Don Giovanni Records Showcase at The Knitting Factory Brooklyn, 2/7/15 (PHOTO LINKS)

Downtown Boys played. Craziness ensued.

Night 2

The dynamic duo of Allyson and me were back at Knitting Factory Brooklyn for the second installment of Don Giovanni's 2015 label showcase. After a bit of wrangling to ensure that I had a photo pass for the show, I was inside again and took up my spot front and center. Good thing I got that pass, too; because I went absolutely crazy taking photos on the second night.

Anyway, Chris Gethard was hosting again for Night 2. He'd noted the evening before that Don Giovanni are a label that think outside the box: Take the first two nights of the showcase and put them right next to each other. Then, hold Night 3 some number of weeks later. Even better, make that third night have two separate shows to confuse everyone even more.

Joe Steinhardt: "improv'er" / break dancer

Gethard again treated us to the comedy stylings of Don Giovanni executive Joe Steinhardt. This time Gethard and Steinhardt engaged in some long-form improv involving Ikea and break dancing. Both gamely attempted to execute spins on the stage. Gold.

Recent -- like really recent -- Don Giovanni signees Alice started things off with a short set. They seemed a little nervous which was pretty charming, and they definitely have a sound that touches on a lot of stuff I really like. Looking forward to the record.

brick mower produced one of my favorite records of 2014; and, while I missed them on Night 3 of last year's showcase, I've seen them several times locally since then. They had Chris Pierce on drums like they did when they opened for The Muffs at Asbury Lanes and sounded as tight as I've ever heard them.

Post-NSC stage.

Last year, Nuclear Santa Claust played the smaller Night 1 at Death By Audio. That was the most aggressive of the three nights with The Groucho Marxists, Vacation, Tenement, and Night Birds also on the bill. Just like last year, beers -- Beers. Not empty beer cans. -- hurtled toward the stage throughout the set. The band, which includes Don Giovanni "co-honcho" Zach Gajewski on bass, were soaked. Cans littered the stage when the set was done.

Pete Stampfel, Chris Gethard

Just before Worriers took the stage, New York underground legend Peter Stampfel joined Gethard onstage. He discussed some deeply personal experiences with vacuum cleaners and, when asked what advice he had for independent bands trying to make it, said simply, "Persevere." Chris Gethard called Stampfel a "perfect man."

I'd just seen Worriers at Asbury Lanes during one of the Home for the Holidays after-parties, and I'm really growing to love their sound and the content of Lauren Measure's songs. Saturday just solidified that for me.

The next two sets continued the surprise theme of the previous night. Philly's Pinkwash set up a stack of amps for guitarist Joey Doubeck. After some technical issues, Doubeck and drummer Ashley Arnwine delivered a short (Very short. Like 4 songs.) set of room-shaking guitar / drum rock.

As surprised as I was by the intensity of Pinkwash, nothing could have prepared me for Providence, RI's Downtown Boys. The band's politically charged, bi-lingual punk rock worked the crowd to the first real moshing, stage-diving frenzy of the weekend.

Downtown Boys and friends

Downtown Boys had guitar, bass, drums, saxophones, a guy jumping around hitting drumsticks together, and lead singer Victoria Ruiz. They had rage. As Ruiz made between song speeches about gender, race, and the police, her mother stood beaming at the front of the stage. Ruiz eventually climbed into the audience and ended up being hoisted aloft in what she claimed was her first-ever crowd surf. Drummer Norlan Olivo eventually followed Ruiz into the crowd and climbed atop his floor tom as the crowd held it over their heads. By the end of the set, people from the audience had joined the band onstage for a group sing and thrash. Totally crazy. Totally cathartic.

California X did a great job following the hardest act to follow of the night, closing things out with a wall of guitar noise. The band had a lot more room to move around than when I saw them a few weeks ago at Paradise Lost, and I could actually see them and take photos this time. I held my spot at the front of the stage and reveled in one of my favorite bands right now.

At the end of the night, I told Joe Steinhardt about my amazement with Downtown Boys, and he said, "We try to bring you the future here."

Don Giovanni bring more than that. It's obvious that Joe and Zach are signing and helping out bands that they really personally enjoy. The results of that approach are obvious when you feel the good vibes at one of these shows.

Two days. Two late, late nights. One traffic ticket. Thirteen bands. So worth it.

Links to all of the pics from Night 2 are below.

Chris Gethard, Joe Steinhardt, Peter Stampfel
Alice
Brick Mower
Nuclear Santa Claust
Worriers
Pinkwash
Downtown Boys
California X

The Muffs Played Asbury Lanes w/ Full of Fancy (last show) and brick mower, 10/11/14 (PHOTOS)

Really Really Happy

Four straight nights of going to shows -- 2 at Asbury Lanes, 3 to see Full of Fancy -- came to an end for me on Saturday night. This time, CoolMom was coming with me which always makes for a special evening. We were heading to Asbury Lanes to see The Muffs, brick mower, and the last-ever performance by Full of Fancy.

CoolMom really didn't enjoy the last show we went to together. While I loved it, it turns out that Perfect Pussy really wasn't her bag. I had a feeling that Saturday's bill would redeem me in her eyes, though; and I wasn't wrong.

Before heading over to Asbury Lanes, we enjoyed a few beverages and a burger over at Bond St. Bar. Afterwards, we stopped into Parlor Gallery on Cookman for the opening of "Savages" a new exhibition featuring works by artists Hunter Stabler, Ben Venom, Jeremy Burks, Bryan Holland, and Max Kauffman. Some good stuff. Beers at a neighborhood bar and a gallery opening: I was really trying to stack the decks in my favor in terms of CoolMom's enjoyment of the evening. It was working.

We made it to Asbury Lanes right around 9 o'clock. There was a nice turnout already. We said our "hellos" to people, grabbed drinks from the bar, and moved into position to watch brick mower's set. I've said this a couple of times here, but brick mower's Teenage Graceland is one of my favorite records of 2014. Their set was heavy on cuts from that record, and we both really enjoyed it. The band was great, but I am also going to give a nod to our good friend Gentleman Jim Norton who was behind the soundboard. He did a fantastic job all night, and I heard more than one person (including The Muffs' Kim Shattuck as she took the stage) mention how good things were sounding.

Full of Fancy were next and, just like the night before, sounded just that much better than their previous performance. Friends, family, current and former bandmates, and longtime fans of the band (lots of overlap among all of those groups) filled the audience; and the set was impressive. CoolMom even gave things an uncharacteristic, "They were fucking good!" I think the wording may have been influenced by the beers, but the sentiment was honest. I knew she'd dig them.

They concluded, as expected, with "30 Days;" and, just like that, Full of Fancy were no more. Or were they...?

Just before 11, Kim Shattuck, Ronnie Barnett, and Roy McDonald took the stage and started with "Lucky Guy," the first track from The Muffs' self-titled, 1993 debut. From there, the set was a mix of old songs and songs from the band's first album in a decade, this year's really good Whoop Dee Doo. Shattuck's voice has lost absolutely none of its power and grit over the years, and she screamed and snarled the same as she has for two decades. Full of Fancy's Erin Hays remained at stage left for the entire show smiling and singing along with an obvious influence.

After the approximately 1-hour main portion of the set, The Muffs started taking shouted requests from the audience. Here's where we got "I'm A Dick" which was awesome.

CoolMom loved every minute of the evening, I think. So did I. We got to see two really excellent New Jersey bands, both of whom have at least a little bit of The Muffs in their DNA. We got to see that rare example of a reunited band who haven't lost a step. And we got to spend an evening out together enjoying ourselves and catching up with friends old and new.

See you at the next Full of Fancy show. Here are some pics. The rest are in the galleries.

New Video from NJ's brick mower

"Sad Houses"

I really, really like brick mower's Teenage Graceland. It mixes a 1990s slackery feel with a DIY punk aesthetic in a way that has just made the record continue to worm its way into my heart.

brick mower have come through with a video for Teenage Graceland track "Sad Houses" that I almost missed. The video starts out as kind of a bleak and harrowing experience somewhere (I'm assuming) in the swamps of Jersey, but it ends up as a nice day out in nature, playing duck duck goose with a brick mower T-shirt wearing Bigfoot. Who doesn't wish they could do that?

Full of Fancy / The Besties Reunited. Played Asbury Lanes w/ Mikey Erg and Brick Mower (PHOTOS), 5/31/14

Is This Where I Say, "...and it felt so good?"

Saturday night at Asbury Lanes saw reunions from two beloved punk / power pop bands from the mid to late aughties. Brooklyn's The Besties and New Jersey's own Full of Fancy got the bands back together for one, final (?) time and played what ended up being a party full of sing-alongs and joyful dancing.

Before the big reunions, there were sets from Brick Mower and Mikey Erg. Brick Mower did about thirty minutes heavy on songs from this year's excellent Teenage Graceland. Mikey Erg did a high-energy solo set that saw him bouncing across the Asbury Lanes' stage -- the audience singing along -- any time he wasn't stationed at the mic under the venue's brightest and hottest light.

After, reportedly, just "one practice in five years," The Besties took the stage, shook off the rust, and went right back to charming the crowd. Dual vocalists / keyboard players Kelly Waldrop and Marisa Bergquist flanked guitarist Rikki Walsh, while drummer Frank Korn added some heft to the band's brand of twee punk. Full of Fancy's Miranda Taylor and Erin Hays joined the band on stage for a final dance and sing-along to close the set and, maybe, the book on The Besties.

Full of Fancy capped the evening -- a trio this time as guitarist Brian Gorsenger had a case of strep throat. They played a set that included favorites like "Stone's Throw," "Hot Tub," "Trophy," and "30 Days." The band did a cover of "Rockaway Beach" and extended a reciprocal invitation to Besties Kelly and Marisa to close things out with a cover of "We Got The Beat." After hearing the final note, the crowd begged for more; but drummer Evan Kiel announced that the band had played everything they knew. "Play '30 Days' again!" But Erin just laughed and waved goodbye.

Below are some highlights from the evening. There are full sets up at Flickr.

Miranda Taylor returns to Asbury Lanes this Friday as one of her current bands, Black Wine, is on the bill with Diarrhea Planet, Music Band, and Gods. See you there.

brick mower, Teenage Graceland, 2014

Album Review

I've always been a little squeamish about the term "Pop Punk." For me, it always conjures images of some corporate, radio friendly thing that borrows some of the sounds of punk music but is really just a mass market imitation. I'm wrong about that in many cases, of course. There are a whole slew of bands who produce intelligent, hook-filled punk music while espousing a DIY ethic. Take New Brunswick via Keansburg trio brick mower, for instance.

Teenage Graceland, the follow-up to 2012's My Hateable Face, is a collection of classic indie-influenced punk that definitely deserves the "Pop" modifier. "Georgia Glass" opens the record with a slightly off-kilter guitar riff that I love and is one of the catchiest laments about untapped potential ("Wanted to walk / decided to crawl") you're likely to hear. On "Ketamine Smile," Eric Truchan's guitar and the song's refrain of, "Let's cover ourselves in rust here and sit inside and rot" combine to capture that slacker-y aesthetic common to a lot classic indie. Similarly, songs like "Starve For The Weekend (Mabel)" and "Can't Take It With You" combine a shout along lyrical style with kind of a Malkmus / Martsch / Brock vibe to come up with something you could call... ...pop indie punk... punk indie pop... ...I don't know.

It's silly and limiting to try and jam a band into a made up micro-genre, so let's just say that the sum of Teenage Graceland's parts is something that I can see myself listening to over and over again. In addition to Truchan's lyrics and left-of-center guitar style, those parts include a rhythm section of Kristin Gogan (bass) and Steve Gennarelli (drums) that drives songs like "Anne, So It Goes" deep into your core, pushing that internal button that gets you involuntarily moving in time to the music.

That's what "Pop" is about, I guess -- giving you something you can grab onto. Our corporate overlords do that by carefully focus grouping and market researching those sounds, beats, phrases, or whatever that get their songs to stick in your brain. Bands like brick mower give you the all-natural version. They give you some honest, intelligent lyrics; add some sounds that they obviously love; and stitch it all together with some punk energy to make a real connection.

Teenage Graceland is out now on Don Giovanni Records.

Don Giovanni Records Showcase Starts Tonight. New Brick Mower.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

New Brunswick's Don Giovanni Records has grown into, quite simply, one of the most important independent record labels in the country. Nowhere is that more evident than at the label's annual showcase. Founded as kind of an alternative to the industry / corporate showcases at events like CMJ or SXSW, the Don Giovanni event features bands from the label, bands who are friends of the label, and a real sense of community.

This year's event spans three days in Brooklyn. Tonight's show is at Death By Audio and features Tenement, Vacation, Nuclear Santa Claust, The Groucho Marxists, and the Jersey Shore's Night Birds.

Nights Two and Three take place at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Tomorrow night's lineup consists of Laura Stevenson, Shellshag, Upset, Worriers, and Nude Beach; while Saturday brings Screaming Females, California X, Brick Mower, Priests, and the currently Asbury-based Black Wine.

These are some great bands that I've written about often here and elsewhere (click the little tags at the bottom of this post or the "Speak Into My Good Eye" tab up above to see all of that). As of right now, it looks like tickets are still available for each night, including two-day passes to the MHOW shows. If you can't make it, watch for my coverage over at Speak Into My Good Eye.

Also, take a listen to the brand new "Shitty Parade" from New Jersey Pop Punks Brick Mower whose album Teenage Graceland comes out March 25th on Don Giovanni.