Sixtyfourwest Blog

64West Nashville Show and Roadtrip Weekend!!

2011-05-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

We're heading to Nashville and want you to come with us! We're lucky enough to be playing Commodore Grill on Sat. June 11 at 9 PM and want to bring a caravan of our best friends down there for the show and then out on the town. Hopefully we can use the message boards here to arrange rides/hotels etc. The band will be leaving Fri June 10 and coming back Sunday June 12.

To our friends in Nashville, we hope you'll come out to the show as well as we've wanted to come play for you for a long time! Any questions, just ask me or Aaron.

We play Sat. June 11 at the Commodore Grill, then go where the night takes us!

You can RSVP for the show and roadtrip here.

Hungry for good music and pizza?

2011-05-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

Y'all hungry?? We are excited to announce that MozzaPi (who offers hot, fresh, Napoletana pizzas right out of a wood-fired over -- all in a mobile unit!!!) will be joining us for the SIXTYFOURWEST in-store performance and EP release show at ear X-tacy tonight at 6 PM!

Check out MozzaPi on Facebook here.

64West finds compatibility between soul and country in “Treat You Right”

2011-05-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – May 17, 2011 – Country and soul collide in “Treat You Right,” the latest EP release from 64West. Based in Louisville, Ky. but popular throughout the region, the band is quickly making a name for itself through tireless performance of a high-energy show consisting of downright good music that people are often pleasantly surprised to hear in a club setting.

“Treat You Right” is a culmination of that show into a high-powered, five-song EP that spans genres from ‘70s soul and classic R&B to modern country and Americana, capped off with a gentle, yet crafty, acoustic track.

While an updated cover of Bill Withers’ classic “Use Me” and “Tryin’ Not to Love You” push the soul and country boundaries, “Treat You Right,” the EP’s namesake and single, seems to wrap both genres together nicely and cover a lot of ground in between. Acoustic guitar, mandolin and punchy four-part harmonies drive the song throughout, while a smooth saxophone solo transports the listener to a New Orleans jazz club for the middle of the song.

“We spend a lot of time focusing on the vocals and making them a priority,” said Aaron Weaver, lead singer for 64West. “There’s been a negative trend of beats and music getting louder and louder. What people really want to hear is what you are saying, and they’re amazed all over again when they hear good harmonies.”

It was vocal harmony that served as the basis for the creation of 64West more than six years ago when vocalist Aaron Weaver and guitarist Bill Yackey were members of the University of Kentucky a cappella group (The AcoustiKats) and Chorale. Having literally sung next to each other for more than six years in high school and in Kentucky All-State choirs, the two decided to add guitar to the mix and begin performing in the club circuit around Kentucky. “Bill & Aaron” caught on like wildfire on the college scene and operations were moved from Lexington, Ky. to Louisville in 2007, thus creating the name change to 64West.

After several years of relentless performing the duo made the much-needed expansion to a full band, keeping many of the songs and M.O. that made them successful in the past. Adding bassist Mike Lankford, guitarist Will King and drummer Justin Shaw, all live music veterans, has allowed 64West the ability to play larger venues, festivals and events and gather a growing legion of fans. The band played 63 shows in 2010 and is on track to repeat that number in 2011.

“Treat You Right” will be released Tuesday, May 17, 2011, at Ear-X-Tacy Records in Louisville, Ky., CD Central in Lexington, Ky. and will also be available online on iTunes and CD Baby. 64West will be hosting a Release Show for the EP at Gerstle’s Place in Louisville, Ky. on Friday, May 20, 2011.

2011-05-17T08:35:00.000-07:00

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Sixtyfourwest featured at Boots, Bourbon & Brew event in Lexington

2010-10-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

Get ready for the second annual Boots, Bourbon & Brew!

Boots, Bourbon, & Brew is a casual fall event hosted by the Lexington Cancer Foundation’s Pegasus Board to benefit The Lexington Cancer Foundation. The Pegasus Board is comprised of a group of young women with an interest in philanthropy and raising funds in the fight against cancer in support of the Foundation’s mission.

Friday, November 12, 2010
Buster’s Backroom and Billards
Purchase your tickets NOW!

Enjoy a beer and bourbon tasting, a barbeque dinner by Nova Gourmets and listen to music by Kentucky’s own Sixtyfourwest! All proceeds raised benefit the Lexington Cancer Foundation.

Sponsors include Paul Miller Ford, McBrayer, McGinnis, Leslie and Kirkland, PLLC, Kentucky Basketball Academy, Space Center Storage, Fan Outfitters, Mod Boutique, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Stephen’s Instrumentals, Brandon Richardson, AJ’s Clothing, UK Healthcare, Pearson and Justice, Clay Ingels, and many more! Special thanks to Kentucky Eagle Distributing, Southern Wine and Spirits, Republic National Beverage, Russ Mitchell Management and The Bourbon Review.

Sixtyfourwest at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival

2010-09-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

This week we are happy to be playing at the Bardstown, Ky. Bourbon Festival on Friday, Sept. 17. Here’s the details for the Music on the Lawn series we’ll be playing in:

Music on the Lawn
City Hall Lawn, 220 North Fifth St., Bardstown, Ky.
5 pm - 12 am (Fri & Sat)
Enjoy live music by performers throughout the weekend. Bring your own chair and enjoy a variety of entertainment sponsored by Four Roses Distillery. Headliner, Saturday, September 18, The Outlaws . Please see our website for entertainment lineup. Free admission to the Lawn.

Friday Night Line Up
5:00 - 5:45 Ashley Mc Bryde
6:00 - 7:00 Sixtyfourwest
7:15 - 8:15 Andrew Scott Newton w/Digit
8:30 - 9:30 Edgewood
10:00 - Jamie Buckley

Saturday Night Line Up
5:00 - 5:45 Pauly Zarb and Band
6:00 - 7:00 HO Xpress
7:15 - 8:15 Bourbon Democracy
8:30 - 9:30 Big Black Cadillac
9:30 - Closing - The Outlaws

The best part is that there will be all kinds of our favorite bourbon distillers around. Here’s our picks for best bourbons:

Cheap: Evan Williams

Premium: Woodford Reserve

Sixtyfourwest invades Southern Indiana – Steinert’s

2010-09-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

In July we took our first gig with regional talent agency Triangle Talent and played at Steinert’s in Southern Indiana. Although it was kind of off our normal path, it turned out to be an awesome weekend. Once nice thing was that we played on both Friday and Saturday and were able to keep our crap there overnight. Thanks to Ric, Steve, Aaron Hupp and Mindy Lamb for hanging out all weekend.

Here’s a photo album of the weekend.

Check our full schedule on our website to see when we’re coming back to Steinert’s!

Our friends Jukebox the Ghost on Letterman last night

2010-09-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Dude, our friends from Jukebox the Ghost were on The Late Show with David Letterman last night. There were watching parties all over the place. Congrats to Ben and the group from us - these guys just keep getting better and better. If you missed it last night, here's the video:

64West playing/bartending at Sully's this Friday

2010-09-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

Start your Labor Day weekend off right! We'll be playing a set or two at Sully's from 7-9 then GUEST BARTENDING from 9-11. Sign up for the Facebook event and you'll get a wristband that will get you 1/2 price drinks from us!

Tin Roof = Success

2010-08-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

"I had an awesome time at the party!" "Frank, I think the whole town knows you had an awesome time."

We had an awesome time last Thursday at the Tin Roof in Lexington. We were told that at one point there were more than 450 people in the bar! While, that violates the fire code, it looked awesome from the stage. We'll be back at the Tin Roof later this year.

Thanks to Maggie T for the awesome pic.

New Sixtyfourwest Shirts in Today!

2010-08-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

We got our new Sixtyfourwest shirts in today with the new logo! And right now there is only ONE place to get these - at our shows! Convenient since we are having a blowout show tomorrow night in Lexington at the Tin Roof. Come to the show, see the Lunchboxx and get your new shirt for only $12.

The maroon shirts are maroon and light blue and are a tribute to our high school, Ballard H.S., in Louisville.

Thanks to TNT Screenprint in Louisville for these.

New Shows Announced! The Paddock and Gerstle's

2010-08-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

We got some good news yesterday - we have a couple new shows that just got solidified that we can announce:

1. Friday, Oct. 8 at the Paddock in Lexington - This show will be the night before the UK/Auburn game. Come in town for a night at the Paddock, Keeneland the next day and the football game at 7 that night.

2. Friday, November 26 at Gerstle's in Louisville - This will be a rockin full band show and your cure for the Thanksgiving Day cabin fever you get after too much "family time."

Check the full schedule here - we're playing almost every weekend somewhere!

Back to Brendan’s this Friday

2010-08-18T12:52:00.001-07:00

Sixtyfourwest will be returning to Brendan’s this Friday from 10:30-1:30. Our last show there was two weeks ago and was nothing less than awesome. Brendan’s is a great location - right in the heart of St. Matthews.

You can view details for the concert here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=143163825716871&index=1

Sixtyfourwest returns to the Paddock!

2010-08-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

After a long summer of playing in Louisville and around this area, we are finally making our way back to Lexington this weekend. We’ve been waiting for school to start back up because it’s been slow over there with everyone on vacation. But no longer.

The Paddock is where we got our start, playing our first show there in 2005. Geez I’m old. There are no pictures, but I remember there was a jackass that stood in front of me an taunted me when I was playing Wonderwall. He eventually got kicked out and probably cried his was home.

Since then, there’s been no place we’ve made more memories than the Paddock. The tree has moved all over the place, the walls have been different colors, there’s holes formed in the floors, but you won’t find a better dive bar. Props to Erick and Uncle Mike for keeping us there for almost 5 years. Here’s some old school pics from 2005 when we were getting our start there.

We are also playing the Tin Roof on Aug. 26, so check our entire schedule to see when you can come out!

Our last Wednesday night at Sully’s (for the summer at least!)

2010-08-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

From one of our first nights at Sully's in June

Tonight marks our last Wednesday night at Sully’s for the summer. In case you haven’t made it down, we have been playing at the Fourth St. Live! restaurant nearly every Wednesday since June. It has been an awesome experience to get to play on 4th St., meet a ton of out of town people around for convention, and have a place for people to watch us play a gig that doesn’t start at 11:00 pm.

Special thanks to Jenni, Joey, Bobby and all the Sully’s staff that have had us out this summer.

As a special event for Sully’s and our fans, we’ll be playing there on Friday Sept. 3 for Happy Hour from 7-9 p.m., then GUEST BARTENDING from 9-11! We’ll set up a Facebook party and everyone who signs up will be put on a list to get ½ drinks poured by yours truly, Bill & Weaver. We’ll have some promo about that night going out soon. See you tonight at 8 PM at Sully’s!

Just The Way You Are

2010-08-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

I love this song - Every time I hear a song I like, immediately wonder how we can pull it off with the band. In a sense, it kind of takes the fun out of naively listening to music, but I havent been able to do that since I was in middle school. Chord changes, guitar riffs, beats - its all going through my head when I listen. Dammit. But at least I get to manifest that in performing the song out. Lots of people love to sing, but not everyone gets to do it in front of crowds. I'll take that.

Look for us to be performing this one very soon. Here's the complete schedule of our shows.

64W - Back at it!

2010-08-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Well after two years of not touching this Sixtyfourwest blog, I am going to get it going again. Why? Because we play every week, and there’s too much stuff going on not to tell people about. Awesome songs, drunk girls doing dumb stuff, Taco Bell... Plus, you’ll likely want something to read on your phones during any downtime. I read even the most random crap when I have nothing to do.

Anyway, Weaver, Lunchboxx and I have been on a tear lately, playing every weekend all over the state and even into Indiana. We’ll use this space to highlight what went on the weekend before, what’s coming up in the future, and what’s generally going on with the band.

In the past few years, what’s been nice is the way that people can share blogs with others. Two years ago I saw no point in blogging too much. Who was going to visit the site?

Now, thanks to Twitter and especially Facebook, the content is in your face all the time! Which is awesome for us.

So if you’re on this page, “Like” us on Facebook, follow us on twitter and I promise some good Karma.

Also, see go visit our website for our full schedule – guarantee there’s something near you soon!

Looping - the next big thing

2008-05-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has seen us play live has noticed that at times, it seems like there is more than one of me playing guitar. This is all thanks to the Boss RC-20, which is a looping pedal. It records live music on the fly and plays it back, then allows overdubs on top of the original track.

Howie Day really got me into looping in college. He is still one of the most prolific loopers out there, and has a knack for perfectly timing vocal and guitar loops.

Some new guys have come along also - I think Yoav (featured in this video) has a real cool sound going using a Boss DD-20. I've also seen a few other artists take stabs at looping, such as Laura Viers last week here in Louisville, but she proved that you can't just pick it up overnight. It takes a long time to become familiar and confident with the equipment.

Also, the equipment will screw over even the best performers at some point. Imagine having 2,000 watts powering your gig when a small power chord gets pulled, greating a sonic boom that will send the crowd to the ground then out the door. I've seen it happen to Howie Day on numerous occasions. Or, you can be like me last weekend and forget the AC adapter (a custom 18V plug) and have no pedalboard power at all. Straight-up acoustic, baby!

Technology is wearing me out - Social networking

2008-05-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Walking the border line between Generation Y and the Millennials, I’m up for new technology but still tinged with some old-school tendencies when it comes to anything electronic. After reading comedian Aaron Karo’s column, I’ve decided to unleash a few thoughts I’ve been stewing on for awhile.

Why people still get on MySpace (other than music, of course) at all at this point is beyond me. I don’t know who is who on there, because people use names like CutiePie85 and SoccerBuff69. Turns out they’re just some creep-o that sits next to you in class. When I do friend someone I actually know in real life, they turn around and put a “Click here to see who views your profile” comment in on my comments page. Bot or not, what the deuce?

MySpace is also so flooded with ads, making it damn near impossible to view my own pictures and such, much less those of a hot girl…who, by the way, is probably that creep-o from class again.

Look out Facebook. Zombies? Werewolves? All of these “applications” are taking away from the straight-forwardness that drew us to the site in the first place. The day ads merge into the interface, I’m outie, baby.

Once bitten, twice pissed.

And really, zombies and werewolves? What are these things? The worst part about these things is that it’s usually some loosely connected friend who I questioned accepting in the first place doing the “biting.”

And lastly, I’m convinced that Facebook’s News Feed has some covert way of finding out who we hook up and/or break up with. These people have never shown up before and next thing ya know I’ve got their wall posts, pics, groups, friends, networks, events, notes, relationships, iLikes, Scrubs trivia and ZOMBIE activities just rolling through! Now that’s just messed up.

Bill

Keepin it real.

2008-05-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Sixtyfourwest blog - everyone else has one, why shouldn't we?

So, to introduce the group, I'll give you the skinny -

Sixtyfourwest is the evolution of the Bill & Aaron Band, which has seen success playing acoustic rock music in Louisville in Lexington, KY. In 2008, Aaron and I decided that we needed to "re-brand" because Louisville hipsters made fun of our name, and thus Sixtyfourwest was born.

Artist statement:

The puropse of this group is to stay real no matter what.
Never forget where we came from.
Not get wrapped up in what people want as much as what we want as muscians.
To never feather our hair before a show.
To treat every performance like it was a packed house, or our last.
To write and perform music about real life, experiences and people.
To be friends with everyone who likes the music we put out there.

We see too many people try way too hard to be someone they're not. They turn out looking (and sounding) like American Idol wannabes. Anyone who has ever truly enjoyed performing music knows that true satisfaction comes when you put your guard down and just be yourself.

That being said, there is wayyyyyy more to life than music - hence the overall purpose of this blog. Aaron watches more NBA dunk videos than anyone I've ever met. I have an obsession everyday minutia and observations. These will all come through in the succeeding posts.

Thanks in advance for the Facebook, MySpace and blogger peeps, yo. Keep it real.