Beach Slang Played Rough Trade with Chris Gethard's Mr. Shankly and The Franklys, 9/27/16

Play Me Something That Might Save My Life

I think of it as a professional responsibility to read Pitchfork's reviews of new albums I'm interested in. Our tastes have diverged somewhat over the last decade or so, but I do find it instructive to see what that part of the "indie" music-sphere thinks about certain things. It's often a game of trying to guess what number rating they'll apply to a particular release.

I headed over there to check out their review of Beach Slang's A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings the other day; and, while it was a solid review, it wasn't gushing. Many of Ian Cohen's points were, in one sense, spot on: "...the mere decision to call this album A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings—even if it is earned—calls into question whether [songwriter / frontman, James Alex, is] truly operating without pretense."

But, to answer that question, all you have to do is spend a few minutes speaking with James Alex before or after a show -- a few minutes that he seems more than willing to grant to anyone who approaches him, usually beginning and ending things with a hug. After that, there will be no doubt in your mind that any of this is for real. James Alex is the person who screams things like, "Play me something that might save my life!" and "Your arms are like a car crash I want to die in."

That sincerity carries onto the stage. Last night at Rough Trade, James Alex shouted out new friends he'd made before the show, fans who bought him drinks, old friends he hadn't seen in ages. He and the rest of the band raged and careened through songs from the new record and dug back into their catalog for songs like "All Fuzzed Out," a favorite of mine that I haven't seen them play live in a while.

As predicted by Scotch LaRock the other day, the set was full of false starts, mistakes, power outages, audibles, and ad-libs. The band covered The Replacements (twice), Jawbreaker, The Cure, and gave us snippets of "Jessie's Girl" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me." Alex, along with band-mates Ed McNulty (bass) and Ruben Gallego (guitar), conversed and joked with audience members up front. Mikey Erg took over drums on "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Alex Chilton."

Alex dedicated "Bad Art and Weirdo Ideas" to "my friend Jim [Adkins of Jimmy Eat World] who's here," but I'm going to pretend that he meant me. I can't hear that song without feeling like CoolMom and Jeff and Scott and Emily are jumping up and down beside me or without seeing Ed and Carrot sailing over my head from the stage during the last show at Asbury Lanes. I'm going to admit I got a little choked up. Pushover.

They ended the set with "Young And Alive;" and the crowd, who'd gotten pretty rowdy up front beginning with "Noisy Heaven," were all in for one, last song. Afterwards, Alex was in the corner at stage right talking, shaking hands, hugging anyone who came up to congratulate him on his band's latest release. He told them all how much it meant to him that they came to his band's show, and he meant every word.

I can't leave you without mentioning opening band, Mr. Shankly and The Franklys. Fronted by Chris Gethard and featuring Mikey Erg on drums, Alex Knudson (Hiccup) on guitar, and John DiNominice (Bomb The Music Industry, Jeff Rosenstock) on bass, they're a Smiths cover band that started as a gag. The backing band's chops and Gethard's commitment and razor sharp wit (I mean, he is a pro.), though, made their set something of a revelation. Loads of fun; and I sang myself hoarse, as I've been known to do at Smiths tribute shows.

Confession: It's always kind of been a fantasy of mine to be the Morrissey in a Smiths tribute band. I will never do this. I'll just content myself with living vicariously through Chris Gethard.

Pictures from both sets are up in the Flickr galleries.

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

Don Giovanni Records Showcase at The Knitting Factory Brooklyn, 2/6/15 (PHOTO LINKS)

Black Wine as Devo

Night 1

What a weekend. I'm still recovering. Swim meets. Father / daughter dances. Birthdays. Lots and lots of driving (including a traffic ticket -- the first since my late teens -- in the wilds of Brooklyn). Here's some stuff that happened Friday.

Allyson Dwyer and I set off in the sub-freezing temperatures for Night 1 of the annual Don Giovanni Records label showcase and arrived in Brooklyn a little after 7pm. We parked the family truckster atop a glacier about a block away from The Knitting Factory. We got inside and settled in for a drink before the show.

The great thing about this showcase -- and the label, in general -- is the communal feel. I said hi to Shellshag and Black Wine before the show, and I saw several people with whom I've become friends as a result of attending last year's shows.

We made our way into the performance space, and I parked myself right up against the stage. Host and Don Giovanni artist Chris Gethard started things off talking about how weird and awkward it always is for a comedian to host a concert. I think his worries were unfounded. At least with this crowd. Gethard gave away some free stuff -- really undesirable free stuff that people jumped on because it was free -- like a broken USB wall charger. Allyson got the package of wet naps. He brought Don Giovanni "label honcho" Joe Steinhardt up on stage to preview one of the jokes that Steinhardt has available for sale. I won't print it here, since I didn't buy it.

Gethard then laid down a challenge for each of the bands to include a joke in their set. Each band would ultimately comply with varying degrees of success. As a show of solidarity, Gethard started off the evening with a song. He brought out John Driver of Shellshag to accompany him on his (and my) favorite song of all time, Billy Bragg's "A New England."

John Driver, Chris Gethard

The music from the bands started. It would end up being a night of surprises -- some for me,
some for everyone. My first surprise of the night was Crow Bait. I hadn't heard them before and loved their set. A great discovery.

Once the stage was set for Black Wine, Gethard came out saying that he'd been asked to stall for some time. After a few minutes, the band came out wearing yellow jumpsuits and launched into a full Devo cover set. The whole set. All Devo. Halfway through, the band stripped down to the all black t-shirt / shorts combo. The audience went kind of bananas. Joe Steinhardt later told me that it was a total surprise to everyone. So much fun.

Mal Blum, whom I'd first seen at the Boyd Park show back in September, did another fun set including stuff from her upcoming Marissa Paternoster-produced record. Blum and the rest of her band have really relatable personalities onstage. Her sets are full of humor and warmth. When she and bassist Audrey Zee Whitesides stopped to give "a shoutout to CoolDad," I was floored. It kind of explained the surprising moment (one of the best moments to have ever happened since I started this thing, by the way) earlier in the evening when Chris Gethard said, "Is CoolDad here? There are rumors flying around backstage that CoolDad may be here tonight." I passed Blum and her band some stickers when they were done.

The Hamiltons

The Hamiltons, Canadian arch-rivals of The Ergs!, did an intense set of Ramones-inspired punk only after making sure that their nemeses weren't in the house. They rattled songs off one after another in a non-stop barrage. After their set, Gethard noted his surprise -- shared by me -- that several members of the audience knew every Hamiltons' lyric.

Shellshag were next and, as usual, turned the place into a crazy dancing love fest. The duo kind of epitomize the feel of the whole showcase weekend with their positivity. I don't know what more there is to say about their set other than everyone had their arms over their heads as they sang along.

Chuck Betz of Nude Beach

We were already almost an hour into the next morning by the time Nude Beach came out for the final set of the night. I loved their record from last year and had been looking forward to their set all evening. It looked like they'd grown the live band by a few members since I'd seen them in September, and the new set up did a great job of reproducing the sounds on 77. Guitarist Chuck Betz even broke out the double-necked guitar for a few songs.

Allyson and I headed out into the freezing temperatures for the long drive home. I had a swim meet to get to in the morning. I knew I'd be exhausted, but we'd be back for part 2.



I went a little crazy with pics both nights. Here's night 1.

Chris Gethard, Joe Steinhardt, John Driver
Crow Bait
Black Wine
Mal Blum
The Hamiltons
Shellshag
Nude Beach