Tuesday Night Music Preview

Starting things out at the Viper Room at 8pm is Jessie J., a singer from London who was signed by Jason Flom at Lava Universal earlier this year. She was formerly a member of the British girl group Soul Deep, where she spent two years before deciding to pursue a solo career. She signed to indie Gut Records in March 2007 and began to choose from over 150 songs that she’d written in the previous couple of years. Unfortunately, Gut went bankrupt last fall, leading to a whirlwind tour of the US that ultimately led to her signing with Lava.

Starting off the evening’s Whisky entertainment at 8:30 is Australia’s Ruby Tigers, who have amassed an impressive array of well-connected friends and business contacts in the last few years. The group spent the majority of 2007 ensconced in Powderfinger's Airlock Studios Brisbane, emerging with a collection of songs that not only pleased current fans, but garnered them new ones, including famed producer/mixer Mark Needham (The Killers, My Chemical Romance, Chris Isaak), who promptly agreed to mix their album after hearing the demos on MySpace. Thus inspired, the band went back into the studio with American producer/songwriter Marc Swersky and emerging Australian engineer Anthony Lycenko (Pete Murray) and produced an album that showcases their world-class talent alongside radio-ready tunes.

Hitting the Viper stage at 9pm is Australian artist Chris Pickering, who in a mere five years has utilized his insightful lyrical sense, magical melodies and natural good looks to help redefine the alt-country genre. During that time he's released a pair of EPs and two critically acclaimed albums and won over audiences throughout Australia and America (the latter thanks to a sensational performance at SXSW 2008 and continuing "residencies" in Nashville, Tennessee). In February 2009 Pickering was invited to showcase at the prestigious North American Folk Alliance in Memphis, and he plans to return to Nashville this summer to simmer some more in the city's vibrant country scene.

At 9:30 the Whisky will feature Domenica, hard-rockin' four-piece from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that is fronted by the gorgeous Bekki, a former teen model that opted for the passion of performing onstage over the cool attitude require on the catwalk. Her vibrant vocals are ably complemented by her rock-solid rhythm guitar playing, while the three guys in the band--bassist/vocalist Kurtis, lead guitarist/vocalist Josh and drummer Steve--provide suitably emphatic accompaniment on such numbers as "I Love My Gun," "Waste Away," "Vampires" and our favorite song title to come down the pike in a while, "Porno State of Mind." During the spring/summer of 2008 Bekki wrote a trio of new songs with famed guitarist Marcos Cureil (P.O.D.) and tracked these new songs in Matt Sorum's (Guns N Roses/Velvet Revolver) Hollywood-based studio for their forthcoming full-length album.

Australian act Yves Klein Blue, who take the stage at the Viper Room at 10pm, took their name from the famed artist Yves Klein, whose “Yves Klein Blue” is a blue shade that doesn't fade over time, forever appearing wet and freshly applied…thus serving as a metaphor for the group's goal of creating music that is timeless and won't fade with age. They released a five-song EP in April 2008, Yves Klein Blue Draw Attention to Themselves, that’s a joyous melding of classic pop, old-school punk, gypsy-tinted jazz and indie rock.

Young Love is up next at the Whisky at 10:30. It’s the name for the solo project of Dan Keyes, formerly a member of the Austin-based band Recover, which landed a major label deal, a national fanbase and gigabytes of critical acclaim. However, much as Keyes loved and respected his fellow band members, he had other songs buzzing around his brain--songs that didn't fit in with Recover's sound. A crossroads was reached when a New York musician offered up a vacant place to stay; having always wanted to live in the Big Apple, Keyes regretfully bade farewell to Recover and, armed with but a single bag and his guitar, moved to the City That Never Sleeps. He also had some rough demos of the new music he was hearing in his head: catchy and danceable, yet unpredictable, they would form the basis of the sound that would evolve into Young Love.

Finishing things up at the Viper Room at 11pm is Salem, a Stockholm, Sweden native born of a Syrian father and Swedish mother whose wistful soul/pop confections are proving increasingly popular in his native land and beyond. Salem began his musical training at age four on the violin; by age 14 he was accomplished enough to perform on a solo tour of Russia, but he opted to instead start studying jazz piano upon completion of the jaunt. He then went on to perform with such Swedish artists as electro-dance diva Robyn and Snook before releasing his debut full-length, This Is Who I Am, in January 2007 to great critical acclaim. In October 2007 he was named "Best Newcomer" by Swedish music publishers, and in January 2008 he also won four Swedish Grammis (Grammys) out of seven nominations, emerging victorious for Best Male Artist, Best Newcomer, Best Composer and Best Producer.