Premiere: New Video from Avery Mandeville and The Man Devils

"Blood"

Way back at the beginning of 2017, Avery Mandeville released her debut EP, Salty. We had the honor of being the first to share that set with you. Since then, Mandeville assembled her live band, The Man Devils, took a bit of a summer sojourn down to Nashville, and filmed a video for her latest single, "Blood."

The subject of "Blood" is clear from the song's first line: "I bought a pregnancy test and rainbow hair clips from the Rite-Aid on Saturday night." The video, shot mostly as a commercial for "Avery's CLAMPAX: Mega Absorbant," contrasts the worry-free, active lifestyles of CLAMPAX users with Mandeville's sleep-deprived preoccupation with her own menstrual cycle.

Then there's blood everywhere.

Both the song and the video showcase Mandeville's razor-sharp sense of humor. And, really, so does the fact that she debuted her band's video about pregnancy scares and menstrual cycles at a blog run by a clueless, middle-aged dad and called CoolDad Music. We're grateful for the opportunity, and that's why we love Avery around here.

Check out "Blood" right here. Avery Mandeville and The Man Devils perform live on November 9th at The Well in Brooklyn.

YJY Played (Their Final Show) at Asbury Park Music Foundation with Avery and The Man Devils, Jeff Lane, Julian Fulton and The Zombie Gospel, and NGHTCRWLRS, 6/17/17

Through Being Hip

I've given a bunch of space in the last week or so to the end of YJY. The band are a great bunch of guys with great songs; and, on Saturday, they called it quits with a show at Asbury Park Music Foundation. By the end of the evening, the room was so packed out that the air conditioning couldn't keep up with the body heat. That meant for a sweaty and joyful sing along with "Couch Surfin' USA" and some pretty damp hugs to close out the night.

Before things got to that point, though, we had sets from several YJY friends and fans. Avery Mandeville opened things up solo; but, when we reached 8pm (the official "let's make some noise" time), she brought up her backing band, The Man Devils. It was my first chance to hear her songs live in the full-band arrangements that appear on the EP; and they were spot on.

Jeff Lane followed with a solo acoustic set that included mostly new songs along with a cover of dollys' "I Know." The crowd was rapt, remaining amazingly quiet and attentive for the entirety of Lane's set.

Julian Fulton had opened a previous release show for YJY as a solo act. On this night, however, he brought the full Zombie Gospel, an amazing collection of musicians who did great renditions of the songs from Fulton's Battered Receptions along with earlier stuff.

NGHTCRWLRS, featuring Sniffling Indie Kids label co-honchos Frank DeFranco and Eric Goldberg, revved up the crowd with their own, contagious, manic energy. With the crowd starting to pack in and the guys bouncing on the stage, I found it a little hard to take pictures. They played what felt like a pretty short set -- even including a brand new song -- to make way for YJY.

When YJY did take the stage, the weird "audience buffer zone" that existed for the whole evening shrank down to a few inches. Steve Sachs, Ricky Lorenzo, Dave Sachs, and Tim Fitzpatrick did about a forty-five minute set that included the "hits" like "Summer Lifeguard," "Ameila," "Surreal," "Through Being Hip," "Past My Prime," and "Couch Surfin' USA" along with songs from The Enduring YJY like "Somebody Take My Phone," "Best Coast Weather," and "Loathe."

At one point, singer / guitarist Steve Sachs acknowledged the community that made YJY possible: the folks at Sniffling Indie Kids, the people who worked with them on recordings, played shows with them, offered them a place to play, covered the band, or just came out to shows. You could feel the sense of community in the room, and the looks on the faces of the band members as the crowd screamed "Couch Surfin' USA!!!" back at them were worth the price of admission.

It's pretty easy to get jaded in any music scene. Booking shows, getting people to come out to shows, overcoming that general feeling of -- well -- shoveling shit against the tide sometimes are not easy things. They can wear on you and make you question why you stick with it. But, then, there's an evening like Saturday night. YJY were able, if even for just a little while, to look out over a crowd of sweaty faces and know that -- together with everyone in that room -- they were able to put a little joy into some people's lives. That's no small thing, and it's something I hope the guys take with them no matter what else they do.

Pics are going up in the Flickr galleries and on the Facebook page a little later today.

Premiere: Debut EP from Avery Mandeville

Cover photo and design: Eric Foster

Salty

Avery Mandeville is one of the hardest-working people in the Central Jersey music scene. Whether she's playing shows at The Chubby Pickle in Highlands or helping to run open mic nights at The Inkwell in Long Branch or lending backing vocals to Foes of Fern or Taylor Tote, Mandeville is a major contributor to what has become one of the country's most vital and vibrant music scenes. She also happens to be one of the funniest and most quick-witted people I've ever had the pleasure to meet.

Avery Mandeville's debut EP, Salty, brings five years' worth of songwriting, hard work, and dues-paying together with a biting sense of humor. It premieres right here, right now; and it's available for immediate purchase at Avery Mandeville's Bandcamp page.

I'm not sure if this is intentional, but Salty has an arc. Over the course of its five songs, it moves from the self examination of the mostly acoustic "Intro (My Lover)" and "Say Avery" through to literal and figurative centerpiece, "Quarter to Four," to the self-assured rock of "No More Dick Pix" and "Johnny (With the Blue Shirt)." Mandeville goes from lamenting that, "I can't keep going on like this" on (the amazing) "Quarter to Four" to declaring, "I'm unsure of many things, but I know I'll do whatever I want" in the space of a single song on "No More Dick Pix."

Throughout, Mandeville's vocals can be both smoky and sardonic. The production of Joseph Pomarico and (on "Johnny") Matt Dubrow gives things intimacy or heft at just the right times. Mandeville is backed by The Man Devils of Matt Fernicola (bass, electric guitar, and credited with all arrangements), Owen Flanagan (drums), and Branden Steinagle (synths); and, on those tracks when the full band let loose, I found myself thinking of the post-Neptune City work of Nicole Atkins.

Stream Salty in its entirety below.

Avery Mandeville and The Man Devils will be celebrating the EP's release with a show at The Saint on Friday, February 3rd, with The Lords of Liechtenstein and The Mercury Brothers. You'll be able to purchase physical copies of the CD at the show along with, I think maybe, some "Dick" (guitar) picks.