Brooklyn trio King Radio plays Kirby Center’s Chandelier Lobby in Wilkes-Barre with SUZE on May 5
From a press release:
It was announced today that Brooklyn’s King Radio will visit the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the venue’s ongoing “Live from the Chandelier Lobby” concert series.
SUZE from Kingston will kick off the night as King Radio’s very special guest.
Tickets, which are $10 in advance or $12 the day of the show, go on sale this Friday, March 4 at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at the Kirby Center box office (71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre), online at kirbycenter.org, and by phone at 570-826-1100. A special Kirby Members pre-sale will begin this Wednesday, March 2 at 10 a.m. Members buy first, so join by calling 570-823-4599, ext. 225.
Justin King has traveled the world as a performer and a war photographer, searching for his musical identity and his grounding as an artist and a man. Now he’s found it – in Brooklyn and, more specifically, in King Radio, the ambitious and visionary group whose debut self-titled album arrived to rave reviews this past October.
Built around the band’s core trio of singer, songwriter, and guitar virtuoso King, drummer and percussionist AJ Jump, and bassist Mark Kiesinger (who is also a professional mortician), King Radio’s dozen songs are a stunning blend of southern soul with gritty elements of country, folk, bluegrass, and rock and roll, compressing bristling energy, smoldering emotionalism, and clear-eyed lyrics into an original distillation of timeless American music.
“What I’ve found in this band is the sound I’ve been searching for,” King said. “With the pedal steel guitar, mandolin, keyboards, and fiddle, it’s got aspects of, for example, the Band, but with our horn section, there’s also some Motown production elements.
“It’s the right match for the stories I want to tell about what it’s like to struggle, lose, love, and to hang on to life.”
Originally formed in the summer of 2007 in Kingston, SUZE is a four-piece band that consists of Adam McKinley (lead vocals/guitar), Brandin Shaffern (bass), Kevin Gallagher (drums), and Adam Gabriel (lead guitar). Over the years, SUZE has been working to expand their ever-growing local fan base into a larger market, carrying a sound that is best described as rock with blues/funk/jazz undertones and a certain level of improvisation that is incorporated into live shows and even recording.
They have independently released two full-length albums, “When the World is Not Enough” (April 2012) and “Sounds From Thursday Evening” (March 2014); the latter was a nominee for Album of the Year in the Steamtown Music Awards. The band also prides themselves on well-written songs, both lyrically and musically, and making the music interesting to the listener while being different, yet familiar.
Some notable gigs for the band thus far are playing hour long sets live on local stations 102.3 The Mountain and 105 The River, a set at Sullivan Hall in New York City, and opening sets for Rusted Root and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
The “Live from the Chandelier Lobby” series is presented by Grotto Pizza.
