Live music preview: SIMS Saturdays rolls on September 7 with Forever Changes, The Living Pins and The John-Pauls
The quarterly live music series that benefits The SIMS Foundation, SIMS Saturdays rolls on September 7 at Love Wheel Records with performances by Forever Changes (Love tribute) along with The Living Pins and The John-Pauls presented by The Cosmic Clash. The rotating act show which matches store sales for the day by an anonymous donor, raises funds for the Austin-area music industry mental health and recovery organization that puts those services in reach of industry members who cannot afford a therapist on their own. This Saturday the store is open at 11 a.m. with music running from 4-7 p.m. RSVP here.
In addition to an excellent selection of vinyl at the small, independent record store located off Burnet Road in North Central Austin, there will be giveaways for those attending which include various vinyl records plus a pair of tickets to attend a single day of the upcoming LEVITATION music festival taking place on Halloween weekend at venues throughout Austin. It’s honestly one of our favorite events of the year and an apt prize for those interested in vinyl and supporting local music industry members. There will also be a limited supply of 512 Brewing beer and cold drinks from Rambler on hand. The SIMS Foundation will also have a table there to answer questions about the org, take donations and offer SIMS swag for sale.
Show openers, The John-Pauls are a three-piece post punk act based in Austin. Their debut recorded in 2015 at Jim Eno’s (Spoon) Public Hi-Fi Studios, is available to stream via Bandcamp. More from their band bio: “The John-Pauls are a co-ed three-piece of post-punkers from Austin, Texas. Their four-song debut contains new songs for old people and old songs for new people via two guitars in drop D, cave woman drums, a piano, and voices. The sounds are dissonant and infectious, recorded at Jim Eno (Spoon)’s Public Hi Fi studio on a gray, Texas winter day. Phillip Niemeyer, Mark Fagan, and Mikila Zaorski have rocked in various bands in various cities (Austin’s Black Lipstick, NYC’s The French Doors, Houston’s legendary Bayou Pigs). They bring a veteran music sense to their teenage-grownup approach to recording.”
Their latest release, Bon Mots dropped in 2022 on Aagoo Records. More from the label: “Like a countrified 90s Sonic Youth, The J-Ps use three guitars, and no bass. The bottom is owned by the insistent kick of drummer Elizabeth John-Paul. Loping stone-skips of keyboards by Mikila John-Paul.” Sounds rad. Bring ’em on.
The Living Pins are another Austin act that have been playing the local circuit for some time with a long hiatus mixed in. Comprised of local music veterans Pam Peltz and Carrie Clark who, according to their website were both playing guitar and singing in popular acts, Sixteen Deluxe and Ursa Major, respectively, in the mid-90s. They formed The Living Pins as a side project simply to have fun. They don’t actually remember why The Living Pins stopped gigging. Maybe because both their bass player and drummer moved out of town? It’s all lost in the fog, but cut to the twenty-teens, and Pam and Carrie found themselves at a cocktail party wondering why The Living Pins didn’t play shows anymore. They couldn’t remember why, so they set up a practice. When everything shut down, in March 2020, they’d already been talking with Jeff Copas (Sixteen Deluxe, Mule Ear Recordings Engineer) about producing some songs. The three set up an ad hoc recording session in a warehouse in East Austin and over two weekends in the Fall of 2020, the Freaky Little Monster Children EP was recorded. It was released in April 2021 with kind of no expectations.
After being well-received by the press, the band continued on, recording and releasing five more singles following Freaky Little Monster Children culminating in another EP release, Let It Be So which dropped in November 2023 and was recorded with Frenchie Smith at his Bubble Recording Studio. Like past SIMS Saturdays guests, Rosie Flores and Mike Molnar, The Living Pins represent a simpler time in Austin when the living was truly easy and the music was the soundtrack to an emerging Austin scene. Don’t miss this opportunity to see them perform in an intimate setting this Saturday.
Forever Changes is a Love tribute band formed in 2006 with a performance on Halloween night at Beerland. The moniker comes from the legendary album Love released in 1967 on Elektra Records. It was the group’s third album. Forever Changes bandleader, Jake Garcia (The Black Angels, The Ripe) let us know the group has had revolving members since its formation. This time it’s Jason Gentry (The Ugly Beats), Damien Llanes (Je Texas) with Joe Emery (Ugly Beats) and Wyatt Corder on trumpet. Expect some great covers of the L.A. underground act from the 60’s like the tune below.
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