.” The tour will touch down locally on December 15 at the World Café Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com).

“There has been a band but it changes,” said Contreras, during a phone interview last week when he was driving out of New York City. “Right before we recorded ‘Hard to Please,’ two of the oldest members left the band. Now, we basically have rotating players filling in different positions. We do have a steady rhythm section.”

In addition to the unusually compressed writing timeline, ‘Hard To Please’ is also different in that it marks the band’s first time recording with an outside producer. Contreras handed the reins over to Grammy-winner Ryan Hewitt (The Avett Brothers, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers), who led the band into the legendary House of Blues Studio D, originally constructed in Memphis in the 1960’s and relocated to Nashville in 2010.

The room had hosted recording sessions by such musicians as Isaac Hayes, Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Eagles in its storied history.

It was outfitted with a custom API console originally commissioned by Ryan’s father, David Hewitt, for The Record Plant in New York City back in 1978. The list of artists who recorded on the console is a who’s who of music icons — Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, The Band, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, David Bowie, Crosby Stills & Nash, Tom Petty, and Prince.

“The room we recorded in was actually an old studio from Memphis,” said Contreras, who is based in Knoxville. “They took it and moved it to Nashville – to the Berry Hill area where there are more than 100 different studios.

“Ryan Hewitt was our producer. It was the first time we ever used an outside producer. I knew it was time to take it to another level sonically. Ryan had moved from L.A. and set up shop at the House of Blues. When we made a list of producers we’d like to work with, his name came up right away.

“We set up a meeting. He listened to the songs and said – great, you’ve got three…let’s get another eight or nine. Those three were ones I had written in the past. I had other songs but he thought they didn’t fit. In February 2015, there was a freak snowstorm in Knoxville and the town shut down. I live in downtown Knoxville so I used that time to write. I worked ’round the clock for a week-and-a-half.

“We cut the album in March 2015. It was the first time we did legitimate pre-production. Ryan is also a drummer. So, he had a lot of influence on our grooves. We tracked for four days at House of Blues. We also brought in some extra guys for the sessions. It was a good combination of veterans and youth.

“Our set list for this tour is pretty varied. ‘Hard to Please’ has been out for a while so there’s no longer a heavy emphasis on songs from that record. We have four albums and it’s a pretty even mix from all four. And, we also throw in some covers.”

Video link for the Black Lillies – https://youtu.be/LevTHf9k9jM?t=58.

The show at the World Café Live, which also features the Jayplayers, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Unlike the Black Lillies, Spelling Reform is a tight-knit band – a band that has kept the same line-up through its three years of existence. That line-up features Andrew Ciampa on lead guitar, Tom Howley on bass and backing vocals, Mark Rybaltowski on drums and Daniel Wisniewski on rhythm guitar and lead vocals.

The Philadelphia-based quartet had a CD release party at Johnny Brenda’s last month for its new LP “No One’s Ever Changed” and will be back in the city for a show on December 15 at Bourbon and Branch (705 North Second Street, Philadelphia, 215-238-0660, bourbonandbranchphilly.com).

“We’re a Philadelphia band even though none of us actually grew up in the city,” said Wisniewski, during a phone interview Monday from his home in the East Falls section of Philadelphia. “Andrew is from Delaware County. Tom is from New Jersey and Mark is from Delaware. I grew up in Havertown.

“We all met playing music in Philly. Our music scene here feels tight. Mark and I had played together in bands for years and Andrew and I were in a band called Bird Watcher. I met Tom through my girlfriend – who is now my wife. The band Mark and I were in broke up in 2013 and he put out an album under the name Monday Appreciation Society. We worked on it together and he wrote all the songs. That album came out in the summer of 2014.”

Spelling Reform came to life in 2105 and the band released its debut EP “Diving Bell” later that year.

“This is the first band I’ve ever been in where I’m writing or co-writing all the songs,” said Wisniewski. “When I wanted to start the band, I called Mark. Eric Krewson from The Chairman Dances had asked me to open for him at hi0s record release show at The Rotunda. That was the kick in the rear to get my project going.”

The next recording project was this year’s “No One’s Ever Changed” back in March.

“We recorded it in Kensington at a studio called The Head Room,” said Wisniewski. “We made the album with Joe Reinhart, who is the guitarist from Hop Along. We spent one weekend recording and eating donuts and then we mixed it the next weekend. The record is lean. There’s not a lot of stuff going on – but it’s not empty.

“The songs were written over a number of years. I always have a huge batch of tunes I’m working on. I write almost entirely on acoustic guitar but most of the album is electric.

“The record came out on November 18 on a New Jersey label called Black Road Records. We released it digitally and on CDS. We also put it out as a transparent green cassette. We also had a cassette for our ‘Diving Bell’ EP. Cassettes are fun.’

Video link for Spelling Reform –https://youtu.be/aOQgUROTagg?t=22.

The show at Bourbon and Branch, which also features Dear Forbidden, FuzzQueen, Lee Charleston and Bile Greene, will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7.

Other upcoming shows at Bourbon and Branch are Three Fourteen and Local Smokes on December 16, Josh Nussbaum and Julia Hudak on December 18, Canyon on December 19 and The Collingwood on December 20.

Another act with roots in the Philadelphia suburbs will be performing on December 16 at the World Café Live. Allen Tate will headline a show on the venue’s Upstairs Stage.

Music fans are familiar with Tate as a singer and stage performer but not with Tate performing his own material. The singer with the golden baritone voice has been delighting ears for years as the vocalist for the band San Fermin.

When he has a break from San Fermin, Tate works on his solo career – a career that saw him deliver his debut solo album. “Sleepwalker,” which was released earlier this year on Votiv Music, is the first work ever released under his own name.

Tate began composing “Sleepwalker” in the fall of 2014 during a three-week stay in Copenhagen, where San Fermin had performed to an enthusiastic reception.

“We had a break with San Fermin at the end of summer in 2014 so I took off for Copenhagen,” said Tate, who grew up in nearby Chalfont and was a basketball standout at Germantown Academy. “It was at the end of touring after our first record. I wanted to go to Copenhagen because I didn’t know anybody there. Scandinavian cities are interesting because everyone is nice but everyone also keeps to themselves.

“I was able to do my own thing without interruptions. I’d walk eight or nine miles a day and then work on music. By October, Copenhagen gets pretty grey and that influenced the album. I think it’s a sparse album. On a lot of the tunes, you can feel the space that it’s happening in. If you feel the space, it can be nice or it can be empty. The themes are about different times when you either feel alone – about being lonely or wanting to be alone.

“I thought I’d get there and write two songs a day. I got there and it was the first time I was writing music on my own in a while. I wrote six songs and four of them made it to the record. All the songs I wrote after the initial six were songs I had to write between touring with San Fermin. I recorded the album with San Fermin’s engineer Mark Rengston at the Rumpus Room in Brooklyn. It was relaxed – really comfortable.”

 “I’m a self-taught musician, so musical complexity has never really been one of my aims. But, moments when the right words are delivered over the right sounds are what draw me to music. I wanted to translate my experience of feeling optimistic and doubtful at the same time — both into the sounds and the lyrics.”

San Fermin is an American baroque pop band, started by Brooklyn-based composer and songwriter Ellis Ludwig-Leone.

“Ellis and I met at a songwriting workshop at Berklee College in Boston,” said Tate, who attended New York university on a basketball scholarship. “We put the first album out in September 2013.

“I graduated for NYU and was working as a legal clerk for a non-profit firm. I was studying for the LSATs. But, I never took the test. The plan was to study and go to law school. The success of the first San Fermin album changed the path. San Fermin told me – we’ll pay you to go on tour. San Fermin has had a lot of success over the last few years.

“We’ve had a lot of TV appearances and we’ve played to huge crowds in other countries. We’ve played 300 shows in the last two-and-a-half years. And, we just finished making our third album which will be out at the beginning of April. That’s why I wanted to get my solo album out in October and have some time to play live solo shows.”

Video link for Allen Tate – https://youtu.be/qVXV-_szpG0?t=36.

The show at the World Café Live, which also features Pavo Pavo, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.

Other upcoming shows at the World Café Live are the Stray Birds on December 16, Jeremiah Tall on  December 17, The Peek-a-Boo Revue on December 18, and Jeff Campbell on December 20.

Delaware may be the “First State” but for Nalani & Sarina, Pennsylvania’s southern neighbor is the “First State” and their “second home.”

Nalani & Sarina are 23-year-old twin sisters from central New Jersey who have been building a huge fan base in the Mid-Atlantic region for the last four years. The duo has performed at a variety of venues around the area — including Kennett Flash, the Eagleview Concert Series in Exton, the Puck in Doylestown, the Bryn Mawr Concert Series and MilkBoy Philadelphia.

All along the way, Nalani & Sarina have been making their presence felt in Delaware.

Over the last few years, the twins’ Delaware performances have included shows at World Café Live at the Queen, the Ladybug Festival, the Wilmington Flower Market, Grain Craft Bar in Newark, and the Cool Springs Park Farmers Market. On December 16, they’ll be back in the Diamond State for a show at the World Café Live at the Queen (500 North Market Street, Wilmington, 302- 994-1400, www.queen.worldcafelive.com).

“Delaware is like a second home for us,” said Nalani Bolton, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from the twins’ home in Flemington, New Jersey. “We’ve played a lot of shows there and the audiences have always been great.”

The vivacious twins have already established themselves as top-flight vocalists, songwriters, and multi-instrumentalists.

“We’ve been working in the studio a lot lately,” said Sarina Bolton. “We’ve been recording a lot. We’re taking a pretty relaxed approach — doing it piece-by-piece…song-by-song. There are no deadlines and that makes it a lot less stressful.

“We’ve been recording at Carriage House Studio in Stamford, Connecticut and at the home studio in Wayne (PA) or our engineer Julian Herzfeld. We’ve spent a lot of time this month in Connecticut.”

Nalani said, “We have close to seven tracks done and we’re working on a few more. I guess there are 10-11 in the woodwork. We’re looking to complete them in the next few months. Most likely, there will be a single released first. After that, I don’t know.

Sarina said, “With the songwriting, we had a new approach this time. The songs on our last album were based on personal experiences. This time, it’s other people’s stories — more of a world-wide approach.

“It’s a combination of first person and third person. We’re writing about people our age – observing other people’s stories. It’s like a story about kids’ lives from their early to late 20s – love, first relationships, work. The songs are about what life is like for people our age. But, people of all ages can relate to these songs. We’ve had older people tell us that they can identify with these songs.”

With roots based in rhythm-and-blues, soul, rock and especially funk, the sisters create vocal harmonies that only twins can make.

“We’re sonically alike and there is this telepathy,” said Sarina. “We’ll be singing a new song and when one of us gravitates to a harmony, the other knows exactly where to go. We’ve been singing together ever since we were three. Being twin sisters, there was nothing else to do. We started singing professionally when we were 15.”

Nalani and Sarina have been able to remain in harmony with each other in all facets of their lives.

“We’re identical twins,” said Nalani. “We graduated early from Hunterdon Central High a few years ago and we’ve been doing music ever since. We both started playing classical piano when were six and then studied operatic vocals when we were in sixth grade.

“Classical music and opera provided good basics for us. Our mom was a folkie so we listened to a lot of folk music when we were young — great songwriters like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. And, we’ve listened to a lot of classic rock.”

The sisters have already released an EP titled “Scattered World” and an album titled “Lessons Learned.”

“After we released our last album — ‘Lessons Learned’ — we just continued to write” said Nalani.

Sarina said, “We tested all the new songs before we recorded them. We’ve learned that the best way to test a song is by the audience’s reaction. Another test is the way it feels to us as we’re playing it.

“If a song works out well live then we know it’s a good song to record. We go with the mentality that you have to have 10 songs to get one good one. We’re really hard on ourselves.

“We just go and see where a song will take us. We want the song to direct the production. The band that we used in the studio really helped with how the songs sound on the album. We are huge fans of groove and funk and it shows on the new record.”

Nalani said, “We always have the funk. It’s impossible for us to keep the funk out. We’ve always had funk in our blood. We play shows with just the two of us, it always sounds more singer-songwriter. When we do shows with our band, it gets more funky.”

Video link for Nalani & Sarina – https://youtu.be/SBpqsaHYaRE?t=6.

The show at the Queen, which also Lovebettie, Christine Havrilla & Gypsy Fuzz, Noelle Picara, and Prima Donna, will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20.

Other upcoming shows at the World Café Live at the Queen are Cartoon Christmas Trio on December 18, and Bayside and Hawthorne heights on December 20.

Sublime may be gone but the music of the ska punk band from Southern California lives on.

When a trio loses its guitarist/vocalist/primary songwriter, it usually spells the end of the band. Such was the case with Sublime when the trio’s main man Brad Nowell died in 1996.

The music of Sublime lives on through two music acts – Badfish, a Sublime tribute band that is one of the premier tribute acts in America, and Sublime with Rome, a band put together by former Sublime bassist Eric Wilson that plays original songs and Sublime covers.

There are many, many Sublime fans who are too young to have seen the band play during its eight-tear run from 1988-1996. Fortunately for them and for longtime sublime fans, there is Badfish, a trio from Rhode Island featuring Joel Hanks on bass, Scott Begin on drums and Pat Downes on vocals and guitar.

Badfish, which is performing December 16 at the Ardmore Music Hall (23 East Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, 610-649-8389, www.ardmoremusic.com), covers virtually the entire catalog of songs from Sublime’s three albums – 1992’s “40oz. to Freedom,” 1994’s “Robbin’ the Hood” and 1996’s “Sublime.”

“We’ve pretty much learned all the tracks from all three albums,” said Begin, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from his home in South Kingston, Rhode Island.

“The middle album – ‘Robbin’ the Hood’ – has some instrumental tracks that we might not do exactly as they were recorded but the rest is all pretty true. With ‘40oz’ and the self-titled album, we know them front-to-back. We’ve even performed them in their entirety from start to finish.”

Badfish has always been a Sublime tribute band.

“The band started in 2001 at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston,” said Begin. “I met Joel there. We started the band as college students looking to do something on weekends. When we first started, we were jamming on reggae and punk tunes.

“We decided right away to be a Sublime tribute band. We booked a show two weeks out and rehearsed every day. Our first show was April 13, 2001 at Ocean Mist in South Kingston. We still play there. Actually, our last show the other day was there.

“After a while, we started taking it seriously. It evolved into a full-time touring band. Joel and I both were computer science majors at URI. We graduated in 2002 and 2003/2004 was when we really started to get serious. It was a lot of risk but we knew it was worth it.

“Our old singer – David Ladin – was with us for five or six years. He was a local guy from Kingston. He left the band because he had started a family. Then, Pat Downes, who had played sax with us at times, took over vocals and guitar.

“Pat is a great singer. That’s a good thing for us because the main challenge for any tribute band is to sound like the vocalist. For me, the biggest challenge was learning the distinctive style of Sublime’s drummer Bud Gaugh.”

Over the years, Badfish have conquered all the challenges and that has allowed the music of Sublime to live on.”

Video link for Badfish — https://youtu.be/dGvmQwcYXZI?t=97

The show in Ardmore, which also features Spiritual Rez and Reef’d, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.

Other shows at the Ardmore Music Hall over the next week are Deadfish Orchestra and Cabin Dogs on December 15, Beru Revue on December 17, Café Ole on December 18 and NRBQ on December 21.

Allen Tate will not be the only Bucks County-born performer to take the stage for a show in Philly on December 16. Aubreylyn, a young jazz singer from Buckingham, will share the bill with cello trio Rasputina at Johnny Brenda’s (1201 North Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, 215-739-9684, www.johnnybrendas.com).

Aubreylyn (Zazyczny) is a 19-year-old singer/songwriter from the New Hope area — a multilingual artist who blends elements of early French-cabaret-style music with contemporary pop sensibilities and her signature powerhouse vocals. Backed by her talented three-piece string section, Aubreylyn has performed at several notable venues including the Tin Angel in Philadelphia, PA and the Bitter End in New York City.

She is currently writing and recording with Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum engineer and producer David Ivory (Halestorm, Silvertide, The Roots). The emerging talent also is majoring in jazz voice and music education at McGill University in Montreal.

“When I decided I wanted to continue studying this music, I found that not many schools in the U.S. offer majors in jazz vocals,” said Aubreylyn, during a phone interview Tuesday from Montreal. “I’ve been here at McGill for a year-and-a-half and am just finishing my third semester.”

Aubreylyn’s music roots go back to when she was a pre-teen and a student in the Central Bucks School District. She graduated from C.B. East in 2015.

“I grew up in a musical family,” said Aubreylyn. “My mom was 10 years classically trained and my dad plays piano and composes. I started piano lessons when I was six and was in the church choir when I was seven.

“I always loved singing and I had an early fascination with poetry. When I was eight, I came down and showed a poem to my dad and he said – have you ever thought about adding music to a poem sand creating a song? The first song I wrote that way was called ‘The Paintings of the World.’

“Now, I have lots of songs with piano accompaniment—two books full of songs with melodies. I always write on piano. Typically, I’m inspired by a story of some sort about my life or my friend’s life. I always start with lyrics. Then, I come up with a melody without piano to accompany the lyrics. Then, I transcend to piano.

“My songs have always had some personal connection. I think, for me, music and songwriting have always been an outlet to say thigs – to express how I’m feeling. The emotional connection to a song is extremely important. If I can’t connect emotionally, then I have a hard time performing it.”

Aubreylyn has been making music for almost half her life.

“I started performing my own music at talent shows and coffee shops when I was in ninth grade,” said Aubreylyn, who lists Melody Gardot, Etta James, Billie Holiday and Kurt Elling as her main influences.

“Then, I got into city venues like the Legendary Dobbs and the Tin Angel. I also sang at galas and church events. When I was 14, I got into songwriting. My dad had worked with David Ivory. So, I began working with David Ivory too and recorded my singles with him and now we’re working on my debut album.”

Video link for Aubreylyn – https://youtu.be/mdSvcI3LIuo?t=93.

The show, which has Rasputina as the headline act, will start at 9 p.m. Tickets are $17.

Other upcoming shows at Johnny Brenda’s are Jesse Malin and Hollis Brown on December 17, and Caveman with Bell Heir on December 18.

One of the freshest new acts to emerge in the metal scene in years will be making its area live debut on December 17 when ONI performs at the Theatre of the Living Arts (334 South Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1011, http://www.lnphilly.com).

ONI — Jake Oni (vocals), Martin Andres (guitar), Brandon White (guitar), Chase Bryant (bass), Joe Greulich (drums), Johnny D (Xylo-Synth) —  released its debut album “Ironshore” on November 25 via Blacklight Media/Metal Blade Records.

“We’ve been together for two years now – with the same line-up,” said Oni, during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon from a tour stop in Atlanta, Georgia.

“The line-up and name had changed before. Then, I recruited the guys for this line-up. We’re from Ontario but we’re spread out now. Three of the guys live in Canada – two in Toronto – and the two other guys live in L.A. We’re all over the place.”

The band members may be “all over the place” but the band’s intricate metal music is very focused.

“The album is all new material,” said Oni. “We wrote everything for the album in four months. We didn’t want individual songs. We wanted to write all the songs together. It will start with an idea from Chase or Brandon. My input is more the arrangement for the music. As a band, we tear it apart and then bring it back together.

“We did a lot of pre-production with our producer Josh Wilbur. He helped me with the choruses. He also helped with some arrangements. He did a lot to make us more accessible – which is necessary for prog-metal. We get called prog-metalcore because of my clean singing but I’d say we’re just prog metal. I love bands like Slipknot and Mastodon. That’s a lot of what I listen to.”

ONI has its influences but it is carving out its own niche already.

“You have to find a path that hasn’t been walked a lot,” said Oni. “Jazz, pop – you have to try to find uncharted territory. Our influences range from Jaco Pastorius to Beethoven to Mr. Bungle with funk music thrown in too. We want to take different genres and turn it into our own.

“On this tour, we’re playing a lot of cities we haven’t been to before. I can’t wait to come to Philadelphia. This will be our first time to play Philly and we’re really excited about that.”

Video link for ONI — https://youtu.be/xnEqo4EvXwQ?t=13.

The show at the TLA – “I Worship Chaos Tour” with Children Of Bodom, Abbath and Exmortus – will start at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $26.

Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org) will present “Stand Up at The Flash” with Buddy Harris, Jon Koppel, Bradley Beck, Chris Walker, and Marc Staudenmaier along with live music from Ides of March on December 15, Better than Bacon on December 16, Elastic Karma on December 17 and Matt Sevier on December 18.

The Steel City Coffee House (203 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, 610-933-4043, www.steelcitycoffeehouse.com) will host Jim Boggia on December 16 and Hotlanta on December 17.

Chaplin’s (66 North Main Street, Spring City, 610-792-4110, http://chaplinslive.com) will have Vocal Fusion and Alex Allegra on December 16 and MTS Presents: A Better Class of Criminal, Self Help Me, More Than Sound, Little Beast, the Ramparts and Jason Ray on December 17.

Burlap & Bean Coffeehouse (204 South Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, 484-427-4547, www.burlapandbean.com) will present

Post War Dream, George Engel Brooks, and Vessna Scheff on December 16, and Matthew Rineer, Katie Buxton, and The Boy Jones on December 17.

The Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808, www.st94.com) will have Kate Voegele and Tyler Hilton on December 15, Taylor Hicks on December 16, Annie Haslam with Jann Klose on December 17, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap on December 18 and Spoken Hand Ensemble on December 21.