Premiere: First Singles from stillhungry to Benefit Garden State Equality

"Get Well" / "Paranoia"

stillhungry is a new band / songwriting project featuring Jenna Murphy (prim), Matteo DeBenedetti (Toy Cars), and Erik Kase Romero (dollys, The Front Bottoms, producer / engineer of just about everything there is). Today, the trio are releasing the first fruits of their collaboration in the form of two singles, "Get Well" and "Paranoia."

stillhungry by Natalie Newbold

The subdued "Get Well" features Murphy on lead vocals, while DeBenedetti takes over on the more up-tempo "Paranoia." Over just two tracks, stillhungry showcase a wide range that deftly blends the members' personalities. The band get help from Mark Masefield on B3, and Eric Novod handles drums on "Paranoia."

Romero recorded and produced both tracks. Tim Pannella mixed and mastered.

You can grab both singles over at stillhungry's Bandcamp page. All proceeds from sales there will go to Garden State Equality, New Jersey's largest LGBTQ advocacy and education organization.

stillhungry head out on a short run this upcoming weekend with Dogwood Tales. Check out both tracks and those dates below.



stillhungry on tour w/ Dogwood Tales

6/14 - Winchester VA | Hopscotch Records + Coffee
6/15 - Amherst VA | Everybody’s Birthday IX Music and Arts Fest
6/16 - Philadelphia PA | The Sin Bucket w/ Shannen Moser

Interview: Natalie Newbold & Lucas Dalakian of Well Wisher with an Acoustic Performance of "Sweet" (VIDEO)

Natalie Newbold and Lucas Dalakian of Well Wisher

This Is Fine

On a gray Sunday morning, Rosi and I headed over to Hot Dog House in Asbury Park to meet up with Natalie Newbold and Lucas Dalakian at their band's practice space. Natalie and Lucas should be familiar faces to readers here. Natalie was a member of CDM faves, dollys; and Lucas has played in ROMP, Ragged Lines, and other bands that we've written about or booked over the years here at CoolDad Music. Together with Mike Lindardi and Lynsey Vandenberg, the pair form the indie / pop-punk quartet, Well Wisher.

Last fall, Well Wisher put out the excellent This Is Fine with 6131 Records; and, in the last year, the band have been on a steady, upward climb, opening for The Front Bottoms, Manchester Orchestra, Newfound Glory, and more.

When we got together with Natalie and Lucas, Well Wisher were preparing to head out on tour with their pals in Maine's Weakened Friends. It's a tour that will take them to Austin, TX for this year's South By Southwest Music Festival. While there, Well Wisher will be playing the Little Dickman Records / CoolDad Music-presented Rock or Die VI showcase at Austin's Hard Luck Lounge on March 14th.

Natalie and Lucas were kind enough to spend some time chatting with me about, among other things, the origins of Well Wisher, the making of the band's recent video for "Sweet," whether Natalie prefers drums or guitar, and their upcoming tour. Natalie also performed a pair of songs for us on her newly set up acoustic guitar. Check out our conversation below, and stay tuned at the end of the interview for "Sweet." You can also check out bonus song, "All My Love."

Once again, Rose Lamela did all the video, sound, and editing for this; and I owe her a whole bunch of tacos.

This Is Fine is out now on 6131 Records. All of Well Wisher's tour dates are listed below.

Interview / "Sweet"



Bonus Song! "All My Love" (Who says we don't love you?)



Well Wisher on Tour

10 Favorite Cover Songs of 2017

A Giant Dog

Year-End Coverage

New Jersey. Jersey Shore. Asbury Park. Covers, baby!

10. Yawn Mower, "Margaritaville" (Jimmy Buffett)

The first time I heard the guys do this one, I think, was at Trenton's Millhill Basement. It had to be a nod to Jimmy Buffett superfan, Chris Dickman, who was there because Little Dickman Records and I were co-presenting the show. The song was barely recognizable then. Now, it's recognizable as both Buffett and Yawn Mower. It has that Yawn Mower drone that's, weirdly, doomy and fun at the same time.



9. SLEEPiES, "I Wanna Holler" (Gary U.S. Bonds)

I love SLEEPiES. Jersey loves Gary U.S. Bonds. This one is from about 20 years before he started collaborating with The Boss, and SLEEPiES give it a western-y vibe for 2017.



8. Jonathan Rado, "Thunder Road" (Bruce Springsteen)

C'mon. This had to be here. It's a pretty faithful rendition of a song for which I have every little vocal inflection from the original committed to memory. It comes from Rado's full-album cover of Born to Run.



7. Low Cut Connie, "Controversy" (Prince)

This one falls into that category of a cover that's a perfect match for the artist (See below). Prince is a clear influence on Low Cut Connie's Adam Weiner, and this is a fitting tribute.



6. Well Wisher, "Teenage Dirtbag" (Wheatus)

Well Wisher, the project of former dollys drummer Natalie Newbold, has been covering this one since they began. The song is like an O. Henry story with that cool twist ending. You can find the studio version featuring Newbold (vocals / guitar), Erik Kase Romero (bass), and Mike Lindardi (drums) over at Well Wisher's website. This is a video shot by YouTube user Nathen Hutchison.



5. Sharif Mekawy of Looms, "Hummingbird" (Wilco)

"Hummingbird" is, by far, my favorite post-Jay Bennett Wilco song. Mekawy did this as part of the I'll Be Around Wilco tribute album (on which, amazingly, nobody covered "Jesus Etc.," the song from which the comp takes its title) to benefit The Project Matters. I could listen to this version 1000 times, and I probably have.



4. dollys, "The Way You Make Me Feel" (Michael Jackson)

I first heard dollys do this one at the Indie Pop Winter Formal I threw at The Saint to start 2016. To kick off 2017, they released this on the Covers tape they put out with Little Game Records to benefit Planned Parenthood. dollys do an amazing job here of translating this very 80s pop classic into their own three-piece format.



3. Charly Bliss, "Steal My Sunshine" (Len)

I went to the release show for Charly Bliss's Guppy back in May, and they busted out this cover of Len's "Steal My Sunshine." I remember thinking back then that the combination of bubblegum pop and 90s nostalgia was a perfect match for Charly Bliss. I guess it was an easy choice for them when they went in to do an A.V. Undercover session.



2. Daddy Issues, "Boys of Summer" (Don Henley)

This is a great, great song. I went to the second or third ever concert of my life (Don Henley / Katrina and The Waves) on the strength of this song alone. Daddy Issues dirty up the pristine, 80s cool of the original.



1. A Giant Dog, "Angst in My Pants" (Sparks)

Confession: I didn't know this was a cover until after I'd been listening to Toy for a while. That's kind of inexcusable considering that I think it's on the Valley Girl soundtrack. Anyway. I loved this one even before I knew it was a cover. It's done kind of double-time when compared to the original, and the building tension and release are cathartic.

dollys, tense, 2017

Album Review

I premiered the first two singles from dollys' tense here earlier this month along with an interview with guitarist and principal songwriter, Jeff Lane. In answering a question about the band's experience at Fidelitorium Studios in North Carolina, Jeff said, "[bassist / engineer / producer] Erik [Kase Romero] and [engineer / mixer / masterer (?)] Timmy Pannella were able to come up with a very intuitive way of setting up the studio prior to recording so that anyone could experiment with weird instruments and ideas without wasting much time setting gear up or putting gear away. Through their hard work and planning, we were able to make the most of our time there and have as much fun as possible."

As I listen to tense, that sense of forethought and planning by all of dollys comes through. The songs here are full of amazing sonic details, but they remain tight and economical. Only two of the songs on tense even crack three minutes, and the band do not waste a second of the listener's time.

Opener "too bad" moves from staccato pop verses to a flowing, wide-open chorus to a Pet Sounds-esque bridge over the course of its two-and-a-half minutes. And, even with all of that going on, the song feels perfectly wrapped up in a nice, little, pop package.

Drummer Natalie Newbold's vocals do a little call and response with Lane's guitar and Romero's bass during the verse on the relatively epic (3:13) "collapse." It's a song about someone who's constantly playing the victim, and the sarcasm in Newbold's voice when she sings, "How much more weight can you take, before you collapse?" is barely detectable.

For me, "girl" is one of the real triumphs of tense. I was lucky enough to hear a few early demos of the songs that would make up the album; and, while I liked the version of "girl" I heard just fine, I had no idea what the song would become.

dollys clearly had a vision for it, though. It's a simple song built around a single chord, but Newbold's vocals are right on-point. Everything about the arrangement -- the harmonies, the rolling drums, the keys, Romero's bass -- is perfection. And not to be a downer here, but the line "my dreams didn't work out for you" is a tough one to hear following the dissolution of the band.

"sugartooth" sounds almost jazzy before it slides into its poppy and singalongable chorus. "idiot" is another example of the way in which the music feels almost like another singer in the band, punctuating Newbold's vocals with help from Lisa Romero on various keys.

There's a -- I don't know. Tropical, maybe? -- vibe on "on the mend." And "here I am, making plans, when I'm fairly aware that everything seems sweet until it ends" is another line that carries more weight on a final album.

dollys go for a bit of 90s-style power pop / alt rock on "another thing coming." Newbold's voice often reminds me of Juliana Hatfield or Veruca Salt's Nina Gordon and Louise Post, and that works well here.

Things go a little easier on the album's final three songs. The buttoned-up "jukebox" gets a little spacey in places. "grow up" is bouncy and Beatle-esque. Beautiful album-closer "tenant" is appropriately melancholy. "Don't you worry about me. I'll be a tenant of each dream."

tense is twenty-six minutes of meticulously-crafted pop music. I've said this before when referring to dollys, but it takes a lot of discipline to make two- and three-minute songs that contain so much. dollys were a band that had a real vision for what they wanted to achieve. A song like "girl" shows that in spades.

Some of the songs here contain moments that are hard to listen to for those of us who loved this band, but over at dollys' Bandcamp page, they say, "we made this record when we were happy. we hope it makes you happy, too." And I have no doubt that tense will, ultimately, make many, many people happy. We should all be lucky enough to say we did that. Thanks, dollys.

tense is out now on Sniffling Indie Kids. A dollar from every sale of the album will go to support the ACLU.

Premiere & Interview: New Songs from dollys and a Chat with Jeff Lane

dollys at the CoolDad Music 5th Anniversary Show

"collapse" / "girl"

Oof. OK.

Last week, dollys, a band who have meant a great deal to CoolDad Music and to me personally, announced that they were breaking up. I'm not going to lie. It was a blow to me.

I got to introduce the band last year at the inaugural North Jersey Indie Rock Festival. I didn't prepare a speech; but I said something along the lines of, "We always like to talk in terms of great LOCAL bands or favorite NEW JERSEY bands. dollys, though, are just a GREAT BAND. No modifier is necessary." And, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in feeling that way. And, if I only ever knew dollys by their music, I'd feel that way. But I also know Jeff Lane (guitar / vocals), Natalie Newbold (drums / vocals), and Erik Kase Romero (bass / vocals) personally; and they are three of the funniest, most genuine, and hardest working people you'll meet -- in music or anywhere else.

When dollys announced their break-up, they also announced that they'd be releasing their final album, tense, on July 21st via Sniffling Indie Kids. The band tracked the record at Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium Recordings in North Carolina, and then came back to Asbury Park to put everything together. Today, we are premiering the first two tracks from the album.

Both "collapse" and "girl" reveal a band that's leaving us just when their creative output is at its peak. I had the chance to talk to Jeff Lane about the band, recording the album, and these tracks in particular. Read along while you listen, and don't forget to pre-order tense. You're going to want to own this one. It's a record that people will talk about for a long time.



Let's get the obvious out of the way first. What are you able to tell us about the break-up of dollys?

Haha, jeez, not even a little small talk first, huh Jim? I love my bandmates very, very much and all I want is happiness and success for them, so I'd only like to emphasize how thrilled we are to have gotten as far as we did and to have met so many incredible people in the process. We loved it. We were so excited. All that matters now is the music we made, the kindhearted people we met, and memories we'll have, and what we'll each be doing individually in the future.

Natalie will continue making music as Well Wisher and will begin performing live in the late summer, maybe sooner. She's got two excellent songs on Bandcamp that feature Mike from Toy Cars on drums and Erik on bass. Erik really puts his heart into everything he records and is so passionate about producing and engineering bands. Here's his website, where you can hear his "voice" on all kinds of records. As for me, I'm just going to keep writing songs, and I'll be releasing them under my name. Maybe eventually I'll get a band together, but it's a little tough for me right now to think about doing that.

North Jersey Indie Rock Festival

OK. On to happier things, I hope. Over the course of 4+ years, dollys did some great things -- three albums, a covers tape, videos, tours, big shows, house shows -- can you talk about some of your favorite times with the band?

Thanks! We've got an EP, too! But those 6 songs are pretty far-removed from the sound we settled into. You know, my favorite time with the band was recording tense in NC because I felt like every moment of that experience was positive and we were so supportive of each other. If anybody had an idea, however outlandish or seemingly tedious, we'd go for it enthusiastically. To me, it was a barrage of fun, successful experiments that felt important and natural for the material. I believe that the LP we made was recorded with so much love and faith in what we were doing together. It was an arduous endeavor emotionally and physically getting the 10 songs ready to record, but when we turned off the lights in the studio to leave Fidelitorium on that last day, I think we all walked away with something truly meaningful to our lives and a closeness that we'll never forget. I really want to thank Nat, Erik, Timmy, Lisa, Tony, and Mitch for making those 7 days the highlight of my life. That was the least alone I've ever felt. I so wish I could go back and relive that.

Champagne Jam was also totally unforgettable. It felt like we were kings for a day, you know? We were walking and talking amongst our DIY heroes. It was so cool. We had worked so hard up to that point and it really felt like a "make it or break it" moment. I actually played a little gag on the group when we were leaving for NY on the morning of the show. The first track I played over Natalie's car speakers was Eminem's "Lose Yourself;" and Tony, Nat, and Erik all thoroughly rolled their eyes at me. I guess I thought I was being funny and trying to conquer our anxiety, but it may have had the opposite effect. It was all in good fun though, and we all had a laugh. I'll miss stuff like that.

One of the things that always really impressed me about dollys was that you seemed very ideologically committed. You didn't make music that anyone would consider punk in terms of sound, I think, but your approach to the band -- something as simple as the shows you chose to play, for example -- was always pretty punk. Am I reading that right? Did you have a lot of internal discussions about wanting to stay true to your ideals? Did that ever present you with any hard decisions as a band?

I'd say you're reading that right, yeah. We didn't stubbornly refuse opportunities in an effort to stay DIY or punk or anything, but that community of people took us in, you know? I feel a kinship with the kind of folks who let the weight of the world into their hearts and cling to the walls at social gatherings. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think that being punk is all about being honest. No bullshit allowed. This might come off as a little heady and it's entirely irrelevant to your question, but I think cynicism and "punk-ness" stem from a sensitivity that makes you want to be sincere all of the time in either a brash way or a meek way. That's what punk means to me, so I feel right at home in that community. I wouldn't say we plotted our course or faced many fork-in-the-road type situations regarding DIY & punk. It was moreso the path that opened itself to us and the one that seemed most in line with who we are as people. We're really grateful to have been accepted by that community (as well as the other communities who welcomed us) and I hope we all will be able to continue contributing in both personal and artistic ways.

Jeff Lane

And, back to that idea of not really playing punk music… ...the band's whole DIY approach to things definitely placed you squarely in kind of a "punk rock scene" where you didn't sound like too many of the other bands. What was it like navigating your way around basements as a pop band?

It was a little tough in the beginning being the odd pop band sometimes, but once we got to know people better and our music became a little bit more familiar, we ended up really comfortable in most show situations. Booking was really tough at first, but we just kept pushing through; and, in time, we got to meet so many of the selfless people and bands involved in the east coast's many music scenes who keep the whole complicated machine going. They made it way easier and we attribute most of the success we had to them and, of course, the show-goers.

dollys also had a more, kind of, analog aesthetic than a lot of other bands. The first album, Oh, Please and the covers tape were, basically, all analog, right? Lots of your band photos were shot on film. Natalie even told me once that you were shooting footage for a video on a Lomokino. What is it about all of that stuff that you guys found so appealing?

Yessir, analog for the both of them! The covers tape may have been mixed and mastered digitally, though. I can't really remember. Tony Yebra, our close friend and genius music video guru, shot the video for "girl" on the Lomokino, which is a 35mm film hand-cranked movie camera that provides a distinct look once the film is developed and all that. Regrettably, we didn't get the chance to finish filming that one. I think our fondness for tape, film, and all that old-school analog stuff comes from the way that those mediums force you to work together to achieve a common goal. Tape and film both force you to work in a different way because editing becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible in many situations. I don't think it's necessarily a better way to work, it just inevitably gets you to a different sounding / looking result than working with something you can tweak endlessly in the digital realm. It's super nerdy. Anybody who's made it this far through my answer here is likely feeling exhausted by now.

Natalie Newbold

We're premiering two songs from the new album, tense, today -- "collapse" and "girl." You tracked these at Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium Recordings in North Carolina. Mitch Easter is an absolute giant in terms of influencing my own musical tastes through his work with R.E.M., The Connells, Game Theory, and others. What can you say about the experience of working on the songs there?

Yes we are, and thank you! Mitch is a true gentleman and a very thoughtful communicator. It was such a treat to meet him and record in his space, so I hope you get the chance to meet him someday if you haven't already. I talked about what our experience at Fidelitorium meant to me emotionally in an earlier question, but what we appreciated most about his spot was his eclectic collection of instruments and microphones and the way that his main live room sounded. Everything else was great too (including the décor!) but the room and the quirky gear were a big part of the album's sound. He also had a killer upright piano that we used on nearly everything. Erik and Timmy Pannella were able to come up with a very intuitive way of setting up the studio prior to recording so that anyone could experiment with weird instruments and ideas without wasting much time setting gear up or putting gear away. Through their hard work and planning, we were able to make the most of our time there and have as much fun as possible. Lisa Romero contributed beautiful piano, harpsichord, and synth parts that really glued the songs together. Tony had rigged much of the studio and the guesthouse with lighting equipment so that he could video document the more exciting moments of recording and the footage he captured was unreal. Natalie, Erik, and I were very much in tune with each other and performing every song with enthusiasm. It just all seemed really special and I am so glad to have been a part of it. Everybody involved was happy and at their best, I think. The record may not go as far as it could have in the end, but it feels really great to have been a part of something that inspired my friends and me to try our hardest.

After we wrapped up tracking in NC, we recorded vocals, mixed, and mastered the record at Lakehouse Recording Studios in Asbury Park, NJ with Timmy. We wouldn't have gotten far at all as a band without Jon Leidersdorff & Lakehouse's support, so we're very thankful and indebted to them as well.

Erik produced it. What's it like to work with such a big shot in the industry? In all seriousness, he's really becoming one of the most influential producers around.

Oh, it's amazing, and he keeps getting better and better at what he does. Erik is remarkable for his ability to engineer and produce records that sound and feel great, but he's also really enthusiastic about every single thing he works on. The stereotype of the curmudgeonly audio engineer who doesn't really care is about as common as the ill-tempered record store employee, but he is not that way at all. He makes recording fun, he makes it look easy, and somehow he still manages to make everything sound really good. Working on projects over a long period of time with him was a real trip. There are heaps of things related to the preproduction and recording processes that I completely overlooked in ignorance and he simply handled. I'm a lucky dumb guy, but I really appreciate his work.

Erik Kase Romero

Can you talk about the lyrics to "collapse?" It sounds like it's addressing someone who feels that the whole world is aligned against them. Is it about anyone in particular?

Well, yeah, it is. I started writing that song in March 2014, about a week before I started working on "doctor" from low year. I wanted to do something akin to The Smiths' "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" in the way that the music starts off in one direction and then immediately brings you somewhere else. At the time, my placeholder lyrics were very pointed at one person, but when the three of us worked on it together we brought it to a different place. We moved things around, cut some sections, trimmed the fat, and changed up the lyrics in such a way that I think it is much more about self-victimization now than about the person who inspired the song. I think everyone's been there at least once. It's such a scary and complicated thing because when you're stuck in that rut and blaming someone else for what you're unintentionally doing to yourself, it's impossible to look inward and recognize it. I think that, subconsciously, the guilt of your attempts to hurt someone else by playing the victim can just stack up and ruin you. It's a pretty mean song. But, you know... "Sticks and stones," I guess.

It seems like a lot of your songs come from a place of personal experience. Is that where you usually find inspiration?

Mostly, yeah! I've recently gotten into trying to write more story-songs that are unrelated to me entirely, but I'm pretty sure that's impossible. I only write when I have a reason to and I think I'm a very sensitive person who can only healthily blow off steam by writing music. I wish I could leave my perspective behind more frequently and write songs without that tinge of sadness to them, but I guess I just write more often when I'm bummed out or angry. I'll work on it. I'll tell you, I have a feeling that the next thing I do musically is going to be pretty sad, though.

The, I guess, B-side of the single is "girl." First, are there still A-sides and B-sides on digital releases? Do you still think of them that way? Second, what can you say about that song?

Sure, there are still A-sides and B-sides. We're analog freaks, remember? You'll inevitably get more plays on the first track than the second one, so I think the A/B terminology still applies.

"girl" breaks my heart and is certainly the song that's most personal to me, but it has a really fun backstory! One night after we played a show at the Old Mogul Theater in Montclair, NJ, Evan Hall of Pinegrove invited us back to his place to hang out and have a beer. While we were there, we all talked a little about songwriting and Natalie and Erik were innocently teasing me about how many chords I use when I write a song. My reaction was, of course, to try and write a song with only one chord. I'm pretty sure that because the bass is moving throughout the whole track that it technically has way more than one chord, but I was still happy with how it came out. It's another hopeless love song. It sounds like a Beach Boys ripoff. I'm pretty sure there's a gong in there somewhere, too. I think it's my favorite off the new record. Natalie sang it beautifully and her drum part is perfect. I don't mean to swoon over our own stuff, I'm just really proud of us for this one.

The first time I ever saw dollys. The Saint, 3/1/14.

Finally, just simply congratulations on everything you accomplished with dollys. You brought a lot of joy to a lot of people's lives. While it's extremely sad that we won't have that band to kick around anymore, it's wonderful that we get this last snapshot of you guys at the top of your game.

Thanks, Jim, for everything. I don’t really know what to say. I'm so proud of what we did, and I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for everybody who cared. It's surreal.

tense is due from Sniffling Indie Kids on 7/21. Once again, you can pre-order the album here.

Inaugural Through the Grapevine Festival Will Feature Titus Andronicus, Allison Crutchfield, and Many More, July 7th-9th

Titus Andronicus will headline one day of the Through the Grapevine Music & Arts Festival in July.

Heard It...

So this is pretty interesting. During the weekend of July 7th through July 9th, the new Through the Grapevine Music & Arts Festival will be coming to Millville, NJ's Southwind Winery. Organizers are billing it as a 3-day camping festival that will feature artists, fire spinners, crafts, and food in addition to its two stages of live music by lots of acts we write about often around here.

Headlining those stages will be Titus Andronicus and Rubblebucket. Others on the multi-genre bill include Allison Crutchfield and The Fizz, Abi Reimold, Vagabon, Slaughter Beach, Dog, Travis Little, dollys, American Trappist, Lowlight, Teenage Halloween, The Vaughns, and lots more. You know what? I'll just include the whole poster down below for your convenience.

Allison Crutchfield and The Fizz

Abi Reimold

Friday and Saturday feature music on two stages from 12noon to 3AM with things closing out on Sunday at 5pm. The festival will be family and kid-friendly and maintain a general focus on creative and performing arts with an as-yet-to-be-announced schedule of workshops.

You can keep up with developments related to the Through the Grapevine Music & Arts Festival over at their Facebook page and the event page. Or you could always just stay tuned here, and I'll try to keep you up to date. Up to you.

Tix are here.

And here's that poster I promised you.

Thanks for a Great Weekend!

Natalie Newbold of dollys

Five More Years

Saturday night was truly amazing. The RocknRoll Hi-Fives, Smalltalk, Shellshag, and dollys constituted pretty much a dream line-up for me; and they all turned in great sets. As usual, it was fun to hang and talk to everyone. I think we even fostered a new best-band-friends relationship between The RocknRoll Hi-Fives and Shellshag.

The RocknRoll Hi-Fives

Smalltalk

People onstage and off said some really inspiring and validating things to me throughout the night. That had me tearing up a few times, and it also strengthened my resolve to keep going and to try and make CoolDad Music the best it can be -- whatever that is.

Shellshag

dollys

Thank you to everyone who helped put the show together: the bands, Angie, MJ, Jenn, The Asbury Lanes Family, and everyone else behind the scenes. Thank you to everyone who showed up to the show; and, even if you couldn't make it, thank you for five-years' worth of support. Thank you, of course, to CoolMom for putting up with CoolDadMusic and for putting up with my increasing stress levels as the day got closer. Thank you to everyone who helped get the word out about the show including YouDontKnowJersey.com, Makin Waves, BlowupRadio.com, Babez In Boyland, Speak Into My Good Eye, Mike, and any other outlet or individual who shared out the info. And thank you to anyone I forgot to mention.

I was pretty much dead for most of Sunday, but there was no resting. Little Dickman Records and I had our re-scheduled date with Kino Kimino at The Saint. It was TARRAlicious as Tarra Thiessen played with Kino Kimino, Ex-Girlfriends, and Sharkmuffin for what must have been her 298th, 299th, and 300th shows in the last two or three months. EVL MOMMZ made their Asbury debut. Lunch Ladies closed things out. Tarra got two cakes in honor of her 27th birthday, which is today.

EVL MOMMZ

Ex-Girlfriends

That one also had a nice turnout, especially considering it was Sunday night; and it was fun to introduce Kino Kimino and Asbury Park to each other while watching Sharkmuffin and Ex-Girlfriends let loose on the last night of their long tour.

Kino Kimino

Sharkmuffin

Lunch Ladies

I'm going to take it easy today. Edit some pictures. Maybe put up a guest post. I'll be back after it post-SXSW / post-Anniversary in the next day or two. Stay tuned. I'm in the process of putting pics up into the Flickr galleries, so check there for everything.

And, as always, thank you for giving me any of your precious time.

CoolDad Music's 5th Anniversary Party with Shellshag, dollys, Smalltalk, and The RockNRoll Hi-Fives, March 25th, 2017, at The Overlook

Poster by Natalie Newbold

Happy Anniversary To Us

This past weekend, we officially announced our 5th anniversary party. It takes place on March 25th, 2017, at The Overlook in Asbury Park's Convention Hall. Playing for us are Shellshag, dollys, Smalltalk, and The RockNRoll Hi-Fives; and the whole celebration is a joint production between CoolDad Music and The Asbury Lanes Family. I haven't been this excited about something in a long time, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

5th Anniversary Design by Alex Rosen

On March 4th, 2012, I headed over to The Stone Pony with three other cooldads. We saw Titus Andronicus, Screaming Females, and Diarrhea Planet on that Sunday night. The next morning, I got up and wrote my first-ever post for this site. The first four words ever written on CoolDadMusic.com were "I love Asbury Park."

At the time, I was writing as someone who had grown up in the area and pretty much knew Asbury Park for its beach and its boardwalk. I'd definitely seen my share of shows at The Stone Pony or The Fast Lane over the years; but, until 2012, I hadn't really immersed myself in the Asbury Park music scene. I had, after all, spent a good chunk of my "prime show-going years" living in places like New York City, Hoboken, and Seattle. Now -- after five years of some pretty heavy immersion -- I can say that those first words I wrote at CoolDad Music are as true today as they were back then.

That's why I'm so happy to be able to throw this party in Asbury Park with the people who made Asbury Lanes one of my personal sanctuaries. Jenn Hampton and the staff at that venue welcomed me with open arms for around four years; and they made me -- a newcomer -- feel like a member of the family. It's not an exaggeration to say that there is no CoolDad Music without Asbury Lanes, and I hope that we're able to transfer some of the vibe that existed inside those four walls to our show on March 25th. I'm confident we can do it as the feeling there was never as much about the building as it was about the people inside.

Each of the bands playing the show (like countless others in our fertile Tri-State Area) continue to inspire me here at the site. If you do a search here (or over at Speak Into My Good Eye where I wrote for a time), you'll see their names pop up often. dollys so expertly craft classic pop music that it's almost easy to miss the meticulous attention to detail that goes into every one of their songs. They're also as dedicated to a DIY ethic as they are to making great music. From Smalltalk's earliest efforts, I've been a fan of their romantic and jangly "Modern Rock at the Jersey Shore." Their sound takes me back to a time when I was just discovering that there was music beyond the Classic Rock I listened to into my teens. The RockNRoll Hi-Fives have become great friends of mine, and it's appropriate that it happened through music. Dad Joe, Mom Gloree, and Kids Eilee and Evren play exuberant rock that shows how music can connect people; and they inspire me to be a better dad. Finally, Shellshag should be an example to us all. For over twenty years, the duo of John "Shellhead" Driver and Jennifer Shagawat have done what they've wanted to do exactly how they've wanted to do it; and that's kind of what we're all about here.

So, I hope you'll come help us celebrate at The Overlook on March 25th. Everything starts at 7:30. The price is $10, and anyone 18 and over can join us.

You can get tickets in advance at this link right here.

Premiere: Debut EP from Asbury Park's prim

Cover photo by Kelsey Ayres

Awake Again

To realize prim's debut EP, Awake Again, singer / songwriter Jenna Murphy has assembled a group of immensely talented people whose names should be recognizable to anyone who stops by here with any degree of regularity. prim are Murphy along with Jeff Lane and Erik Kase Romero of dollys and Mike Linardi and Chris Beninato of Toy Cars. Lisa Romero also lends some beautiful piano to Awake Again. In a brief conversation with Murphy a few weeks back, she was effusive in describing her bandmates' contributions to her songs. "They just took them somewhere else," she said.

Photo: Kelsey Ayres

You can hear the results of that collaboration today as we premiere Awake Again right here. The set opens with the title track. Erik Kase Romero's production is crisp and clean. Murphy's voice floats around the band's staccato approach as she sings, "Awake again... ...and you won't hold me down." That contrast between buttoned-up pop production and raw emotion is present throughout the EP.

"Holiest" starts quietly with acoustic guitar and some restrained vocals from Murphy. "Spare me a minute of your time." As the song builds, Murphy becomes more emphatic as she repeats the verse with some slight changes indicating her growing frustration and loss of control. "Give me just a minute of your damn time."

"It's Because I Cut My Hair" and "Of Course I Do" both deal with loss and guilt. I guess I could imagine both songs in some acoustic singer / songwriter version. Here, though, both are lush, rolling pop. The additional vocal tracks paired with the full-band arrangements take some extremely personal things and turn them outward, making them feel universal.

"Spilt Milk" premiered on January 11th, National Milk Day, with our friends at YouDontKnowJersey.com. The band hang back a bit as Murphy repeats to herself that old advice about not crying, but her head and her heart aren't on exactly the same page.

Give a listen to prim's Awake Again below. The EP is a true collaboration among a bunch of amazingly talented people, and I'm excited to be able to share it with you. It's available right now over at prim's Bandcamp page.

prim celebrate the EP's release with a show at Random House in New Brunswick this Saturday, February 4th. Also on that bill are Seamstress, Well Wisher, and Bone & Marrow.

A Few Things for a Friday in January

Laura Stevenson in Asbury Park's Convention Hall for Don Giovanni's New Alternative Music Festival back in September.

When Black Friday Comes...

Here are a few things that have hit my email box in the past few weeks that I figured I'd gather all together in one place to mark the day.

Charly Bliss, "Turd"

Eva Hendricks of Charly Bliss penned this song after being catcalled, touched without her consent, and followed as she walked home from a guitar lesson. "I wrote this song to make me feel like I had some power in a situation where I felt totally powerless, and we're releasing it for the same reason," wrote Hendricks at the Charly Bliss Bandcamp page back in November.

The song is sneering and angry but full of all of the "bubblegrunge" sound that I've come to love about Charly Bliss.

All proceeds from the sale of "Turd" go to support Planned Parenthood.



ENTRANCE, "Not Gonna Say Your Name"

Los Angeles-based Guy Blakeslee performs under the name ENTRANCE. Earlier this week, Blakeslee released "Not Gonna Say Your Name," a song expressing his feelings about the current political state of affairs in the U.S.

"Not Gonna Say Your Name" is a beautiful entry into the great tradition of American protest hymns.

All proceeds from the sale of "Not Gonna Say Your Name" go to support Planned Parenthood.



Above The Moon, "We're Still Here"

Madison, NJ's Above The Moon released single "We're Still Here" today. Kate Griffin sings, "It's all right to feel defeated," but follows that with, "No matter what, we won't surrender." Her voice -- and the song -- is simultaneously sad and uplifting.

All proceeds from the sale of "We're Still Here" go to support Planned Parenthood.



Laura Stevenson, Live at The Vera Club

I am a huge fan of Laura Stevenson. The Long Island native is one of our great songwriters, has a voice that is otherworldly in its beauty; and she runs one of the funniest accounts on Instagram. Last month, Stevenson released Live at The Vera Club, a document of the second-to-last evening of an eight-week, international, headlining tour. The show took place in Groningen, Netherlands in front of a small crowd.

The set that evening included songs from 2015's Cocksure along with favorites like "Runner," "L-Dopa," "Master of Art," and a cover of the Replacements' "Alex Chilton." The album is available as a free download from Jeff Rosentstock's Quote Unquote Records; though, in exchange for downloading, you're encouraged to make a donation.

All donations for Laura Stevenson: Live at The Vera Club go to support Planned Parenthood.



dollys, tape

This week, Asbury / New Brunswick band dollys released a five-song covers compilation via Little Game Records. The collection includes covers, like "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson and "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel, which have shown up in dollys' live sets from time to time. In addition, the band take on "Somebody Made for Me" by Emitt Rhodes. They turn Nirvana's "Tourette's" into a surf / spy rock instrumental. And they include another instrumental take on a classic with "Ghostbusters."

dollys recorded and mixed everything live to 4-track tape. The first batch of tapes sold out at the band's release show, but there's still a pre-order link up at Little Game Records.

All proceeds from the sale of tape go to support Planned Parenthood.



Kino Kimino, Fruit & Flowers, Lunch Ladies, and EVL MOMMZ at The Saint on January 23rd

On Monday night, January 23rd, Little Dickman Records and CoolDad Music are happy to bring you the final stop on Kino Kimino's March To Washington Tour. The band will be heading home after touring their way down to this Saturday's Women's March On Washington. You can check out my interview from earlier this week with Kino Kimino mastermind, Kim Talon, to read what she had to say about her inspirations for the tour.

The show promises to be a great one. All of the bands put on amazing live shows, and it's really a no-risk proposition since admission is only $5. RSVP to the show here and come out on Monday night.

All proceeds from Kino Kimino's commemorative March To Washington Tour merchandise will go to support Planned Parenthood.

Here Are Some Videos from 2016 for You to Watch While I Get Some Stuff Done

Kill Some Time This Morning with These Clips from 2016

I don't know. Just figured I'd give you something to do while I work on writing up a few things. Here are some videos that our friends put out in 2016.

YJY, "Amelia"



Roy Orbitron, "Swimmer's Ear"




Lowlight, "Bones"



American Trappist, "No Bibles"



American Trappist - No Bibles from Brian L. Tice Jr. on Vimeo.

dollys, "friendly"



Semiotics, "Cheers Me Proper"



Fortune Yeller, "White Flag (Halloween Edition)"



Paper Streets, "Freddy's Dead"



and hell...

YJY, "Past My Prime"

Well Wisher Released a Pair of Tracks and Played Wonder Bar with Weakened Friends, Doc Emmett, and The North American, 11/14/16

Last Night, I Said, "I'll Go"

Well Wisher are Natalie Newbold and Erik Kase Romero of dollys along with Mike Linardi of ROMP, Toy Cars, and more. Last night they played their very first show, and it came hot on the heels of the release of their first two singles. Unsurprisingly, Well Wisher display a knack similar to dollys for tightly-crafted pop; but Well Wisher's approach is definitely more power pop / rock and roll.

Well Wisher were joined on last night's bill by Portland, ME's Weakened Friends, Doc Emmett -- a project featuring members of Toy Cars and Goodbye Tiger, and The North American. It was a solid evening of East Coast indie rock and one of the most well-attended Monday nights at Wonder Bar in a while.

Check out the new tracks from Well Wisher...

...and, while you're at it, why not give a listen to the latest from Weakened Friends,

Doc Emmett,

and The North American?



Pics from the evening are on the Facebook page and will be available in the Flickr galleries as soon as Flickr stops sucking.

Sniffling Indie Kids and Mint 400 Records Announce The North Jersey Indie Rock Fest

Jersey City's Cathedral Hall, September 10th

Over the last year or two, we've grown pretty close here with our friends at Sniffling Indie Kids and Mint 400 Records. Their stable of acts includes many of the bands we feature often here like dollys, Sink Tapes, LKFFCT, C.R. & The Degenerates, NGHTCRWLRS, YJY, and more. Honestly, CoolDad Music would be a much more boring place without the work that SIK and Mint 400 do to bring the music of these bands into the world. That's why it's so exciting to me that the two labels will be teaming up to bring us The North Jersey Indie Rock Festival on September 10th from noon to 8pm at Jersey City's Cathedral Hall.

CoolDad Music and Sniffling Indie Kids co-presented the Indie Pop Winter Formal back in January.

The event is being presented in association with Jersey City's 4th Street Arts Organization, BGT Enterprises, and The Rock-It Docket. I'm also really excited that CoolDad Music, along with just about every New Jersey music website and music publication you can think of, will be co-sponsoring the festival.

Cathedral Hall is a newly-renovated arts space at the corner of Montgomery and Brunswick Streets in the heart of Downtown Jersey City. The former church will play host to 20 bands representing both labels. There will be two levels of live music in addition to North Jersey craft vendors, food vendors, and beer and spirits vendors. Bands run the gamut from scene veterans to new acts, from bluegrass to punk to indie rock. The event promises to be a showcase for the North Jersey arts community. The organizers hope that this can evolve into an annual event that brings in more bands, labels, and vendors as it grows.

Check out the event poster below for the full line-up of bands, and keep it tuned here for more information.

Lost In Society and dollys Released Records at Convention Hall with gods, Kyle Trocolla, and Derek Rossi, 2/26/16

Lost In Society

Upstairs

When I saw the announcement that Lost In Society and dollys would be holding their joint record release "upstairs at Convention Hall," I became intrigued. I wasn't exactly sure what they meant, but I'm always interested in new places for shows.

It turns out that Friday's show took place in, I guess, what you'd call the western, upstairs lobby of Convention Hall -- the one with the bars. Even though I've been up there many times, the space registered with me as quite a bit bigger than what I thought I remembered. There was a temporary stage at the south end of the long hallway with merch tables at the opposite end, at the top of the stairs. Lights and having the stage backed up to the south-facing windows made for a pretty dramatic look. Sound was going to be a challenge, I thought, as Convention Hall is pretty much a huge, boomy, concrete box.

Friends and former tour mates of Lost In Society, Derek Rossi and Kyle Trocolla, started things off with acoustic sets. The pair had driven down from Boston together that day to hop on the show as they set off on their own tour. Both delivered sets that moved between the folky and the punky, the heartfelt and the humorous. Like the carousel house over the summer, the natural reverb of the space made both acoustic sets sound very big.

The full-band portion of the evening started with gods. I popped in my earplugs as gods set about filling the room with their manic psych rock. I was glad I had them. If the acoustic acts sounded "big," then gods were absolutely massive, Sam Bey's drum hits ricocheting around the place like artillery fire. gods are great at what they do, and I'm always happy to see them on a bill.

The space had been filling steadily since the first acts; and, by the time we saw Natalie Newbold's small drum kit being set up at center stage, the audience stretched to near the back of the room. dollys played every song from their just-released low year during their set, and the crowd up front sang along with most of it. At one point, ROMP's Mike Linardi took over on drums as Newbold came downstage for lead vocals on a cover of David Bowie's "Suffragette City." That was a fun moment; but when dollys are locked in on their own songs, they're hard to beat. Jeff Lane's solo on "how charming." Erik Romero's bass part on "friendly." Newbold's vocal on "i know" or "cornerstones." As usual, when the band announced the last song, everyone wanted more.

Lost In Society closed things out in front of what, at this point, felt like the old crowd from Asbury Lanes. Frontman / guitarist Zach Moyle and bassist Nick Ruroede are non-stop motion onstage. I was, unfortunately, once again unsuccessful at satisfyingly capturing Moyle during one of his airborne moments. There were plenty of photographers in attendance, though, who got great shots (Phil Shepherd, Jeff Crespi, Chris Spiegel, and, and, and, ...). Look for those.

Lost In Society's set covered material ranging from "this is a really old song" to songs off of the band's latest release, Modern Illusions. Many of the new tracks have been part of the band's live show for some time, so I noticed quite a few people mouthing every word throughout. As I said, a scan of the crowd made it feel a little like we were back at Asbury Lanes; and that just felt right.

In all, the show in the new space was a success. All of the bands turned in great sets. The room looked great with the stage, the light show, and balloons strewn all around. It is incredibly challenging from a sonic perspective, and there were times when we were swimming in a wall of noise. That did little to dampen anyone's enjoyment, and it will be interesting to see how the powers that be adjust to that if they hold more shows in the space. I'd like to see them give it a few more tries.

Pictures from the evening are up in the galleries (hi rez) or over on the CoolDad Music Facebook page (Facebook rez).

dollys

Lost In Society / dollys Joint Record Release Show TONIGHT, 2/26, Upstairs at Convention Hall. Presented By Asbury Lanes.

Modern Illusions / low year

It seems strange to call them this, but Lost In Society are veterans. They've been at it for over 10 years now playing shows on just about every corner of the map with the likes of Taking Back Sunday, The Bouncing Souls, Bad Religion, and more. Tonight, Lost In Society celebrate the release of Modern Illusions, an album two years in the making, with a show in front of a hometown crowd upstairs in Asbury Park's Convention Hall.

Lost In Society recorded Modern Illusions with The Bouncing Souls' Pete Steinkopf and started streaming the record this week over at Idobi Radio. Like the band's live show, Modern Illusions takes off at a breakneck pace and never lets up. Current live set staples like "Not Afraid" come across with just as much energy on the album as they do live, and it should be something to see them performed once again in front of an Asbury crowd.

Joining Lost In Society on tonight's bill and releasing their own LP are New Brunswick's dollys. low year is a compilation of all the singles dollys have released since recording their debut Oh, Please. I premiered a pair of the songs here last year, and I think I've discussed just about every one as they were released. I won't say too much more other than to point out that having these tracks collected in one place really illustrates the brilliance of this band. Unconcerned with current styles or trends, dollys continue consistently releasing songs that deserve to be pop classics. And live, dollys continually deliver special moments -- from the emotional performance of "cornerstones" in front of friends and family at the Oh, Please release show to the audience screamalong that accompanied the same song last month at The Saint.

Rounding out tonight's bill are Asbury psych / garage rockers gods, Kyle Trocolla, and OC45's Derek Rossi. Lost In Society were part of what stands right now as the last show at Asbury Lanes, so it seems only fitting that everything is being presented tonight by the beautiful people who staffed that venue. Doors are at 7:30 and $10 gets you inside.