The April Fools “Wonderland” Album Release with special guest Turn Turn Turn
Friday, November 26, 2021
6:30 pm Doors // 7:30 pm Music
$25 Advance General Admission
Admission includes a CD copy of The April Fools’ new album, Wonderland!
All Ages
Tickets sales are final & non-refundable
*The Parkway Theater requires Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination or Negative Test Result for entry to all events. *
Minneapolis rock & roll greats The April Fools celebrate the release of their fourth studio album, Wonderland. Opening set by acclaimed folk/Americana trio, Turn Turn Turn. Minnesota music scene's biggest (& best coiffed) cheerleader joins the fun —HiFi Hair & Records’ Jon Clifford will be on-hand all night as host and emcee!
The April Fools began as a studio project for singer/songwriter Brian Drake, who intended to record a batch of his songs with help from a wide network of players to flesh out the tunes. Guitar, bass, and drums would be augmented by horn players, strings, woodwinds, keyboards, vocalists, and more depending on the specific song. The songs themselves spanned a broad spectrum—rock to straight-up country to alt-country/Americana to blue-eyed soul to Brit-pop to folk to 70’s AM radio and more.
The four original members got together for their first jam on September 15, 2013. Easily finding a cohesive thread with which to bring together those diverse genres, they quickly began recording sessions for what would become their debut album. Released in April 2015, the self-titled The April Fools quickly garnered airplay on more than 100 radio stations across the U.S.
Fast-forward to December 2017. After the release their of their second album Colorwheel, on Blackberry Way Records, original guitarist Clay Williams left the band and the remaining members carried on quickly with the addition of Minneapolis veteran Terri Owens (Tete Noires, The Flamin’ Oh’s, and others) and Dallas transplant Brad McLemore (Sara Hickman, Soul Food Cafe). Within a year the new line-up recorded and released another full-length LP, Third, again on Blackberry Way Records. This one gave notice of a band evolving in leaps and bounds – again garnering airplay nationally and internationally.
And now, today.
As the band was getting ready to begin recording their fourth studio album the world was becoming aware of a new term, COVID-19. They couldn’t know that this would soon take over everyone's lives and lock us all down. As this reality set in, original bassist Scott Hreha made the decision to leave the band. The remaining members, with the sad reality that they wouldn’t be playing any shows for who knows how long, decided to forge ahead with making a new record. The plan was to bring in a variety of bassists they knew and loved and hear their interpretations of the new songs being worked on up to that point. Recording with great caution, often one band member alone with audio engineer Mike Owens, everyone knew this was going to be a slow process.
Full steam ahead – Brad reached out to his friends in the Old 97s and brought bassist Murry Hammond on board for a remote session to add his distinct style to the song “Lose Your Mind.” They also brought in bassists Paul McFarland (Lolo’s Ghost, Run Westy Run) and Nick Salisbury (Ryan Bingham, Brian Fallon, and many Twin Cities bands) to add their unique styles to the songs. With touring all but shut down The April Fools invited Salisbury to come on board as a full time member. He fit like a glove and proceeded to finish out the the record with his stellar playing. Many months later, and many small recording sessions later, The April Fools are excited to release this album into the new world on 11/26/2021.
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the new April Fools!
Website // Facebook
Turn Turn Turn is the story of girl meets boy meets girl; a trio who bond over their mutual love of sweet harmonies from '60s and 70's country, folk and pop music and form an original Americana band.
Members Adam Levy (guitar, vocals), Savannah Smith (guitar, vocals) and Barb Brynstad (bass, vocals) are all mainstays of the Minnesota music scene and together craft an infectious, pop-infused brand of Americana.
Emceeing the evening will be THE rock'n roll man of Minneapolis, Jon Clifford, of Hifi Hair and Records.
