“Locals A. Tom Collins proved they were more than up to the challenge of opening the show. The band hit their stride mid-way through the set, tearing through favorites like “Mambo” and “Pants Off Dance Off” and winning over both the audience and the Alabama Shakes, who meandered up from the green room to watch from the side of the stage.”

“A. Tom Collins is making late-night barroom jazz with a punk-rock edge that’s prominently displayed on the band’s EP, Oh No! The album’s six tracks are a dizzying mix of styles, mashing classic R&B, blues, and jazz together with straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll and a dash of Tom Waits for good measure.”

"I want to have a band that if Satan was throwing a cocktail party — like throwing a mixer at his place — we would be the band that played that cocktail party," he enthuses, before clarifying, "Not like a rager, but just like a mixer — like Satan is having some friends over for martinis. That's the kind of band I want to sound like."

“Local wildman A. Tom Collins — former frontman for Machine Gun Blues — opened for Mallman with his five-piece band and filled the Hi-Dive with a resplendent, cabaret-meets-drunken-ragtime set. Collins’ vocals — like a raspy, inebriated Randy Newman — matched perfectly with the jazzy three-piece horn section, stand up bass and drums as he belted out drunken ballads. I swear I’m going to be happily hollering “F*** the beautiful people” in my head for weeks now, thanks to them. ”

“It would've been too obvious for Aaron Collins, former frontman of the rock barbarians known as Machine Gun Blues, to do something similarly rambunctious with his new band, A. Tom Collins (due at the hi-dive on Tuesday, August 17). Fortunately, he opted to accentuate his actual musical talents with this latest project. Calling the music he makes with A. Tom Collins "old-timey" or "Americana" would miss the fact that he and his bandmates seem to be aiming for a more frayed ragtime sound informed by a lot of music out of New Orleans. It all sounds like it's coming from another time, except that Collins performs with an intensity and conviction that anchors the performances firmly in the present. Backed by horns and an upright bass, Collins's piano work isn't just a percussive accent to his vocals. Instead, its unexpected delicacy lends this band an equally surprising grace.'”