“What can I say? The lights go on, the crowd shows up and there's a switch that gets flipped and I'm off to the races because otherwise I’m a very shy person,” admits Weiner.
Low Cut Connie will return to Houston on Sunday, April 21 for what is sure to be an unforgettable night of music and “full rock and roll assault” at The Heights Theater with opener Fantastic Cat.
“I can't wait to be back in Houston,” says Weiner. “It’s been too long. It’s going to be a great show, we've got to get the spirit going so be there.” Though Weiner can’t put a finger on the exact year he last performed here, he vividly remembers getting on stage with Houston blues legend the late, Little Joe Washington.
After hearing him soundcheck on his piano at The Continental Club, management asked him if he knew the R&B and blues classic, “Just A Little Bit” and offered him the chance to play with the wild bluesman.
“It was fantastic,” says Weiner enthusiastically. Just like that night, it’s Weiner’s vivacity on the piano and ability to connect with others that makes people take notice. Low Cut Connie has racked up quite a list of famous fans from Barack Obama to Elton John.
“It’s not that common because it's a crazy thing,” says Weiner when asked about being a rare piano driven rock and roll band in the modern era. “ You gotta carry a 400 pound piano all over the place. It doesn't work at all, in fact I've had many people just quit the band because they couldn't take it anymore.”
Throughout the years the band has had its fair share of changes in the lineup with Weiner remaining as the only original member. All of the changes have only contributed to the band's evolution where they never lost their rock and roll edge but only added to the depth of their range.
“I’m always rolling and changing and the fans have rolled with me. I see it as just an expansion. When the band started we were just four guys and now the band is two women, four guys; black, white, gay, straight. It’s such a beautiful mix of energy and that’s been a nice evolution.”
Weiner’s piano constantly serves as an additional band member and he not only lugs it around, but gives them names and breathes into them a life of their own on and off stage giving them a real, heartfelt and intentional pounding meant to bring joy and tether the music to the audience.
“Somebody said to me years ago it’s like a penance that you carry this thing but I feel that I’ve got my piano who I’m really bonded to. We go all over North America together and see some amazing things and put on some amazing shows so I do feel a bond with the instrument and when you get attached to an instrument, you keep it up and you don't want to let it go. It doesn't feel as good when you play a different one.”
Likening it to Willie Nelson’s Trigger or BB King’s Lucille, Weiner has his current and forth love with him now, Nelly. Though Nelly may be his forth piano since starting the band and his lineup of members has changed throughout the years, one main element has remained unchanged in Low Cut Connie and Weiner’s approach to songwriting and performing.
“I think at the core we are a rock and roll band and I always have that one foot in the gutter, that kind of sleazy rock and roll that's got boogie to it, that you can dance to, that moves you. That will never change. That’s always got to be there.”
Change it did not on the bands ninth album and latest release, Art Dealers, a cohesive collection of songs all celebrating the band’s never changing high energy and love for vintage, seedy New York City and the days gone by of Lou Reed, art galleries and the underbelly and marginalized communities that made the city what it was.“I think at the core we are a rock and roll band and I always have that one foot in the gutter, that kind of sleazy rock and roll that's got boogie to it, that you can dance to, that moves you. That will never change. That’s always got to be there.”
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“I moved to New York City when I was 18 years old and it was still kind of a sleazy place at that time,” says Weiner who later moved back to his hometown of Philadelphia which he calls “even sleazier.”
“In the early days of the band people would call us ‘sleazy’ in a derogatory way but I felt like people didn't understand what we were doing in that this is really like a soul band in a way. The music is very soulful and when you say the word sleazy I think what people really mean is that it feels alive. It’s red blooded, it’s sexy in a good way and so I wanted to reclaim that with this album and show people sleazy is fun and sleazy is some degree that we are missing in rock and roll these days.”
Art Dealers is a perfect addition to the band's repertoire of real, authentic rock and roll that sadly is not that common in commercial media these days taking the listener back to a youthful rage and joy that only that genre can produce.
The album came about during COVID when Weiner and his band mates were all separated by the shut down. He missed his “day job” of touring around the country and though he found a way to connect to others through his Tough Cookies online performances, he needed more.
Low Cut Connie created their own COVID bubble and set out to record an album that really captured that human grit and connection that makes their live shows unforgettable and really stand out.
“So the album just took on that character of what our live shows are. That sort of dynamic of being live in front of an audience and the kind of up and down of it and we made Art Dealers very quickly and then when we started going on tour the energy with the audience had multiplied since before the pandemic. People were always laughing and screaming and taking their clothes off before we came back but when we came back, people were crying too. That was new.”
Along with the album, the band recorded a live film of the same name where they captured the on-stage magic with a performance in New York City. The film will be playing in theaters this summer and available for streaming in the fall.
“My pedigree in performance is you give 110 percent and you're there to make the audience feel good. It has nothing to do with me and how I feel, it's how you feel and when I look at my heroes Tina Turner, Prince, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Elvis these are performers that had the ability to turn people on, make them feel elevated and leave the show feeling much better than when they showed up.”
Low Cut Connie will perform with Fantastic Cat at The Heights Theater on Sunday, April 21, 339 W 19th. Doors at 7 p.m, tickets $20-320.
