Fri 9/19 @ 8PM
Nashville glam rocker GYASI is about to pop. Although with his talent, that’s no surprise, but how it happened was less than a done deal. And now he’s coming to Akron with Vanity Crash (tix here).
“I wasn’t a redneck driving a big old pickup truck,” he says. “I always felt like my masculine and feminine [sides] were equal. So embracing that, writing about that… all that was part of the journey.”
He worked with Jack White’s band on his 2023 T. Rex-meets-Led Zeppelin debut EP Baby Blue, so Gyasi (his real name, pronounced Jah-see, the title of his 2nd album) was ready to break out of his idyllic childhood in the hollers of rural West Virginia, inspired by Russian neighbors who turned him on to the New York Dolls, Lou Reed, and David Bowie. At a young age, he was dressing up in girl’s clothes and makeup, and, yes, receiving the regular beat down until he learned to play the guitar. Moving to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music brought him closer to his people, then he moved to Nashville, got married, had a daughter and has released 4 LPs and numerous singles and EPs to critical and audience acclaim.
Special guests for the evening couldn’t be more perfectly suited than Cleveland’s own Vanity Crash, born onstage in an explosion of flash and fury as the featured band in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Five releases later, Vanity Crash has been dressing up and throwing down with eye-popping synchronized light shows, outrageous stage costumes and provocative attitude, opening for the likes of the New York Dolls, Poison, the Darkness and Gogol Bordello. Their rigorously researched annual live presentations on David Bowie are legend in the region, performing to sold out houses and featuring original music paired with Bowie deep cuts, rarities and bangers.
Tickets: https://www.tickpick.com/organizer/event/gyasi-wsg-vanity-crash-14811987