Monday, March 2, 2015

Don Giovanni Showcase / Screaming Females Record Release at The Knitting Factory Brooklyn, 2/28/15 (PHOTO LINKS)


Night 3

Here it was three weeks since Night 2 of the 2015 Don Giovanni Records Showcase and time for the third and final night. New Brunswick power trio, Screaming Females, had put out Rose Mountain earlier in the week; and this evening would double as their record release show. Also on the bill were Cincinnati's Vacation, Appleton, Wisconsin's Tenement, and DC's Priests. When Night 3 was announced, it sold out quickly; so Don Giovanni added a second, late show. I'd be attending the early one.

I saw Don Giovanni co-founder Joe Steinhardt briefly before I went inside the Knitting Factory's performance space. He looked a little harried. I can imagine that putting together two separate 3-plus-hour shows and ensuring that everything runs on time might be a little stressful. As it turned out, the early installment ran like clockwork even with a few, brief onstage technical difficulties.

Vacation
Unlike the previous two nights, Chris Gethard wasn't there to host this one. Instead, Vacation came out unannounced right on schedule just before 7pm and lit into their set. 2013's Candy Waves was a standout album for me that year. I hadn't seen the band since last year's showcase, and it was cool to hear "Horny Politicians" and "Pyro Hippies" live again. Singer / guitarist Jerri Queen gave the songs all the snottiness that I love hearing on the record.

Tenement
Tenement were next and played a set that, I think, clocked in at around twenty minutes. They were relentless, though; and didn't pad things out with any stage banter. There were several chants for more as the band walked offstage.

Last year, Night 3 fell on CoolDaughter #1's birthday, so I had to miss the show. That was the night that Priests played; and, until last night, I'd still never seen them live.

Priests' 2014 Bodies and Control and Money and Power is a short gut-punch of politics and paranoia. Saturday night, guitarist G.L. Jaguar and bassist Taylor Mulitz combined riffs and basslines into some kind of not-quite-surf / not-quite-post-punk sound doled out in short, frantic bursts and punctuated by Daniele Daniele's drums. Vocalist Katie Alice Greer was a force, delivering the band's lyrics decrying consumerism, television, and disposable culture as she moved frantically onstage atop a pair of perilously high heels. Her stage presence and the band's sound were impressive and nearly stole the evening. Nearly.

Priests

Screaming Females took the stage at around 9pm and played a set featuring both Rose Mountain cuts and favorites from their back catalog. The Marissa Paternoster-designed Rose Mountain logo adorned the amps and bass drum. I feel like the band are poised to blast off to another level of popularity. Their set was the same controlled intensity and fury that I've seen show after show, and it's what's gotten them to the verge of blowing up.

The crowd had been pretty calm all night, but I think some mosh pits started at some point during the set. I felt myself pushed up against the stage several times, anyway. I was too fixated on taking pictures and screaming lyrics with my camera held up to my face to really see what was going on behind me.

Bassist Mike Abbate and drummer Jarrett Dougherty held things down as Paternoster stalked the stage, bellowed lyrics into the mic, and did her furious soloing. People seemed to have a good handle on the new songs already. I've had the record in very heavy rotation since it began streaming at NPR. So too, apparently, have many of the people in Saturday's crowd.

Everything was done before 10pm, and we filed out to make room for the next crowd. Each of the bands on Saturday's bill was intense and unique. I often wonder how bands are physically able to tour and play shows every night. I can't even imagine having to do two performances at the level I saw from each band, but I'm sure the late-night crowd got something just as special as I did.

Screaming Females

Here are links to photos for each of Saturday's bands. I went a little nuts during the second half of the evening.

Screaming Females
Priests
Tenement
Vacation

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