Brand New Opiates and NoNameRider Join Forces at The Hub
There is a great show Saturday night at The Hub in downtown Tampa with a new band and another just returned from a year’s hiatus. The Brand New Opiates come back refreshed from their year-long break with new arrangements to their repertoire and new members to introduce. And a relatively new band surfaces in NoNameRider, making this an exciting double-bill of new music.
NoNameRider is a recent addition to the Tampa music scene featuring members of Poetry ’N Lotion, Station To Station, Ritual to Romance, and The Coronas: John Nowicki (percussion), Jake Tremper (bass/manager), Brian Cass (guitar/songwriter/lyricist), and Eric Spence (voice/writer).
The band shared this on Facebook: “Att’n. All NoNameRider fans. This Sat. at the Hub… last show with Mr. Spence. Come to have fun; we all will!” You can find more information on Facebook and on the band’s official website.
The Brand New Opiates are three-year veterans of the Bay area music scene. They are currently nominated in Best Of The Bay 2016 by Creative Loafing in three categories: Best Rock Act, Best Jam Band, and Best Singer/Song Writer (Lou Collazo). Dubbed Swamp Gypsys for their Eastern European/Louisiana swamp sound, The Brand New Opiates have featured an array of of Tampa’s music elite in their ranks.
When we first met BNO at ZenFest 2015, we wrote:
‘First up, the Brand New Opiates from Tampa. The sound reminded me of the E Street Band. Their Facebook page says: Swamp Blues, Gypsy, Punk, Americana and whatever else we are feeling. That was an accurate description for this set. Lou Collazo is an engaging frontman, and he led the band immediately into “Make the Devil Run,” a very bluesy rocker featuring George Toledo on guitar and Melissa Grady on violin.
Later in the set, they hit their stride with a song that sounded like early Velvet Underground and then “Don’t Hide My Whiskey.” The rhythm section of Joe Grady and Matt Salvador upheld their end of things admirably. The set closed with “Creole Woman,” reminding me of Nilsson. I need to see them again.’
A month later, at a show at New World Brewery with Naughty Professor, we added:
‘The night got off to a great swampy, funk start with the Brand New Opiates. They impressed in a recent performance at ZenFest, but by comparison this show was on steroids. Lots of ’em. It was a magnetic performance from start to finish, with heads nodding and people dancing all over.
Lou Collazo is an energetic frontman, singing, dancing, gyrating, playing guitar. He reminds you of Tom Waits when Waits could actually sing, but Collazo has more depth, more grit, more growl. His voice is perfect for the music that BNO plays. They call it swamp blues, gypsy music. They segued from “Creole Woman” into “Wasting Cowboys!”’
It will be great to check out the band’s updated look and sound. Learn more on the band’s Facebook page.
Music starts at 10 at The Hub Saturday, August 6th!