Monday, May 15, 2017

The Everymen Played Their Final Show at Monty Hall with The RockNRoll HiFives and NO ICE, 5/13/17

The Everymen

Farewell to The Everymen

Back in August of 2012 -- a mere 5 months into the life of CoolDadMusic.com -- I came across a premiere for The Everymen's "Coney Island High" on BrooklynVegan. The Tuckerton, NJ band's ode to the defunct Manhattan all-ages venue was not only a perfect fit for a Jersey Shore-based blog focusing on independent music, but it is also just a damn good rock and roll song. I pre-ordered The Everymen's debut LP, New Jersey Hardcore, and things took off from there.



I interviewed frontman Michael Venutolo-Mantovani (Mike V) for Speak Into My Good Eye. Mike V became a sometimes contributor here at CoolDadMusic.com, and I went to several Everymen shows -- The Saint, Asbury Lanes, Brooklyn Bowl, Le Poisson Rouge, Maxwell's, SXSW. I met our good buddies, Dentist, at an Everymen show. I met Joe Centeno of The RockNRoll HiFives at an Everymen show. I saw the band open for The So So Glos and Titus Andronicus. CoolMom and I were there when they played well past legal closing time for their last-ever show at Maxwell's, a show that also featured Life Eaters, The Brooklyn What, and my first-ever encounter with Black Wine.

There were several attempts to book The Everymen on a "CoolDadMusic Presents" show here in the area, but the band's relentless touring schedule made it difficult to sync up. Little Dickman and I finally got them for our first-ever Sundown at the Carousel show with Dentist and Overlake (who I also probably met through The Everymen), and it was a day I'll always remember.

On Saturday night, The Everymen played their final show ever. They brought their extended family of The RockNRoll HiFives and NO ICE -- a band that grew out of The Brooklyn What -- to Jersey City's Monty Hall for the final blowout. There were 250 band-provided free beers for the crowd, and -- true to form -- the entire evening was a raucous, joyful, and sweaty affair.

NO ICE kicked things off with "The Cemetery" from their Come on Feel the NO ICE LP. From there, they played selections from that record as well as some new songs. NO ICE play what frontman Jamie Frey likes to call "Cool Dad Rock" (I'm not kidding.) which shows off the influence of everything from The Jesus and Mary Chain to The Replacements to 50s doo wop.

NO ICE

Frey mentioned the dozens of times that his bands had shared stages with The Everymen. He talked of Mike V's and the bands' big hearts and their dedication to supporting other musicians. Frey marveled that so many like-minded individuals (and there have been many Everymen) could come together in a single band.

NO ICE's Jamie Frey

Next up were The RockNRoll HiFives, each member sporting a "The Everymen Drank All My Beer" tee. The Centeno family played the CoolDad Music fifth anniversary celebration back in March and, since then, have been on a tear, touring and playing multiple shows per weekend up and down New Jersey. I think I've had the chance to catch one of their sets almost every weekend since our show.

As I mentioned, I first met Joe Centeno when he was playing with The Everymen at Maxwell's back in 2013. He's known Mike V for many, many years; and The RockNRoll HiFives referred to The Everymen as family many times during their set. And that set, like the three or four others I'd seen over the preceding month, was an absolute joy -- Joe leaping off of his amplifier, Eilee throwing confetti over the crowd, Evren wailing away like a seasoned drummer, Gloree smiling broadly while digging in on the bass, and the crowd loving every minute of it.

Joe Centeno of The RockNRoll HiFives

Eilee told the story of falling in love with The Everymen's "Dance Only, Only Dance" as a seven or eight-year-old during the video shoot at the old Centeno house. She talked about being called up on stage to sing it back then despite not really knowing the words. Joe was visibly a little sad at the idea that The Everymen were calling it quits.

The RockNRoll HiFives

By the time The Everymen took the stage, Monty Hall was packed. The three tubs of ice cold beers were down in front; and Mike V, Catherine Herrick, Ryan Gross, Jamie Zillitto, Scott Zillitto, Matt Siegle, and Geoff Morrissey laid into "A Thousand Miles" from the band's Givin' Up on Free Jazz LP. We were off. Twenty songs, about an hour and forty minutes. Mike V asking me for beers so that he could throw them out to people in the crowd. Catherine Herrick belting out some of my personal favorites like "Coney Island High" and "A Girl Named Lou Pt. 2." Eilee Centeno joining the band once again for "Dance Only, Only Dance." Covers of "Don't Change" by INXS and "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.

The Final Set List
Catherine Herrick
Mike V and his foggy glasses
Eilee and The Everymen

As Jamie Zillitto signaled the beginning of the end with the opening bassline for "Boss Johnny & The Get Lucky," Mike V told us all, "This is it! We don't do fucking encores!" The crowd erupted at all the right moments as they shouted "I HELD ON!!!" along with the band. Mike V ran down the list of all Everymen members, past and present; and, when the song was over, there were waves and hugs as the house music came up.

"Boss Johnny & The Get Lucky"

The Everymen synthesized some very New Jersey sounds -- The Misfits, The Shirelles, Springsteen -- into something all their own. When people have asked me to describe them, all I've ever really been able to say is, "It's rock and roll." Saturday night was a rock and roll party for the ages, one I'm sure nobody who was in that room will soon forget and one that I'm sure many who weren't in that room will claim they remember as the years go on.

No encores

CoolDad Music would not be what it is today if I never came across "Coney Island High" during my Internet travels on that Thursday afternoon in 2012. The NY / NJ music scene would not be what it is today if there had never been an Everymen. The band went out in a blaze of rock and roll glory on Saturday night, and the crowd at Monty Hall drank all of The Everymen's beer.



Pics are going up in the Flickr galleries and on the Facebook page.

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