related items
There's something that stands out about Free Henry!.
Sure, the group's own brand of jam-heavy, jazz-influenced rock has garnered increasing popularity and has helped land gigs opening for national acts like The Guess Who and Better Than Ezra. But, it's also that extra punctuation in their name that helps set them apart from other bands.
"You see something with an exclamation point (and) it automatically has more power to it," says guitarist Alex Foote.
The Buffalo-based group - also consisting of lead singer Bob Buckley, drummer Pat Mannella and bassist Derek Presti - has been racking up some powerful accolades to back-up their exclamation point.
"We've really been lucky to have Buffalo as a launching pad for our career. Everyone has been very receptive to the sound we're creating," says Presti. "We know there's quite the diversity of our listeners. We see people at our shows that are 18 and 23. Then we see people that are maybe in their 50's that really dig our music. That's a very good payoff."
Their album features a number of jazzy, rock/pop cuts such as "Sailboat Senses" and "Too Much Too Soon" and the band plays many of these tracks during their shows. Free Henry! played many of these tunes in Rochester recently, during the 2009 Lilac Festival.
They'll return on Thursday, June 25, with a show at the Dub Land Underground. Foote and Presti say they're looking forward to the gig - especially the "performing under the earth" part at Dub Land's downstairs stage.
"We're really looking forward to it, in a sense that we feel our music has a natural connection to ... nature, and I'd say the sets are going to be really powerful. They're going to be really high energy, just full-throttle the whole way through," Foote says.
Free Henry! will get plenty of chances to showcase their material during live shows in the upcoming months, but after Summers On Neptune it might be "Autumns on Campus."
"Our goal after this crazy summer," says Foote, "is to hop in a van and hit the college market pretty heavily. (We're going to) try to play at a lot of universities and if we're fortunate enough to hop on a bill with a national touring act - to open for them - then that would be terrific."
