Ringo Deathstarr Played The Saint for Little Dickman Records' FUZZ FEST w/ Dentist, Dan Waszay and The Blackouts, Dinowalrus, and Lunch Ladies, 4/8/16

Ringo Deathstarr

Austin In Asbury Park

There wasn't any parking right on Main as I pulled past The Saint on Friday night. I made the left onto Monroe and parked there. A rumble of sound shook the car, and it took me a second to realize that what I was hearing was Ringo Deathstarr's soundcheck from inside The Saint, across the street. Oh. This was going to be good.

Little Dickman Records have been trying to bring some new sounds to Asbury Park. In the past, they've gotten some bands from NYC / Brooklyn who don't play our area very often to come through: Dirty Fences, BOYTOY, Lost Boy ?, Sharkmuffin. They've put on shows with bands from out west like LA's Girl Tears and Tuscon's Burning Palms. On Friday, the label had put a show together around Austin's Ringo Deathstarr and the UK's Desert Mountain Tribe. Dinowalrus from Brooklyn, Dentist, Dan Waszay and The Blackouts, and Lunch Ladies filled things out. Unfortunately, visa issues prevented Desert Mountain Tribe from making it to the show; but it still ended up being an evening of music where every band were on their game.

While calling the event FUZZ FEST may have given the impression that all of the bands would be coming from similar sonic places, things ended up being extremely eclectic. There wasn't much very fuzzy about the first two acts. Lunch Ladies kicked things off with a set of jangly dream pop. Dinowalrus brought some synth-infused post punk. Both bands had a pretty large early crowd and play around with different sounds that always draw me in.

Dan Waszay and the Blackouts were playing their first show under that name, I believe, and were very impressive. The band expand Waszay's dark, expansive, alone on a desert highway rock into a full-band format that also features Amy Malkoff, Frank Calabrese, and Sarah Smith. Dentist were playing their first show back from Austin and sounded as good as ever. The increased confidence they acquired over a few weeks of touring shone through in their performance, and the crowd could feel it.

Austin's Ringo Deathstarr closed things out with a wall of noise worthy of some of the shoegaze legends I love so much. Unlike those bands, though, Ringo Deathstarr bring some other influences to bear on their sound, even including things like hooks in many of their songs. The band engaged the audience throughout the set and included a pair of impromptu and improvised covers of System Of A Down (couldn't tell you the title of a single song) and Metallica (an interesting take on "Enter Sandman"). Once I finished taking pictures, I just took everything in and became a forever fan of this band.

It's pretty rare for a bill that's five bands deep to deliver during every, single set. There really weren't any weak spots on Friday; and Little Dickman deserves kudos for putting together something so solid and fresh for the area.

You can check out pics from the evening in either the Flickr galleries (full rez) or on the Facebook page (squished rez).