The Fritz The Social Orlando Florida Richie Williams The Sober Goat

Live Review, Photos, Video & Interview: The Fritz, Leisure Chief, Oklahoma Stackhouse | The Social, Orlando, FL | Thursday, December 12, 2017

by Richie Williams • January 27, 2018

Due to Hurricane Irma, this show was rescheduled from September 7 to December 14.

The Fritz returned to The Social in Orlando (they were here back in March 2017) with special guests Leisure Chief and Oklahoma Stackhouse opening up the show. I get to the show early, around 8pm when doors open, to interview The Fritz. I meet up with Mikey “Spice” Evans (percussion) at the front door and after I make a quick stop at the bar, we head to the tiny green room and gather with the other memebers: Jamar Woods (keyboard and vocals), Jamie Hendrickson (guitar), Jake O’ Connor (bass), and Michael Tillis (drums). However, Jake was not present for the interview. Anyway, these dudes could not have been any more awesome or welcoming, and we have a great time talking and hanging out before the show, as well as some extra curricular fun times hanging out after the show until security started getting tired of still being at work.

WATCH MY INTERVIEW WITH THE FRITZ!

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

> The Fritz are from of Ashville but they have some Florida roots in Jacksonville. The band was about to drive down to Florida in Septmber for this original scheduled show in Orlando (which was supposed to be the first show of the tour) but luckily they hadn’t started that drive yet. It was just the three Florida dates that got rescheduled which were just kinda tacked on to the end of the tour.

> During their Orlando show back in March 2017, Jamar did a machine gun-esque move with his keyboard because he found a sound that resembled stormtroopers. It was a new move no one in the band had seen yet. I asked Jamar if he had any new moves planned, and he said “I turn 30 this year and I think I’m retiring more old moves than I’m making new ones….” However, a new move or two did show themselves during the show (keep scrolling down for the video of the show). Jamie then chimed in and said he will be doing splits at some point during the set….” However, no splits were done. 🙁

> Jamar’s new year’s resolution was to do more yoga, at least once a week. Jamie said he does it too, but he would call it more stretching than yoga, which is what I occasionally do. Keep it simple.

> I asked the guys about Ashville and the snow. Jamie enjoys sledding occasionally, and Jamar enjoys staying home and drinking whiskey, although that’s practically everyday and has nothing to do with the snow, except for when he puts it in warm cider. I told them how I’ve only seen snow once and a few years ago and was about to go skiing in Denver during the Umphrey’s McGee NYE run. It was then at this moment that Jamie let it slip that the band would be going to Colorado for the first time in February… I got the exclusive!

> The Fritz is released the new album Natural Mind on September 5 with the help of Dave Brandwein of Turkuaz.

> A few days before this Orlando show, the guys were in Miami where they experienced the sensory isolation tanks.

> I always like to know what music the band has been listening to lately: Jamie said Chis Dely; Jamar said classical piano; Mikey said Vulfpeck, The War on Drugs, and Sly and The Family Stone; and Michael said he went down the rabbit hole on TouTube and listened to the new Justin Bieber tour (it’s amazing!).

Oklahoma Stackhouse started things off nicely with their blend of punk, ska/reggae, and even some of the blues. They released their album Bird Dog Blues in August 2015, which was recorded at Alchemy Studios in Tallahassee. The band states that the album is full of joy and tears, rock and roll, and lots of love. The band is currently six songs deep for their 3rd full length album, probably to be released later this year.

Tangerine Pie / Boomaloop Teaser – Oklahoma Stackhouse

New Year. New Songs. TWO new music videos! Kick off 2018 the right way with some fresh Oklahoma Stackhouse. Like and Share, Youtube link below…?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSA69CnAyL4? by Bryon Adkins of BADKINS MEDIA ? by Ted Bowne of The Lizard Lodge Studio

Posted by Oklahoma Stackhouse on Monday, January 1, 2018

Up next are some of my favorite dudes who need no introduction, they’re only most funkiest jazz rockers in town. They recently returned as the house band on Thursday nights at Tanqueray’s Bar in Downtown Orlando. Ladies and gentlemen, LESIURE CHIEF! Oh, damn it, that was an introduction.

Watch Leisure Chief’s full set below, thanks to The Sober Goat!

The time finally arrives for The Fritz to take the stage. I am whisked away in the cosmic funk whirlwind and mesmerized by the emotion emitting from each member. The band plays several songs from their new album, Natural Mind, which was released September 5 and produced by Dave Brandwein (Turkuaz, Galaxy Smith Studios).

They start the show with a single hand clap from Jamar and waste no time diving right into the first track on the new album, “Stuck In Between” (music video below). Next is “Oppenheim” which is my favorite track from the first album, it kinda has that Super Mario Brothers, Level 2 sounding vibe. They also play “Fact from Fiction” off the new album, as well as “Casual Mistakes” which Jamar referenced before the song, saying “Try not to make any.” More from the new album, “You” and “Get It Together” are played back to back, as if they’re almost speaking to me personally. The last track on the album is “The Undertow” which, as can be seen in my video of the show (second video below), really extracts some pure emotions from Jamar.