The Shacks Played Monty Hall with Joy Cleaner, 8/4/18

The Shacks by Rose Lamela

The Local Scenes

Words and Pics by Rose Lamela

I feel very lucky these days to live so close to Jersey City. I have grown to love this ever-changing city through the years, and the music scene that has been seeping out of the construction and concrete of a city that once lived in the shadow of the New York City skyline. I especially love going to WFMU's Monty Hall. It's an incredibly intimate venue and it is a very special place to me, as I was introduced to a whole new scene of music when I volunteered there.

It was Saturday nigh,t and my reason to go to Monty Hall was to see The Shacks despite the fact that I had never heard of them before. I didn't do my homework before the show either, which actually gave me an element of surprise. When I arrived I, couldn't help but see the vintage instruments on stage. The Wurlitzer Keyboard and the interesting Coral bass gave me a feeling that I was in for something different on this hot Jersey City night.

Joy Cleaner started off the show with their catchy upbeat rock ballads. I found them very reminiscent of some local bands I would go see in when I was younger. Their songs kept a cheery, fast progression even though some of them were colored with heartfelt, and even slightly sad, lyrics. They played a short set that consisted of songs from their album Total Hell.

Joy Cleaner

Joy Cleaner

Joy Cleaner

About twenty minutes after Joy Cleaner walked off the stage, all the lights -- including the house lights -- went out. I looked around to see if we had a power outage. You could hear the nervous whispers as everyone tried to figure out what the hell was going on. When I saw The Shacks starting to approach the stag,e I realized it was part of the act. Not a blackout, just The Shacks' perfect introduction to the musical journey they wanted to take us on.

The Shacks

The Shacks

The Shacks

The Shacks

They began to play in the dark; and, when the lights when on, they revealed a band that fit the classic instruments. This is a great band to see live as their performance is part of their music. You get fooled by their mellow groovy sound only to get hit with guitar solos and jamming between band members. The soft, whispery voice of Shannon Wise is a great touch to a sound that makes you feel like you might have walked into a time machine. I especially enjoyed the 60s-style guitar riff that accompanied the song "Strange Effect" played by Max Shrager.

I always end these posts with a great sense of gratitude and an urgency to tell the reader to support local artists and shows. It's great to see your favorite mainstream bands in a large venue like Madison Square Garden, but you will never fully understand music until you place yourself where it all begins.

There is something reverberating on the streets in dark intimate settings you do not want to miss out on. Go find the streets of cities and small towns that are infiltrated by the sound of artists that truly do it for the love of the art.

All of Rosi's pics from the night are up at Flickr.