Beloved Brooklyn-guitar player, Scott Metzger and his band Wolf! are scheduled to headline Freaks Ball XXI at the Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn on September 22. Opening the show are the Brass Queens, an all-female brass band that delivers their take on the sounds of New Orleans funk and soul. The nine-piece ensemble was recently presented with the Rider’s Choice Award for favorite subway station performers by Governor Kathy Hochul.
Metzger is hot off of a tour with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead that saw the band play with Brandford Marsalis at the Newport Jazz Festival and Grateful Dead guitar player Bob Weir at Brooklyn Bowl. “It's been a busy year with some unbelievable moments,” says Metzger. ”JRAD headlining the Newport Jazz Festival with Branford Marsalis joining us (three feet to my left!) was totally surreal and beyond incredible. And obviously, Weir sitting in with JRAD at Brooklyn Bowl.”
Nearly a decade old, Wolf! is a “telecaster rock trio” that weaves together elements of surf, rockabilly, and boogaloo, with enough adventurous improvisation for Grateful Dead devotees. Joining the guitarist is Wolf! regular Jon Shaw on bass and Tony Leone of Little Feat on drums. “The biggest thing I’m looking forward to,” says Metzger, “is that my old friend Tony Leone will be filling in on drums. We were in Anders Osborne’s band together from 2013 to 2016.”
The Freaks Ball is an annual party/concert put on by the NYC-Freaks, a NYC based email discussion group for live music tastemakers with over twenty years under its belt. Joe Russo’s Almost Dead played its inaugural show at Freaks Ball XIII back in 2013. “The NYC Freaks are a real New York institution,” says Metzger. “The Freaks Ball is always a great time. I’m sure I’ve played more of them than anybody else at this point. It’s a great group of people who take their live music SERIOUSLY.”
Metzger has a busy Fall ahead of him with October JRAD dates and a November East Coast tour with LaMP (Metzger with Lawton and Paczkowski from Trey Anastasio’s band). Tickets to Freaks Ball XXI are available now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/freaks-ball-xxi-always-alright-tickets-669009935727?aff=odwdwdspacecraft
