FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPIN DOCTORS COMING TO ANTHEM AT HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO SIOUX CITY ON MARCH 3

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (January 2, 2017) – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City announced today that American 90s rock band, Spin Doctors, will perform in Anthem on Friday, March 3 at 8 p.m.   

The Spin Doctors might have given you the soundtrack to the best nights of the ’90s, but with this new album, they’ve rediscovered a strand of their musical DNA that melds perfectly with the hits you know and love. Take a spin of their newest album, If The River Was Whiskey, and you’d have to agree: they aced it.

Tickets go on sale Friday, January 6 at 10 a.m. They can be purchased at the Rock Shop or online at https://tickets.hardrockcasinosiouxcity.com. Events in Anthem are for guests 21 and older.

SPIN DOCTORS

Friday, March 3 / 8:00 PM / Anthem

You think you know the Spin Doctors. Think again. When the legendary New York quartet release If The River Was Whiskey on May 14th through Ruf Records, casual fans will discover the secret past the hardcore have never forgotten. To the wider world, the Doctors might be the multi-million-selling icons behind hits like Two Princes and Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong, not to mention the classic Pocket Full Of Kryptonite. But in 2013, Chris Barron (vocals), Aaron Comess (drums), Eric Schenkman (guitar) and Mark White (bass) are reconnecting with the flat-broke twenty-somethings who scraped for dollars at the sharp end of the Big Apple blues circuit.

The Spin Doctors have come full-circle. “We were four guys in our twenties,” remembers Aaron of early days in the late-’80s, “and our goal was to write our own songs and make a living doing it. The blues is such a big part of our roots, but one of the reasons we came up with such a big catalogue of blues songs back then is that we’d play these downtown blues bars in New York. You were supposed to play blues covers… but we were actually playing our own songs!”

We all know what happened next: the hits, the hysteria, the fame and the money. “When we’re selling 50,000 records a week,” remembers Chris of the band’s explosion circa 1992, “I’d walk into a mall to buy underwear and 300 kids would surround me!” If The River Was Whiskey hits rewind. It’s the deep-blues album the Spin Doctors almost made before megastardom came knocking. It finally bottles those near-mythical songs from that sweatbox circuit. It’s simultaneously a tipped hat to the band’s lost past and the freshest record you’ll hear all year. “Every note feels dangerous,” smiles Chris. “It’s just like this ramshackle, broken carriage running down a cobblestone hill, with pots and pans, and a screaming baby…”

The concept to revisit these songs struck as the Spin Doctors toured Europe to toast the 20th anniversary of Pocket Full Of Kryptonite, and polled über-fans David Landsburger and Daniel Heinze on what they’d like to hear as the encore that night. Their answer – So Bad – was a song so old that Chris had almost forgotten the verses, but when the venue exploded, a lightbulb lit over the band’s heads. “We had such a good time playing these tunes,” the singer explains, “that we thought, ‘We should go make a record of this stuff’. It’s really brought us back as a band, musically and interpersonally.”

The songs on If The River Was Whiskey are different vintages. “Some Other Man Instead and the title track, I wrote those lyrics in the last year or two,” explains Chris. “But Sweetest Portion, I wrote that song when I was 19. I’d run away from home, and when I got back, my friends were really upset and there was a rumor going around that I had died. So I wrote that song – and I’m not sure if I’ve ever written a better one since.”

The material might be a quarter-century in the making, but If The River Was Whiskey took just three days to record when the four members convened last summer in New York. The original plan was to get together at Aaron’s His House Studios in Manhattan and work up some demos – no pressure – before heading upstate to a boutique analogue facility and start tracking in earnest. “We didn’t expect to make a record,” smiles Eric. “We were just going to make a demo and play at the Rockwood. And then, lo and behold…” Instead, without the pressure of the red light, the sessions began to unfold with an effortless magic. “We just kinda winged it, man,” says Mark.

This album sounds exactly the same as it does onstage, because we recorded it live, which is the way it should be done. There’s no overdubs. Anybody that tried to do an overdub was gonna get whacked!” “We really kinda fooled ourselves and tricked ourselves, and I think that’s one of the reasons why it sounds so fresh,” picks up Aaron. “Because there was absolutely no pressure on us of any kind. We just hit a moment. Everything came together and we got this great record. Usually, the best things happen when you’re not trying… and that’s what happened here.”

The band quickly realized the supposed rough-cuts captured by engineering ace Roman Klun couldn’t be topped. “By the third day,” reflects Chris, “we’d recorded all ten of the demos. We went out to dinner that night, we were all having a cocktail, and someone was like, ‘Gentlemen, I believe our demo is a record’. And we all just laughed.”

“I don’t care about sales, man,” states Chris, honestly. “I mean, it’d be awesome if it sold millions of copies, but honest to God, I just want to keep making a living playing music. We get up onstage and we turn it on, and sing and play our hearts out. And that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do: just make real music, give people something from my heart.”

Other upcoming events in Anthem

• Comedy every Wednesday Night at 8 p.m.
• Saturday, January 7 – Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
• Saturday, January 14 – Ned Ledoux & Western Underground
• Friday, January 20 – Arson City
• Friday, January 27 – Alter Bridge: The Last Hero Tour with Nonpoint
• Saturday, January 28 – Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest
• Friday, February 3 – Tesla
• Saturday, February 4 – Pepper & Less Than Jake
• Friday, February 10 – Dylan Scott & Lanco
• Saturday, February 11 – John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party
• Saturday, February 18 – Rob Schneider (Special Edition Comedy Night)
• Friday, February 24 – Brothers Osborne
• Saturday, March 4 – The Spazmatics
• Friday, March 24 – UFO & Saxson
• Saturday, March 25 – The Oak Ridge Boys

To learn more about Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City, please visit www.hardrockcasinosiouxcity.com.

 Media Contact:

Megan Lueders

712.226.7714

[email protected]

###

About Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City is an award-winning gaming destination offering more than 835 slot machines and a wide variety of table games. The property’s Hard Rock Hotel is a AAA Four Diamond rated hotel, a distinction which only five percent of the more than 28,000 properties approved by AAA achieve. Complementing the Hotel and Casino are six restaurants and bars including the World Tour Buffet, Fuel American Grill, and Main + Abbey, the property’s AAA Three Diamond rated restaurant. Throughout the property, guests can experience the legends by viewing the vast Hard Rock memorabilia collection, with iconic pieces from SLASH to Johnny Cash.

The indoor live-entertainment venue, Anthem, hosts an impressive weekly lineup of concerts and performances from rock, pop, and country to comedy and blues. This unique venue leaves attendees with a one-of-a-kind entertainment experience from artists like Slash, Clint Black, Rick Springfield and George Thorogood. Battery Park, the outdoor entertainment venue with a festival-type atmosphere, hosts nationally touring performers along the likes of 3 Doors Down, Cheap Trick, Boston, Elvis Costello and Gary Allan, during the summer months.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City was developed through a partnership between the Missouri River Historical Development and SCE Partners, LLC, an affiliate of Warner Gaming, LLC.  For more information on Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City, visit www.hardrockcasinosiouxcity.com and www.facebook.com/HardRockHotelSC.

Hard Rock International

With venues in 74 countries, including 177 cafes, 24 hotels and 11 casinos, Hard Rock International (HRI) is one of the most globally recognized companies. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the world’s greatest collection of music memorabilia, which is displayed at its locations around the globe. Hard Rock is also known for its collectible fashion and music-related merchandise, Hard Rock Live performance venues and an award-winning website. HRI owns the global trademark for all Hard Rock brands. The company owns, operates and franchises Cafes in iconic cities including London, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Dubai. HRI also owns, licenses and/or manages hotel/casino properties worldwide. Destinations include the company’s two most successful Hotel and Casino properties in Tampa and Hollywood, Fl., both owned and operated by HRI parent company The Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as other exciting locations including Bali, Chicago, Cancun, Ibiza, Las Vegas, Macau and San Diego. Upcoming new Hard Rock Cafe locations include Valencia, Innsbruck, Yangon and Chengdu. New Hard Rock Hotel projects include Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Berlin, Dubai, London, Los Cabos, New York City, and Shenzhen, Dalian and Haikou in China. For more information on Hard Rock International, visit www.hardrock.com.