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| Beach Slang |
Weekend Recap
This was a busy weekend for me. I'm feeling pretty spent after shows on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; but it was one of the most fulfilling runs of shows in a while.
On Friday night, I headed to House of Independents for Beach Slang's return to Asbury Park. It was the kickoff for their "Drunk or Lust" tour; and joining the Philly band on Friday were Chicago's Pet Symmetry, Virginia's Positive No, and Neptune City's Smalltalk.
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| Smalltalk |
There's an earnestness and melodrama to James Alex and Beach Slang that push right up against that line of being over the top. As far as I'm concerned, they hold back just enough to be great. Friday's show was kind of strange and awkward in places -- long, quiet pauses as James tuned his guitar, a false start on "Noisy Heaven," multiple interludes of Santana's "Smooth" and a few seconds of "Give It Away" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. In other words, it was vintage Beach Slang; and it was all ok -- kind of great actually -- because the band were among friends in Asbury Park.
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| Positive No |
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| Pet Symmetry |
Speaking of friends, between the crew at House of Independents, Smalltalk, and the people who came out for the show, it felt like a little Asbury Lanes reunion. I also spent a good bit of time with our friend Scotch LaRock; and, as he pointed out at the end of the night, it's really great how we can pick things up without missing a beat even if we haven't seen each other in months. Not something you can say about everyone in your life
The rest of the bands on Friday's bill added to the evening's good vibes. Smalltalk are a favorite around here and absolutely did not disappoint. I've seen them as both a trio and a four-piece in recent months. Both setups work great, but it's always cool to see them at full strength with Pete Steinkopf on guitar. Positive No are a band that our bud Al Crisafulli has been telling me about for a while now. They brought a refreshing level of enthusiasm to their set of noisy pop. Singer Tracy Wilson gave me and several other people in the audience a seriously heartfelt hug as the band wound down their set. Pet Symmetry brought sludgy and doomy bass riffs, nice guy humor, and guitarist Erik Czaja's dad to the stage as main support for Beach Slang.
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| Beach Slang |
In all, it was a beautifully messy show that had a real Asbury Park feel to it.
The Yankees played the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the ALCS (brought to you by Camping World) on Saturday night, but I'd been planning for weeks to head to Metuchen's Old Franklin Schoolhouse to catch Lowlight, Roadside Graves, and The RockNRoll HiFives. It was like a bill built especially for me, and I could follow the game on my phone.
The show was one of the best experiences I've had in a long time. Lowlight and Roadside Graves have deep Metuchen connections, and the town -- young, old, human, pet -- really turned out for them. And Metuchen got to take in a great set from The RockNRoll HiFives as part of the bargain.
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| Roadside Graves |
The whole evening just had a friendly, communal feeling that you don't always get at a rock show. The promoters raised $900 for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Roadside Graves' lead singer, John Gleason, brought his daughter up to sing the chorus of Tom Waits's "Fannin Street." We celebrated the birthdays of Graves' guitarist Jeremy Benson, HiFives' bassist and mom Gloree Centeno, and everyone else born in October (including, in my mind, my brother Jason whose birthday is today) with cake and candles. Everyone got a piece of cake. All of the bands, who I've talked about extensively here, were in top top form. The Yankees lost, and I didn't even care. Much.
Sunday night meant a delicious CoolMom-prepared dinner with family followed by a trip down to Asbury Park brewery for a show put on by Little Dickman Records. Wetbrain, Yawn Mower, carb on carb (from New Zealand!), and BLAHA (the solo project of Mike Blaha of The Blind Shake).
I'm really starting to enjoy nights at the brewery. They've been getting some very interesting shows in there, and the feeling is always pretty laid-back and low-stress. Even though there was nothing particularly laid-back about any of last night's bands, the whole place has an easy feeling, whether you're sitting on a pallet in the tasting room / performance space or hanging out between sets among the tuns or on the deck.
And the music last night was solid. Wetbrain's Rudy Meier and Nick Kaelblein performed cool, stripped down versions of the band's songs. Yawn Mower blew minds in typical fashion. carb on carb had come a long way to play their pop punk songs in a small brewery tasting room a few blocks from the ocean, and they made it count. BLAHA shook the space with their psych / garage / surf.
I headed home, as I said, spent. But I was happy. I truly live for this stuff, you know.
House of Independents was really the only place where I took pictures. Shots of Beach Slang, Pet Symmetry, Positive No, and Smalltalk are in the Flickr galleries.
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