Next weekend, a lineup of musicians are taking the stage at the East Village’s Berlin.
Presented by NYC’s own True Groove Records, the show will host the U.K.-based group Project Blackbird, Brooklyn’s Strange Flesh, and New York City’s Marla Mase & The True Groove All-Stars. The show will take place on July 15 starting at 7 p.m.
Project Blackbird will headline the show with its unique genre-fluid sound. Strange Flesh boasts a technicolor pop sound comprised of drums, synths and animal calls, while Mase will bring elements of rock and roll noir.
Formed within the past couple of years, Project Blackbird has built up a solid following overseas.
“[Our members] come from fairly different musical backgrounds. My background is really reggae and ska; our guitarist, he’s not a rock guitarist but he certainly listens to a lot of rock and funk, sort of groove-led music,” said Jon Read, multi-instrumentalist for Project Blackbird. “Our drummer is definitely a funky drummer, our bass player listens to Paul McCartney. It’s a real mix, it’s just something that came together.”
Though this is not Read’s first time in New York, having played as a touring member of the popular U.K. band The Specials. This is the first time that Project Blackbird will be taking part in New York City’s music scene.
“I’ve played in New York quite a few times with the Specials and across America, but that was a session player with the band,” said Read. “It’s really nice to bring our own music across now.”
Read says the show is going to be truly one-of-a-kind, with each band really ringing their all to the stage. For Project Blackbird, he’s very excited to bring their music live to the States for an audience who may be introduced to it for the first time.
“It should be a really nice evening of music, for sure,” said Read. “We’re de doing new music that will be coming up our next album, but for anyone who’s coming to see us, it’s all gonna be new music because they won’t have seen it before anyway. They’ll all be brand new to us as well as anyone else listening.”
Berlin is located at 25 Avenue A. Tickets start at $10 and are available on ticketweb.com. Must be 21+ to attend.
For more information about Project Blackbird, visit www.projectblackbird.band. You can follow Strange Flesh on Facebook. For more info on Mase, visit marlamase.com.
