What: The Lacs with Hard Target & Crucifix
When: Sunday, October 9th 2016, Doors at 8pm/ Music at 9pm
Where: Mateel Community Center
Tickets: $25 adv (online only)/ $30 door / All ages show with bar for 21+
On Sunday, October 9th the Mateel Community Center presents the Humboldt County debut of The Lacs. Originators of a now-popular style of music blending country & hip hop- ala groups like Moonshine Bandits- The Lacs simply call it country- and they bring a loud and rocking good time straight from The South! Doors open at 8pm with music at 9- and Hard Target & Crucifix. The Mateel kitchen will offer food and a bar will serve patrons 21+. Get your tickets in advance- online only- and don’t miss what is sure to be rowdy country-style harvest party with The Lacs on Sunday, October 9th!
The Lacs Bio
“People still can’t figure out what to call the music we do,” said Brian ‘Rooster’ King, looking at his longtime collaborator Clay ‘Uncle Snap’ Sharpe. “We just get in there and write about what we want.”
The duo has been together since 2000 and Outlaw, which is their fifth album since signing with Average Joe’s Entertainment, is a watershed effort from The LACS that sonically broadens their musical scope and blends together every genre from traditional country and southern rock to rap and spoken word.
But it’s their true-to-life lyrics that paint a series of authentic compositions depicting the life of a pair of rednecks from South Georgia. “We love writing about stories that we’ve lived,” said King, of their biographical 12-song effort that could prove to be a breakthrough of sorts.
Label it however you choose. They call it country.
Baxley, a slow-moving rural town of just over 4,000 residents, where Sharpe grew up a country boy, is a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business and newcomers are known as outsiders. There’s one elementary school, one high school and, until recently, only three red lights. “Now we got a fourth and a Wal-Mart,” said Sharpe, “so, yeah, we’re stepping up.” Both his parents worked and, as a young boy, he’d tag along with his old man and spend summer days hanging out on construction sites, while listening to a local country radio station.
Those early formative years is when Sharpe’s love of country music developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, it wasn’t until he was 20 when a then-18 year old King moved with his family from Waycross to Baxley that The LACS first met up. They liked a lot of the same music – Garth Brooks and George Strait, Pink Floyd and Metallica along with Tupac and Nelly – and as quickly as they befriended one another they started writing lyrics as if they had been kindred spirits since childhood. King was a self-taught guitarist and the two fast-friends pooled their money together to buy a cheaper version of a beat box they still use when they perform on stage today.
In 2001, they saved up another $2,500 to pay for 40 hours of studio time – half of which they spent recording their first self-titled album and the other half of the time was used to mix and master – and 1,000 copies of the CD to sell in parking lots and parties. Over time they built up a cult following of fellow rednecks and hillbillies and eventually drew the attention of Average Joe’s.
Last fall they released their fourth album and this spring the prolific songsmiths are already back with yet another studio album, which features the first single God Bless a Country Girl. “It’s a fun little song,” said King. Sharpe and King have matured personally and especially professionally since the first time they plugged a $7 microphone into a boom box, which still says a lot about their authentic writing process.
Then and now, The LACS enter the studio with half the album written and then finish the second half of the writing process while recording the first half. Their fans, who both King and Sharpe describe as rowdy, loud, hardworking rednecks, have come to expect songs about the south – beer drinking, mud bogging and more drinking – that remind them of their own lives. “Brian and I have prided ourselves on putting out real music that we lived,” Sharpe concluded, “and not just writing about some topic because it was a No. 1 for somebody else.”
Hard Target Bio
Hard Target is a southern hip hop based group that is more than unique and is quickly emerging onto the music scene. The group consists of three members; Dustin Bennett, born in Waycross, GA, has been making music since 1998. He has been a featured artist on AXS TV and he has shared the stage with some of the GREATS throughout the years such as; Ludacris, T.I., Rittz,
Rehab and more. Dustin’s style and flow is unmatched. His southern tone comes backed up with some real knowledge of hip hop and places himself in the ranks with the best Emcee’s to have graced the microphone.Wesley Breit, native of Tampa, FL, was born to a long line of musicians. His grandfather was a country singer, songwriter, and a world class fiddle player. His father, a southern rock guitarist and his mother a country singer have all lead to his Country / Hip Hop style. His productions have been featured on many major prime time television shows including; Keeping up with The Kardashians, The Real World, Total Divas, and many more. Wesley Breit is quickly emerging as a world class producer.Finally, Ryan Fleming, the Michigan born, Florida raised, musical talent from which the name originates. Ryan has been known for over a decade as “Hard Target”, a solo rapper, who has toured the world, and has been recognized on many different platforms. From TV, Radio, Social Media and even catching the attention of Limp Bizkit’s front man Fred Durst. Having a southern influenced sound combined with an unforgiving skill with the pen, Ryan has made a name for himself throughout the years that remains unstoppable.Ryan and Wes have collaborated for many years on numerous projects. Wes introduced Dustin and Ryan, and from there, the three have been an uncontested
music making machine cranking out song after song in what seems like a truly effortless manor. All fine tuned with a unique sound that can’t be placed into any one specific genre. So the three decided the only thing left to do would be to assume one single identity and never look back……and here we have the group……Hard Target!
Crucifix Bio
Born in Atlanta Georgia, raised in Central and East Africa, Crucifix spent much of his early childhood bouncing from continent to continent, soaking in a wide influence of music and culture. By the time he was eighteen, he was native to fifteen different countries and fluent in three languages, but it was his unveiling passion for music that would soon take center stage in his life. At the age of twelve he began teaching himself to play the piano, writing and producing his first music, recording from the comfort of his bedroom, making tapes and designing the covers by hand. In 2005 he released his first fully independent and self produced album “My Life’s Prayer”, under the alias BabyBlue.
The controversial double disc debut took the HipHop Underground by storm, sealing in his unique and fluid signature sound. Mixing fast-fire Southern Rap with smooth Rock vocals, a touch of Soul and no holds barred lyrical content, Crucifix began to set a new standard for cross-genre music. By 2010 he had expanded his reach into film, his riveting life story was published in a book by the multiplatinum, Grammy, Dove and American Music Award winning band Casting Crowns, and he completed his third full length album “Cruce Signati”, featuring Atlanta HipHop legends YoungbloodZ, Ceelo Green’s Goodie Mob and Outkast’s Dungeon Family, landing his first spot on FM radio and signing his first record deal.
In 2013 he had released his first full length reality style documentary, “Road To Chernobyl”, made his first appearance on both VH1’s “The T.O. Show” and MTV in the stunning cinematic music video “Splinter” with Bubba Sparxxx. By the end of 2013 he released his fourth studio album “Acid Reign” featuring Bubba Sparxxx, Nappy Roots and Sean Paul, making his first imprint on XM and worldwide Radio. In 2015 he touched the Billboard Charts Top 20 with both the Lacs’ “Outlaw In Me” and Moonshine Bandits’ “Blacked Out” albums, touring across the country. Known for his intense energy and passionate, heartfelt delivery, Crucifix continues to push the limits of cross-genre music.