​Part One: The Union Electric, Sweet Tooth, King Kong Magnetics, Warm Jets USA
Part Two: Glass Teeth, Ryan Spearman, the Breaks and Adult Fur
Part Three: Rum Drum Ramblers, Humanoids, Old Lights and Volcanoes
Part Four: Bo & the Locomotive, Rockwell Knuckles, Dubb Nubb and Palace
Part Five: Sleepy Kitty, Magic City, Nee
Part Six: Sine Nomine, Prairie Rehab, Jack Buck, Mikey Wehling
Part Seven: The Blind Eyes, Humdrum, Theodore, A-Game
Part Eight: Funky Butt Brass Band, Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three, Ra Cailum and the Gorge
Part Nine: Britches, Ou Ou, Spelling Bee/Glass Teeth, Tech Supreme

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​Part One: The Union Electric, Sweet Tooth, King Kong Magnetics, Warm Jets USA
Part Two: Glass Teeth, Ryan Spearman, the Breaks and Adult Fur
Part Three: Rum Drum Ramblers, Humanoids, Old Lights and Volcanoes
Part Four: Bo & the Locomotive, Rockwell Knuckles, Dubb Nubb and Palace
Part Five: Sleepy Kitty, Magic City, Nee
Part Six: Sine Nomine, Prairie Rehab, Jack Buck, Mikey Wehling
Part Seven: The Blind Eyes, Humdrum, Theodore, A-Game
Part Eight: Funky Butt Brass Band, Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three, Ra Cailum and the Gorge

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​The Return of Gateway to the West Fest

From 2002 until 2008, local hardcore hero and all-around-badass Adam "The Devastator" Greer booked roughly 250 shows in the St. Louis area and beyond. I use the term "badass" rather than "promoter", because I don't think he would like being called the P-word. Working strictly out of love for the music and local scene, Greer fervently sought out bands from all over the country and brought them to St. Louis, rarely even pocketing so much as gas money off the door. Always accommodating of out-of-town bands, he soon made enough of a name for himself that he was able to book top-notch touring acts without even once offering a guarantee - "That's not punk," he has often said.

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Photo by Nick Schnelle

​Show in a Van Down by the River, November 16

November 16th was chilly this year, as November 16ths in St. Louis tend to be. Rain was tentatively in the forecast, and a quick glance to the cloud-covered skies served only as confirmation of our local weather forecasters' suspicions. In an unassuming riverside field in North St. Louis's industrial district, a handful of disheveled punks crowded around a van -- a 1989 Ford Clubwagon, to be precise -- and a gas-powered generator. The impending rain was the sole subject of concerned conversation.

"Fuck it, we're doing the show anyway." Gus Theodorow, singer of local punk band Who Fucking Cares?, owner of Clubwagon and generator, and booker of hilarious shows-in-a-van-down-by-the-river, is unconcerned about Mother Nature's wrath. This show must go on.

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​Part One: The Union Electric, Sweet Tooth, King Kong Magnetics, Warm Jets USA
Part Two: Glass Teeth, Ryan Spearman, the Breaks and Adult Fur
Part Three: Rum Drum Ramblers, Humanoids, Old Lights and Volcanoes
Part Four: Bo & the Locomotive, Rockwell Knuckles, Dubb Nubb and Palace
Part Five: Sleepy Kitty, Magic City, Nee
Part Six: Sine Nomine, Prairie Rehab, Jack Buck, Mikey Wehling
Part Seven: The Blind Eyes, Humdrum, Theodore, A-Game

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​Tower Groove Records Formed

Tower Groove Records aims to bring bands out of dingy south-city basements and into, well, other dingy south-city basements. The collective won't be funding the release of records but hopes to utilize the cumulative talents and experience of its members to make it easier for young bands to make records, play shows and in general just be heard.

Tower Groove got off the ground in the middle of this past year with a one hell of a coming out party that was as much magic as it was mayhem. The carnival and concert at Off Broadway included games, carnival food and performances from roughly a dozen and half local bands and musicians. They expect to pull off their second major feat in early 2012: the release of a double LP featuring original recordings by 21 local artists.

See also: Biggest St. Louis Music News Part One

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​Part One: The Union Electric, Sweet Tooth, King Kong Magnetics, Warm Jets USA
Part Two: Glass Teeth, Ryan Spearman, the Breaks and Adult Fur
Part Three: Rum Drum Ramblers, Humanoids, Old Lights and Volcanoes
Part Four: Bo & the Locomotive, Rockwell Knuckles, Dubb Nubb and Palace
Part Five: Sleepy Kitty, Magic City, Nee
Part Six: Sine Nomine, Prairie Rehab, Jack Buck, Mikey Wehling

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Bloodshot Records

​The Bottle Rockets' Acoustic Album Finally Sees the Light of Day

Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening With the Bottle Rockets was a long time in coming -- four years in fact. Recorded over two nights in 2007 at the now defunct Lucas School House, the live album was one of this year's most notable local releases, partly because it showcases the band in a wholly new light and partly because an acoustic album was so unexpected for the veteran rockers.

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​Part One: The Union Electric, Sweet Tooth, King Kong Magnetics, Warm Jets USA
Part Two: Glass Teeth, Ryan Spearman, the Breaks and Adult Fur
Part Three: Rum Drum Ramblers, Humanoids, Old Lights and Volcanoes
Part Four: Bo & the Locomotive, Rockwell Knuckles, Dubb Nubb and Palace
Part Five: Sleepy Kitty, Magic City, Nee

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Tom Lampe

Jay Farrar on the pedal steel for Colonel Ford

​New Year's Eve isn't just amateur hour. It's a night-long, clown-car traffic jam of colossally defeated expectations, a dispiriting exercise in futility, even, or especially, when you're somewhere somewhat less coastal than Rio. In St. Louis, we have some worthy parties -- this year's Blind Eyes and Kentucky Knife Fight event at Off Broadway seems choice -- but there's no getting around the fact that a drunk tank would be more fun than half the over-priced folderol around town. And the company would probably be better down in the clink as well.

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