The latest on the RTG 2012 bands

The Hold Steady, Doomtree and more.

June 14, 2012 at 7:19PM
Craig Finn performed with a band of friends at the Triple Rock in Minneapolis Min., Saturday, February 4, 2012. Finn of the Hold Steady is on a first-ever solo tour.
Craig Finn of the Hold Steady. (Dml - Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Hold Steady (8:45 p.m. Sat.)

Still easing their way back from a first-ever extended hiatus last year, in which time Edina-bred frontman Craig Finn issued his solo debut, the New York-based Midwesterners will have new songs to premiere from an album likely due early next year.

Trampled by Turtles (7:15)

Bonnaroo last weekend. Newport Folk Fest in July. Lollapalooza in August. Maybe a third late-night TV gig somewhere in there (the Duluth string band's Letterman debut in April was a slam dunk). Talk about a constructive summer. Minnesota fans who didn't get RTG tickets will have to head to Wisconsin to hear songs from the new album "Stars and Satellites" this summer, be it Big Top Chautauqua on Friday or Somerset on Aug. 10.

Doomtree (5:45)

The rap crew just finished its first European tour and is soon headed overseas again for a couple of festivals. Its members are otherwise busy with individual projects, including new albums by P.O.S. (out Sept. 18), Dessa and Paper Tiger.

tUnE-yArDs (4:30)

The only non-Minnesotan singer on the lineup, face-painted, drum-banging New Englander Merrill Garbus almost deserves resident status for how incessantly the Current has played her urban-grind single, "Gangsta." She and her idiosyncratic, horn- and percussion-wired ensemble also deserve props for a lively sold-out First Ave show in November.

Howler (3:45)

Frontboy Jordan Gatesmith's scene-trashing interview with a BBC blogger didn't earn him many local fans, but this gig and Sunday's tribute to his late neighbor Karl Mueller of Soul Asylum should. Not that he needs us. Gatesmith recently updated his Facebook page to show he's dating former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr's daughter, and he will earn more British love at the Leeds and Reading festivals in August.

Dessa and Sims are two members of the group called Doomtree that played, among other groups, at the Soundset in Shakopee Sunday afternoon.
Dessa and Sims of Doomtree. (Dml - Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writer

about the writer

Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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