Additionally, Chriss Sutherland was totally cooperative but our schedules just didn’t work out to do a photo shoot. The photo below is from an outdoor concert last summer. Chriss has a new album called Worried Love, available now from Peapod Recordings. He plays the Tower Of Song Festival second, at 12:35.

Since I’m skipping the usual HillyTown Roundup this week in lieu of the Tower Of Song Fest coverage, here are just a few other shows of note happening this weekend:

• Tonight @ Empire: Dead Man’s Clothes CD Release show.
• Saturday night @ SPACE: Honey Clouds CD Release show.
• Saturday night @ Empire: The Leftovers CD Release show.
• Saturday night @ Strange Maine: The Scrapes final show EVER, like, for reals.
• Monday (Memorial Day) @ Bubba’s: Shell Shag return for a free fuzzy punk fun feel good killer show. Just show up.

As a final treat, since Dilly Dilly, Sontiago, and Lady Lamb The Beekeeper are all going to be performing at the Tower Of Song Fest, here’s a shot of their collaborative alter-ego, Hairy Brass Knuckles. You may remember them from this.

To review, here are all of the Tower Of Song Festival performer HillyTown portraits & interviews: Jesse Pilgrim, Chriss Sutherland, Anna’s Ghost, Samuel James, Over A Cardboard Sea, Dilly Dilly & Sontiago, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Johnny Fountain & The Manes, Spencer & The School Spirit Mafia.

Happy Summer!

Photos by Bryan Bruchman, interviews by Will Ethridge.

What was the most unusual place you’ve ever played music in?
I once played in a Christian Blues bar, but didn’t know it at the time, and told a joke that starts, “Jesus & Moses are standing on the side of the Red Sea, when Jesus turns to Moses and says…”

What is the most mysterious album you own? (i.e. you don’t know anything about the musicians’ identities)
I own this album, “Dan Pickett,” by Dan Pickett. It’s a compilation of recordings he did in the 1940s. It’s pretty great, but who the hell was that guy? You ever heard of him? No. I know for a FACT that you haven’t, you fuckin’ liar.

Describe your favorite sound not made by a musical instrument.
Farts. Sorry. It’s true. Farts. Ask anyone.

For more info on the Tower Of Song Festival on Saturday, May 23 in Congress Square, visit their info page.

Aly Spaltro of Lady Lamb The Beekeeper

What was the most unusual place you’ve ever played music in?
High school algebra class.

What is the most mysterious album you own?
A burned CD of some homemade hip-hop that I found on the ground in front of a gas station in Connecticut.

Have you ever written a song inspired by a dream? What was the song about?
I wrote a song called Almond Colored Sheets inspired by a dream in which I was putting beige sheets on a bed the size of the room my friend Stef and I were in when she looked up at me and said “you know…almond colored sheets are best for dreaming.”

I had wanted to get a separate photo of the other half of the band, TJ Metcalfe, as well, but unfortunately it just didn’t work out. Here are his answers to our questions though!

Describe your favorite sound not made by a musical instrument.
Whether you call me a meathead or just All- American, I love the sound of a wooden bat connecting with a baseball. *CRACK* love it. Also, I love the sound a cat makes when it gets excited. (Not a ‘meow’ or a hiss. It sounds like a cat getting a chill up its spine while purring)

What do you think happens when you get too far from your house?
When I get far away from my house (I haven’t figured out what TOO far means) my stomach moves a lot (whether it sinks out of fright or uncertainty or rises up into my throat out of sheer nervous excitement) . My eyes work overtime, attempting to soak up/in anything different than what my normal surroundings can offer. Also, I start to think that since life is one big game of chance at times, that I could meet my next new close friend / girlfriend / enemy / business partner /muse/ etc. around the next corner of wherever I’m going. Whether for the good or bad, being far away from home is exciting.

Photos by Bryan Bruchman, interviews by Will Ethridge.

What was the most unusual place you’ve ever played music in?
I’ll tell you about the most unusual think that’s ever happened at a show.

Cerberus Shoal had just finished setting up for a show at KSET in Slovenia. Chriss, Tim and I were still on the stage messing around on our instruments when all of a sudden the stage started shifting back and forth. Tim had just jumped off the stage so I thought it was his heavy feet… but seconds later we were told to leave bacause we’d just experienced an earth quake! My first ever… a 3.1!

What is the most mysterious album you own? (i.e. you don’t know anything about the musicians’ identities)
I pretty much have a good grip on the identities of the cd’s I own… but my most favorite and weirdest cd is a cd called Indiependent by Mission Man. He was a fan of mine on My Space and I first met him on the Sage Francis tour where he handed my this amazingly strange album. The only way I can describe it to you is by saying it’s the most honest album I’ve ever listened to. EVER.

Describe your favorite sound not made by a musical instrument.
This is kind of cheesy, but I’m a whistle/ bird call kinda person. I love the trills and songs that come from these amazing little flying creatures. I suppose it’s the little things that keep me going.

What do you think happens when you get too far from your house?
The further I get, the more I feel like I’m living life. I love touring and being out of my home comfort zone. Finding a new comfort in first impressions and a different story every day. It’s the hardest/ easiest thing i’ve ever done in my life. This is what happens. Viva la road!

For more info on the Tower Of Song Festival on Saturday, May 23 in Congress Square, visit their info page.

Photos by Bryan Bruchman, interviews by Will Ethridge.

What was the most unusual place you’ve ever played music in?
My head, alone at home, with an emphasis on unusual.

Have you ever written a song inspired by a dream? What was the song about?
I have a whole rock opera based around one madhat dream involving the end of the world. We’re talking plane crashes, tornadoes, some huge guy made out of clouds. Look for a full-scale theatrical production this fall. I’m serious.

What do you think happens when you get too far from your house?
Bills go unpaid, plants thirst and love sours. On the other hand, hair grows long, cares are freed and who you were in high school becomes gloriously irrelevant.

For more info on the Tower Of Song Festival on Saturday, May 23 in Congress Square, visit their info page.