Culture
Power Pop Legend Dwight Twilley Headed to The Union Sept. 1
By: Emily Votaw
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The one and only Dwight Twilley will perform at The Union on Saturday, September 1. The show will include performances by Shilpa Ray, Mobile Home, and the Blam Blams. Tickets are available now.
Sometime in 1967, Twilley and his longtime musical partner Phil Seymour met at a screening of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, and the rest is, literally, history. Together the two formed Oister, a group that was eventually renamed the Dwight Twilley Band, fusing the earthshaking power of the Fab Four with the sonic virtues of early rock ‘n’ roll into an undeniably potent potion. Perhaps the Dwight Twilley band only had a “hit” with 1975’s “I’m On Fire,” (it’s important to note that this tune came out during a year when The Carpenters and America dominated the charts — no hate on them, but c’mon, “I’m On Fire” has a heftier sonic soul than anything either of those groups ever put out! To be fair, 1975 also saw the rise of Bowie’s “Fame” and a number of other remarkable, more lauded pop songs,) but that doesn’t mean they didn’t leave an impression on the American pop music landscape.
Twilley would go on to have notable success with 1984’s “Girls,” which features backing vocals by his buddy, Tom Petty. He would also go onto craft a number of impressive solo albums, even if a small few ever really got to hear them. More than anything, Twilley’s commercial success seemed to be foiled at every turn by distribution issues, freak incidents (such as appearing on Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert TV series in 1977, the same episode as the infamous Sex Pistols appearance which in turn led the episode to never being aired,) and more, none of which reflected the incredibly high caliber of music Twilley churned out, and continues to record today.
Now, Twilley has his own record label, Big Oak Records, on which he crafted his last full-length, 2014’s Always. Among those who climbed out of the woodwork to proudly contribute to that work included Ken Stringfellow of The Posies, Mitch Easter of The dbs, the late Tommy Keene, and many more.
This show comes your way thanks to Blackout Booking and WLCI (Hocking College Radio), and doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available at this link.