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| Hot Blood and friends on a Friday night in Asbury Park. |
After The Bouncing Souls did their "Home for the Summer" show at The Stone Pony Summer Stage back in July, both Scotch LaRock and I wrote about the sense of fun and community that surrounded that whole weekend. The Neptune City defenders of Smalltalk played Asbury Lanes the night before. An out of town band passing through -- Alabama's Lee Bains III and The Glory Fires -- got a warm reception from the locals. This past Friday night had a similar feel for me, even without the big show from The Souls anchoring things.
Smalltalk played Asbury Lanes again. This time they did their version of Modern Rock at the Jersey Shore for a crowd made up of locals as well as visiting kids who were there to see the pair of major-label bands -- The Orwells and Skaters -- who were headlining the night. Smalltalk got to play for a pretty nice-sized crowd and did a great job representing the local scene. Skaters came out and started immediately feeding off of the residual energy.
As things got closer to 10pm, I made my way over to the "secret show" featuring The Mischief Kids, Hot Blood, The Battery Electric, and Ft. Worth's The Phuss. As soon as I walked in, the friendship and good vibes that swirl around Little Dickman Records and the bands on the label were obvious. I'd missed The Mischief Kids, but I caught the full sets from The Phuss and Hot Blood before I had to bow to reality and get some sleep before the CoolDaughters' early swim meet. I can't even imagine what must've gone on for the set from The Battery Electric.
The sets I caught were crazy, sweaty, slippery affairs. There were no boundaries between the crowd and the performers. The crowd bathed The Phuss in the rowdiest and warmest of welcomes. Moshes turned to scrums around Hot Blood's Mat Kiley turned to hugs. At one point, Phuss lead singer Joshua Fleming said, "Thanks a lot Asbury Park! You've really got a scene here!"
And we do.
Back in August The New York Times, did a feature on the resurgent music scene around Asbury. They gave much-deserved shouts out to several of our favorites like ("The") Wreaths, Nicole Atkins, Rick Barry, Asbury Lanes, Langosta / APYC, The Saint, and Dark City Entertainment (The last three also had great things going on Friday night.). Let's face it, though. The Times isn't here night after night, week after week. And while they highlighted some great stuff that's going on here, it just wasn't possible for them to convey the feeling of the living, breathing, growing scene we've got brewing.
Everyone mentioned in that piece is a huge part of it. But an article in a national paper isn't going to give you the feeling you get from seeing a bunch of those same bands playing on a beautiful night, in the dark, on the beach out in front of The Anchor's Bend. It can't really make you feel the warmth coming from a crowd who came out to support Smalltalk, a band made up of members of The Bouncing Souls, Worthless United, Miss TK and The Revenge, Zero Zero and The Get Rights who have all played a part in different Jersey music scenes over the years.
The Times isn't going to tell you what it's like to hear high school kids playing their folk punk songs out on the Asbury Park beach. You won't feel the surprise when a touring band walks into Happy Mondays to play a set after busking on the boardwalk just because they heard the music from outside. You're not going to feel yourself slipping on a wet tile floor as music shakes the windows of an extra-legal performance space. And no printed page can ever give you the experience of a full-on hug from a sopping with sweat Mat Kiley right after a set from Hot Blood.
So what I'm saying, I guess, is what I always say. Get yourself out there and experience what's going on in our area. It's something more than just great bands playing great spaces run by great people. It's alive and it's growing. Just take a smell of the shirt I wore the other night if you don't believe me.
mmmm... ...Kiley.
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