These Are Still The Days! Let’s Share Them Together.

Can it really be September?

Seems the last time I looked we were getting ready to launch These Are The Days” on the first day of summer back in June. 

Well, I guess the calendar doesn’t lie but it sure does like to be cagey. Right now it’s 90 degrees and I’m wearing shorts and a tee shirt. But that’s the way it goes. 

We have some great shows coming up this weekend that I want to talk about right off the bat. 

First up is Easthampton on Friday, September 7.  The place is Luthier’s Co-op on Cottage St (one of the best places to see music anywhere). The night kicks off with the pop music of The Prestons at 7pm. The duo of Bill Catalde and Rick Murnane perform as Liam and Chard Preston and who—according to their Bandcamp page bio “write cheerful songs about death and dead people . . . and on rare occasions come out and sing them to the living”. Colorway goes on at 8pm and we’ll play a 90 minute set of tunes spanning all three albums and maybe even throw in a Tom Petty cover if the time is right. Closing out the night with a set beginning at 9:30 is Sly Fox and The Hustlers, a trio from Albany, NY who play “Heavy voodoo blues over swampy, funky, grooves”.

The show is free, all ages and always a good time. Luthier’s has two rooms, two bars, hard and soft drinks and the country’s best water (for real) on tap. Oh, and you can buy a guitar, bass, banjo or amp while you’re there. 🙂

Saturday. September 8 sees us back in the comfy surroundings of TOAD Cambridge right in the heart of Porter Square. This has quickly become our go-to place to play in the Boston area. This 21+ show is a no cover affair and we go on nice and early (7:30) and will play until 9:15pm. They have great food, too! 

Sunday, September 9 we are thrilled to be part of the Narrows Music and Arts Fest in Fall River, Mass. This is my hometown and I’ve played the amazing venue (The Narrows Center For The Arts) before both with Drunk Stuntmen, the original Colorway lineup as well as opening shows, solo, for Ian Hunter as well as Quinn Sullivan. But this is the first time the trio of me, Riley and Matt will be performing onstage. It’s a full day and early evening of music on two stages. Colorway will play indoors from 1:10-2:10. Scroll down for the full lineup and more info.

Looking ahead to Friday, September 14 we will head back to Troy, NY to play at Dinosaur BBQ. This will be a full-on three hour show beginning at 9pm. It’s absolutely free and the barbecue–as Matt would say–is bananas. 

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So, if you’ve made it this far I might as well share some more stuff with you. We had a great album release party at New City Brewery. Tom Adams from Reelife Productions took some great videos of us (with sound from Bob Humphreys). You can check one of the tunes “Want To Be Everywhere” out right here. We have other vids on our Youtube channel. Be sure to subscribe while you’re there so you don’t miss out on fresh new vids. 

You can pick up the new album at any of our live shows as well as via our webshop and Bandcamp. We’re also on iTunes and all the other streaming services that they talk about in the news. 

Reviews have been all positive. The Valley Advocate’s Chris Goudreau said “‘These Are The Days’ will give you hope for humanity”. You can read lots more reviews right here. It makes us all so happy to know our hard work has made even a bit of difference. 

We were so lucky to have Easy Weasel as part of our album release. Thanks to Chris Collingwood, Rick Murnane and Brad Thayer for putting on such a harmonious set. There are also some amazing photos from that night taken by Julian Parker-Burns as well as our set at Transperformance 28 where we performed as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. You can check those out here and see the full Tom Petty set here.  

I’ve been playing a lot of solo shows lately. And to go along with this I was blessed with a great session of portrait photography by the incredible Jim Gipe at Pivot Media right here in Florence, Mass. You can see some of the pics here. I’m a lucky guy and am happy to be able to find a place for this music all by my lonesome. 

I’ve been putting up some small snippets (60 seconds or less) of my guitar playing on our Instagram page. If you haven’t checked us out there why not head over and follow us. 

There’s been a lot that’s happened this summer. So many great shows and so much amazing music. We love it that you are on board with what we do but we can’t do this all ourselves. So if you like what you hear and see please share us with a friend who might not know who we are. Forward this to somebody in Boston or Troy or Fall River who digs the rock and roll. 

We’re all in this together. Let’s have some fun!

On behalf of Matt and Riley I’ll say a collective “rock on” and we hope to see you at the shows,

~FAJ

 

Friday, September 7, Colorway Performs at Luthier’s Co-op, Easthampton, MA

Come join us as we play one of the best rooms for live music in the valley.  Early and free!

This amazing lineup includes:

7pm: The Prestons (Bill Catalde, Rick Murnane)
8pm: Colorway
9:30pm: Sly Fox and The Hustlers (Albany)

When: Friday, 9/7
Where: Luthier’s Co-op
108 Cottage St
Easthampton, MA
Directions.                                                           
What time: 8-9:30
Phone: (413) 527-6627
Email: info@luthiers-coop.com
How Much: Free (tips appreciated)

Join the Facebook Event Page here!

Saturday, September 8, Colorway Performs at TOAD, Cambridge, MA

Colorway performs a full hour and forty five minute set at one of the best and most intimate venues in the Boston area. 

When: Saturday, September 8
What time: 7:30-9:15
Where: Toad
1912 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
Directions
Toad on Facebook
Public transit: Red line to Porter Square
Ph.  (617) 497-4950
Cost: No Cover!
21+

Join the Facebook Event Page here!

Sunday, September 9, Colorway Performs at The Narrows Center Arts Fest, Fall River, MA

2018 LINEUP: THE IGUANAS, NEAL & THE VIPERS, 
MATTHEW STUBBS & THE ANTIGUAS, JOHN STEIN TRIO, 
THE TELEDYNES, ZOINK ZULAG & THE GALACTIC SHAG, 
COLORWAY, and SCHOOL OF ROCK ALL STARS.

When: Sun, 9/9
Where: Narrows Center For The Performing Arts
16 Anawan St
Fall River, MA 02721
Directions
What Time: Colorway will play from 1:10-2:10pm on the indoor stage
Phone: (508) 324-1926
How much: FREE!!

Join the Facebook Event Page here!

 

The Narrows Festival of the Arts has emerged as one of the premier music and arts festivals in New England. Ideally located on Fall River’s historic waterfront, the free festival features a wide variety of high-quality art and music. Musicians will be rotating through all day long on both an outdoor and our indoor stage. There will be twenty art vendors present, sharing and selling their original work. Food trucks and lemonade will be onsite, as well as exotic animals as part of the Children’s Museum tent. Come on down for a fun day of music and art! 

 

Friday, September 14, Colorway Performs at Dinosaur BBQ, Troy, NY

Excited to be heading back West to Troy to perform at one of the best live music venues in the area: Dinosaur BBQ.

When: Friday, September 14
Where: Dinosaur BBQ
377 River St
Troy, NY 12180
Directions
Dinosaur BBQ on Facebook
Phone: (518) 308-0400
What time: 9:30-12:30
Cost: FREE!
All Ages!

Join the Facebook Event Page here!

“GREAT guitar throughout these nine, tight, non-overproduced songs. Very fluid and imaginative playing and Alex isn’t afraid to take chances. An excellent album.” —Tom Guerra, Vintage Guitar Magazine

“These Are the Days shows Colorway’s breadth, without stinting on depth […] a rock-solid collection of songs with catchy hooks, taut riffs and hard-won wisdom.” –Eric R Danton, Listen, Dammit(Paste/WSJ/Rolling Stone)

“This record sounds f*cking great! Sounds like you’re channeling Golden Earring . . .  which is f*cking sweet.” –Chris Collingwood

“Their third album is their strongest yet . . . songs you want to drive to on a summer day . . . songs to put a smile on your face.” —Lauren Daley, Southcoast Today/The Boston Globe

“Alex’s guitar playing is exceptional, and the whole vibe is positive and fun–well done!” Morgan Fisher, Mott the Hoople/Queen

“The nine tunes here showcase his ability to craft hooky pop-rock tunes and fill them with his always inventive guitar work.” –Sheryl Hunter, Greenfield Recorder

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Remember, our music is available at www.colorwaymusic.com on CD and 180gram vinyl (for The Black Sky Sequined) and any of the following valley stores. Thanks for shopping local:

Turn it Up
5 Pleasant St
Northampton, MA

Platterpus Records
28 Cottage St
Easthampton, MA

Electric Eye Records
52 Main St Suite 6
Florence, MA

Mystery Train Records
178A North Pleasant St
Amherst, MA

“No music, no life.”

Big March Of Music Is Upon Us Plus FAJ Solo Shows In Japan!!

 

Hey gang,

Hope everybody made it through the storm okay and things are drying out where you are. I’m not gonna let Smarch fool me like it always does. There’s still messy weather on the way but at least we’re that much closer to spring . . . and that’s one step closer to summer. 🙂

Thanks to everyone who came out to Hawks and Reed last month when we played with rice: An American Band. We had a blast playing in a new room (for us) and I know that everyone who was there did too. Kara Kharmah posted a video of our new tune “Want To Be Everywhere” from the upcoming These Are The Days album. You can see that by heading over to our videos page.  You can also read a review and hear audio from that show right here. 

Brooklyn Tonight! (Saturday)

We’re about to head out to Brooklyn for a show tonight Saturday, March 3, at a rad place called Wayward Social. It’s in the Bushwick part of BK (at 35 Ingraham St) and looks dark, rad and real. The show starts at 7:30 (there are four bands) it is free to get in and we go on about 10:30pm. All the details are below. As always, if you know anyone in the area and could share this email with them, or invite them via our Facebook Event Page that would be awesome. 

Boston Next Saturday!

Then, a week from tonight, on Saturday, March 10, we will be at the intimate TOAD on Mass Ave in Cambridge for a nice and early set from 7:30-9:15. I’m super excited about getting to play here and I hope to see some of our Boston peeps out. It’s free and they have great food, to boot! Our buddies, the Jack Grace Band play the late set (at 10pm). Me and Jack go way back to the Drunk Stuntmen days when he used to book the erstwhile Rodeo Bar. Good times, they were. 

Winter Music Fest Benefit Next Weekend!

The night after that, Sunday, March 11 we are thrilled to be part of the Winter Music Festival, a three-day benefit concert for Homeward Vets, who help the valley’s homeless veterans. The whole thing happens at the World War II Club (The Deuce) and there is tons of music over the three days (see the lineup in the link above) but Colorway will be playing on Sunday at 6:40pmfor about a 50 minute set. Shokazoba closes out the whole event so stick around for that for sure. 

Tickets (available here) are either $20 a day or $25 for a three day pass. Even if you can only go to one day that extra $5 will go a long way to help out. 

Sheryl Hunter from the Greenfield Recorder wrote a nice piece on the fest. You can read that here. 

FAJ Japan Solo Shows!

To close out the month and ring in April I’m really excited and honored to be playing a couple of solo shows in Japan!

Friday, March 30 I’ll be at The Wex in Nishinomiya (near Osaka) and on Saturday, April 7 I’ll be at Good Heavens! in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. These are both absolutely free shows and if you will be there for the cherry blossoms or know anyone who will be please ether stop by or share this email.

And that’s about it, gang. Oh, and if you dig the new artwork at the top of this mailer that’s a little preview of the art for the new album, These Are The Days, which comes out on June 21, 2018 (pre-sale info coming soon). The photo of Colorway is by the estimable Julian Parker-Burns, the background photo is by the incredibly talented Jodi Nicholas, and the design is by Tom Pappalardo from Standard Design. 

We have a great spring and summer schedule shaping up. You can always go to our Tour Datespage to check it out and make your plans to come see us next. We’ll be so happy to see you. 

Thanks, as always, for your support, everybody. Hope to see you out at the shows. 

And on we go . . . 

~FAJ

PS: Make sure, if you dig what we do, to please follow us on FacebookTwitterInstagramYouTube or any combination of these. We realize that information comes at us all at a maddening pace (just like this email). And we would hate for anyone to miss out if they wanted to be part of a night of music with us. Thanks for staying connected . . . and appreciate those moments when we can live in the moment together. 🙂

 

 

Saturday, March 3, Colorway Plays The Wayward Social, Brooklyn, NY (TJO Presents)

Colorway will play a full set at Wayward Social (formerly Alaska).

When: Saturday, March 3
What time: 10pm
Where: Wayward Social
35 Ingraham St
Brooklyn, NY 11206
Directions
Public transit: L train to Morgan Ave
Ph. (347) 335-0419
Cost: No Cover!
FB Event Page

Saturday, March 10, Colorway Plays Toad in Cambridge, MA

Colorway performs a full hour and forty five minute set at one of the best and most intimate venues in the Boston area. 

When: Saturday, March 10
What time: 7:30-9:15
Where: Toad
1912 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
Directions
Public transit: Red line to Porter Square
Ph.  (617) 497-4950
Cost: No Cover!
21+

Join the Facebook Event Page here!

Stick around for the Jack Grace Band at 10pm

Toad on Facebook

 

Sunday, March 11, Colorway Plays The Homeward Vets Winter Music Fest

When: Sunday, March 11 (festival runs 3/9-3/11)
Colorway plays Sunday, 3/11 6:35-7:25 . . . Shokazoba closes out the night!!
Where: The Deuce (World War 2 Club)
50 Conz St (3.28 mi)
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
Get Directions
Phone: (413) 586-3315
$20 PER DAY
$25 FOR ALL 3 DAYS
All Ages/ Kid Friendly Until 9PM
Advance tickets available here!.

Sunday schedule:

Color Killer -12-1235
Violet Maeve-1235-105
Mike Vallen-105-135
Buddy McEarns Band-135-210
Jim Eagan-210-225
John Cantallini Band-230-315
Orlean & Gabriel-315-330
Larry Dulong & Random Sighting-330-415
Seth & Ceremony-415-435
Mike Finnegan & The Tinkers-435-515
Singer Songwriter-515-530
Chicken Yard-530-620
Singer Songwriter-620-635
Colorway-635-725
Nate Martel-725-740
Beige-740-840
Chris Goudreau-840-855
Shokazoba-855-10pm 

A Benefit for HOMEWARD VETS
MUSICIANS HELPING VETERANS

Homeward Vets, aims to rebuild hope where it’s been damaged or lost. They work with veterans in need, who are underprivileged, and who are underserved, to rebuild their lives. Their focus lies on community efforts by educating and assisting veterans transitioning from chronic homelessness.

MUSICIANS HELPING VETERANS
This 3 day music event is brought to you from over 25 area bands and artists, vendors, collectors, community businesses and individuals coming together with the sole purpose to raise funds to support veterans transitioning from homelessness to having a place to call home. Funds raised at this event will go directly to Homeward Vets. Homeward Vets, aims to rebuild hope where it’s been damaged or lost. They work with veterans in need, who are underprivileged, and who are underserved, to rebuild their lives. Their focus lies on community efforts by educating and assisting veterans transitioning from chronic homelessness. Please check out their website at www.homewardvets.org

We look forward to seeing you at the shows and THANK YOU for the supporting Musicians Helping Veterans!

*FRIDAY MARCH 9TH KICK-OFF PARTY

*SATURDAY MARCH 10TH
The FawnsOuter StylieUncomfortablesThe Leafies You Gave MeThe Bamboo SteamersThe FreqsCelseìghDonut KingsGraneros band, Bomber, Black AbsenceRest In GriefHanna HolmanCrowriderThe Prozacs, and more…

*SUNDAY MARCH 11TH
ColorwayJim EaganViolet MaeveThe Buddy McEarns Band, Chicken Yard, Newton, Mic Finnegan & The Tinkers, Larry Dulong and Random Sighting, Orlen & Gabriel, Chris GoudreauBeigeShokazoba, Color Killers, and more…

$20 PER DAY
$25 FOR ALL 3 DAYS

All Ages/ Kid Friendly Until 9PM

Join the Facebook Event Page here!

Friday, March 30, F Alex Johnson Performs at The Wex, Nishinomiya, Japan

Alex makes his Japan debut at The Wex.
Brad Quinn plays at 8:30

When: Friday, March 30
Where: The Wex
203,205
Nishinomiya, Hyogo 662-0075

What time: 9:30pm
Cost: no cover
The Wex on Facebook

Saturday, April 7, F Alex Johnson Performs at Good Heavens!, Tokyo, Japan

Get your hanami (cherry blossom viewing) off to a great start with a stop in to Shimokitazawa’s best place for music and drinks. 

When: Saturday, April 7
Where: Good Heavens!
2F, 5-32-5 Daizawa, Setagaya-ku 
Tokyo 
Directions
South exit of Shimokitazawa station. Take a right, walk straight until you see the Mr. Donuts. Walk past and it is the second left from there and visible from the intersection. Just look for the British flag on the second floor.
What time: TBA
Cost: no cover
Good Heavens! on Facebook

Read what Time Out Tokyo had to say about Good Heavens! here. 
More here.

Alex J Performs Live On The Airwaves

Check out a couple of interviews Alex did in advance of Colorway’s show with rice: An American Band on 2/17.

Click here to listen to Alex chat with Mark Bové on 103.3 WXOJ. Skip to 5:20 to hear Alex play “Always Been Summer” the single from Colorway’s upcoming album, These Are The Days out 6/21/18. Head to 21:30 to hear the title track.

Below you can hear him chat with Joan Holiday from 93.9 WRSI (skip to 4:00 to hear Alex play “Always Been Summer”.

Thanks for checking it out!!