London Tone Music’s 52 Week Project Creates Special Night at Triple Door

Last year the London Tone project began with London Bridge Studios and 2 Jeff’s on Music combining forces with the goal of signing and recording 52 musical groups to record a single song every week for 52 weeks. The project has been a huge success and with all 52 recordings complete, it was time to celebrate with a spectacular sold-out show last Thursday night at the Triple Door Theater in downtown Seattle.

Over 40 of the artists were there to perform and it was a night crammed with talent and stunning performances. Our emcee for the evening was local favorite Michael Wansley, better known as Wanz or T-Wanz, whom you may know for his performance with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on the hit song “Thrift Shop”.

The evening started with the aptly-named group Strong Suit. They played their power ballad single “Lightning Chaser”, which really got the crowd going. We had London Tone week-one offering, Kim Virant‘s song “Pilot”, and when she sings, her voice is truly hypnotizing. Week two’s Lions Ambition performed their single “Ambition”, where they manage to combine hip-hop, rock and pop music in a fresh and exciting way. Week Four’s Philana Goodrich played a super catchy indie-pop song called “Fools”, that also allows her to show-off her keyboard skills.  The band Before Cars performed their single “Fin” that’s about love and a shark attack, which finds frontman and guitarist Chad Channing (ex-Nirvana) showing off his diverse musical talents and together they create an indie sound that is such a fresh surprise, considering the dark topic of the song. Hopefully we will be hearing more from them soon.

The incredible  Geoffrey Castle delighted the packed the Triple Door crowd with his electronic violin with an amazing sound unlike any performer I have seen before. He played the song “Istanbul”, while serenading the audience shortly thereafter was the Arborist‘s Antoine Martell, who sang a hauntingly sweet alternative folk ballad titled “Getting Easier”. Smokey Brights, who you can catch playing their fun pop singles “Viego” and “Ugly Evergreen” at the upcoming Capital Hill Block Party, Sasquatch, and Bumbershoot on labor day weekend, delighted the crowd.

Veteran rockers Vanowen wowed the crowd with their song “Beautiful”. Whitney Lyman‘s elegant voice lends itself well to such a beautiful song “Laser Beam”, while fellow artist Susy Sun, who has a gorgeous voice, as well as being a talented piano player, joined up with string virtuoso Andrew Joslyn (Macklemore, Vaudeville Etiquette) who did the improvised looping while they performed Susy’s song “That’s Just Life”, which is an upbeat folk/pop song. Andrew also performed with Kitt Bender’s week 20 song “The One You Have” which just stops you in your tracks and commands you to listen. It’s one those romantic songs you could see dancing to on your wedding night .

As if it wasn’t already a great show, we had plenty more to go including London Bridge’s own Eric Lilavois with his week 31 song “God in our Glass” which is soulful and when he performed it with fellow artists Jessica Lynne from week 6 and Tobias the Owl from week 48 it was one of the best treats of the evening – especially when they continued on to perform Jessica’s country tune “Calling Me Home” and Tobias the Owl‘s “No Light Moon Song”. He is an extremely talented bluesy-sounding singer and musician with an indie folk style.  He will be kicking off the NW Folklife Festival on Memorial Day weekend as the first act on the first day at the Vera Project stage.

Week 22 artists Spyn Reset play a mix of electronic sounds and heavy metal in a completely new way as the sound just pulls you in, while performer Jeremy Serwer with week 24’s song “Tender Feet” decided to do a special rendition of his song “Finding New Homes for The Wealthy”. Nolan Garrett may be young but don’t let that fool you; he and his drummer Carson Dent rocked harder than anybody with his single “Step Back” from week 28. He really looks to have a bright future as a musician.

We were also treated to a performance by Grammy award winner Jovino Santos Neto – with his friend Edaurdo Neves on flute performing week 29’s “Illuminado”. Danny Pentin performed his song “Opened Up the Blinds” which went over perfectly . Also in the night’s most lighthearted performance, Will Jordan, with Philana Goodrich, Paul Landis and Jonathan Plumb on backup, performed his song “Cheat” which shows off his talent and sense of humor. Finally we finished the night on a high note when The Rick Beatty Band played their song “Endless Summer”, which is a great rock tune with a bit of a classic hard rock sound with a twist.

So, whether you are just looking for a new song for your playlist or you’re looking for great artists to go see live, the London Tone project offers so many great songs and performers to check out and support.

Check out more great photos of this night by Bill Bungard (http://www.billbungard.com)