New Stuff Today from Seaside Caves and Lost Boy ?

Friends and Favorites

Pretty exciting day when two of your favorites release new material into the world. We've got a new single from Asbury Park neu wave, goth pop virtuosos Seaside Caves as well as a brand spanking new LP from songwriting genius and rock and roll chameleon Lost Boy ?

Seaside Caves, "Sorry"

Seaside Caves are making new track, "Sorry," available today in advance of tonight's show at The Saint in Asbury Park with Dead Swords, San Tropez, and The Wilds.

I can't remember this band ever having released a single thing I didn't love, and "Sorry" is no exception. Recorded by the band and Pete Steinkopf at Little Eden Studios, it's Seaside Caves in all their synth-drenched, romantic, melodramatic glory with a dash of VU influence thrown in for good measure.



Lost Boy ? as D. Jones, Paranoid Fiction

I'll hopefully have more to say about this one when I have more time, but I just wanted let you know that Lost Boy ?'s Paranoid Fiction is out today on Little Dickman Records, and -- spoiler alert -- it's a frigging masterpiece.

Lost Boy ? takes on the persona of "Hollywood square," the drug-addled D. Jones. Over the course of the record, we move through high-strung pop, garage rock, and post-punk as Jones loves, loses, and languishes in a Mexican jail. Lost Boy ?'s Davey Jones plays everything, changes his voice, and tries on new personalities throughout the album, revealing just how versatile the real-life Jones is as a songwriter and musician.

Paranoid Fiction is out now on Little Dickman Records. Lost Boy ? play a release show tomorrow night, November 3rd, at Brooklyn's Baranquilla with Pink Mexico, Def.GRLS, and THICK.

Jersey City and Asbury Park with The RockNRoll Hi-Fives, Lost Boy ?, NO ICE, Vacation, Resounding No, Daddies, and The Vansaders, 8/16 & 8/18, 2018

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives at APYC

Home and Away

This past weekend was a big one in terms of New Jersey shows. I'm only one person, so I always have to make choices. Ever since Rose Lamela started contributing here, though, I've had the opportunity to squeeze in coverage of a few things I would otherwise miss. On Thursday night, we were both in Jersey City. Rosi hit Monty Hall for Vacation, Daddies, and Resounding No; while I made it over to FM for the first of two homecoming shows for The RockNRoll Hi-Fives. That one also featured a solo performance from Lost Boy ?'s Davey Jones as well as NO ICE.

CoolDad Music hosted the second Hi-Fives show at Asbury Park Yacht Club on Saturday. We got help that night from a huge post-Gaslight Anthem crowd and the always amazing Vansaders.

But first, Thursday...

Here's Rosi.

Thursday Trio

Thursdays have been my Fridays for most of the summer as I get some nice perks at my day job. Last week was the end of that, and the feeling that summer is coming to an end was getting me down. There is nothing like a three-band line up at Monty Hall to cheer you up after a case of the end of the summer blues.

What could possibly cheer me up? Getting to see Daddies, Resounding No, and Vacation was all I needed to feel like I can take on the rest of the year.

Daddies gave us a little bit of their garage punk antics and even featured back up singers for a few tunes.

Daddies by Rose Lamela

Daddies by Rose Lamela

Daddies by Rose Lamela

Resounding No brought me back to a more pensive place with their crunchy grunge sound.

Resounding No by Rose Lamela

Resounding No by Rose Lamela

Resounding No by Rose Lamela

Vacation was the final push for me to get back to where I wanted to be. They absolutely rocked Monty Hall. There were times I was scared I might get hit in the head with a plastic Fireball bottle, but it wouldn't have taken me out of the refreshed mood I inhabited as I shared my last summer week with a gang of rock misfits. It's the little notes and beats in life that get us moving on to what is ahead even if it's the possibility of a cold dreary winter.

Vacation by Rose Lamela

Vacation by Rose Lamela

Vacation by Rose Lamela

I absolutely feel what Rosi is saying there. For me, personally, there really are very few downer type emotions that a live show can't cure for at least a few hours. That's what it was like at FM in Jersey City on Thursday night.

Davey Jones of Lost Boy ? performed new songs from his upcoming Paranoid Fiction. He sang to tracks that he'd recorded, produced, and played every instrument on and did not lose a single step as a frontperson without a band.

Lost Boy ?

Lost Boy ?

It had been about two months since I'd seen The RockNRoll Hi-Fives as they'd been on a nationwide tourcation. Among friends, they played loose and relaxed, filling in the spaces between songs with stories from tour. I can't tell you how good it felt to see and rock with them again.

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

NO ICE closed out the evening. They are one of the most fun bands out of Brooklyn right now. They can write a damn rock song, and the people who stuck around late all sang along.

NO ICE

NO ICE

That whole show was love, friendship, and smiles all around -- a real escape from whatever could have been eating at you for the rest of the week.

I spent Friday with friends and family as we geared up for the show at Asbury Park Yacht Club on Saturday night.

With a sold-out Summer Stage show and Ted Leo and The Pharmacists over at The New Legendary Asbury Lanes, Asbury was hopping. We'd had a few storms, so the temperature was coming down to a comfortable level; but, once I finally found parking and made my way inside APYC, I realized that the heat and humidity from earlier in the day would be hovering in the bar for the entire night. This turned out to be the hottest show I've ever attended (with, maybe, the exception of Lost Boy ?'s Goose Wazoo release show at Shea a couple years back).

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives took the stage just as the place was starting to pack out following The Gaslight Anthem. They brought it, even in the face of crushing heat. Confetti flew everywhere; and I was right in the line of fire. My sweat dissolved the colored tissue paper into pink, purple, and blue tattoos on my skin.

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives

I'd been trying to book the Hi-Fives on a bill with The Vansaders for a while, and the fact that it finally came together for Saturday's show was probably the best possible outcome. The Vansaders are a Damn. Good. Band. Great songs. Full of emotion. They deserve to be big.

The Vansaders

The Vansaders

The Vansaders

When the music ended, the crowd was sopping wet. I had purple rectangles on my face, pink squares on my arms. We filed out onto the boards and took in the cool, beach air. Again, the music and community made us all forget the heat and any other negative energy for a little while.

This wasn't only a homecoming show for The RockNRoll Hi-Fives. It was also a going away party of sorts. The band have relocated their base of operations to North Carolina, and Saturday's was their last show as residents of New Jersey. It was a pretty emotional night in that way. If you've been a reader here for the last little while, then you know that the Centenos are family to us here, and we'll miss having them close by. They're Jersey through and through, though; so we'll get plenty of opportunities to see them when their need for real bagels and real pizza gets the best of them (like 9/8 at the 4th Annual Bond St. Block Party in Asbury or 9/30 at The Hoboken Arts & Music Festival).

If thoughts of the end of summer or back to work or back to school or maybe missing your friends start to get you down, head out to a show and feel happy. It really has a way of changing your perspective and putting a positive spin on the world.

All of the pics from the weekend by Rosi and me are up at our Flickr galleries.

New Stuff from Sweet Spirit, Adam B Schlett, and Lost Boy ?

Sabrina Ellis of Sweet Spirit

New Stuff Every Day

I hear new music every day. Yesterday, I gave you a playlist of some of the things that have been filling up the CoolDad Music inbox. Today, I've got some new things from some people we've posted about often here at the site.

Sweet Spirit, "Los Lonely Girls"

Austin's Sweet Spirit feature the songwriting team of Sabrina Ellis and Andrew Cashen of A Giant Dog. Where A Giant Dog are glam punk, Sweet Spirit are more soulful power pop. The band will be releasing a new single tomorrow; and, today, they gave us a video for the song.

DIY'd together by Ellis, the video features lots of Sweet Spirit band members and friends dancing and generally getting their groove on. The song has sort of a 50s or 60s pop vibe, and the video is a perfect accompaniment.

Oh, also, the video is sideways. I guess just lie down on your side while you watch it or something.

Adam B Schlett, "Eat Your Heart Out"

It's always a cool thing to watch artists evolve. Adam B Schlett used to front the hard riffing Deaf Rhino. For solo track "Eat Your Heart Out," Schlett worked with former Maxwell's Tavern sound man, Greg Sgar. The song is a departure from Schlett's previous work, going in a more ambient direction than his stuff with Deaf Rhino. The song still features some hard rocking, but the overall feel -- aided by some synths and vocal effects -- is totally different.

Schlett says he has some other songs in the works, and it will be interesting to see where he takes his sound from here.

Lost Boy ?, "Ted's Permission"

Davey Jones of Lost Boy ? is one of those people who can't stop creating. He makes new songs all the time and just releases them, without much fanfare, to the world. His latest creation is "Ted's Permission." Jones works in lots of different genres -- garage rock, pop, post punk -- and "Ted's Permission" is a foray into kind of anti-folk.

Lost Boy ? also likes to work with characters and personality, changing from project to project or song to song. Lost Boy ?'s last LP, Goose Wazoo, features the high strung, frantic version of Lost Boy ?; while "Ted's Permission" is told by a deep voiced, slower-moving Lost Boy ?

Just about everything Lost Boy ? does works for me. There's a new record coming soon, and I can hardly wait.

Show Preview: Baked, Lost Boy ?, UNI at The Saint TOMORROW, 5/2

Baked at Austin's Velveeta Room

Get to the Gig

One of the things I'm pretty bad at is using this site to tell you about shows that CoolDad Music is presenting. Sure, I will happily spam your Instagram and Facebook feeds in the days leading up to an event; but, for some reason, I tend not to devote much blog space to that over and above the weekly listings. Maybe I'm just lazy and it's quicker to share an event or a photo. Either way, sometimes there's a mid-week show that I just really want you all to check out. And that's the case with tomorrow night's show that Little Dickman Records and CoolDad Music are bringing you at The Saint featuring Baked and Lost Boy ? -- both from Brooklyn -- along with Manhattan's UNI.

I joke that I'm "not a promoter," which is kind of silly given the number of shows that get the "CoolDad Music Presents" stamp; but I, honestly, am not into booking shows as any kind of business venture. I just want to introduce you to bands I like by having them play really close to my house. It's that simple.

So...

Baked are kicking off their very long North American tour in Asbury Park tomorrow night. They're going on the road in support of their sophomore LP, Farnham, which is an enthralling combination of shoegaze, country, and straight-ahead rock and roll. I'm pretty sure the last time that Baked played Asbury Park was when they opened for Titus Andronicus (for whom Baked's R.J. Gordon plays bass) back in 2014.

Here's an interview I did with the band down at SXSW in March.



And here's a video for their song, "Stay," which has been kind of an obsession of mine since before Farnham came out.



Our good friend, Davey Jones, has been a member of Baked in the past (along with many other of our favorite bands around here like Titus Andronicus, The So So Glos, and Bueno). His main gig, though, is Lost Boy ? Lost Boy ?'s Goose Wazoo came out on Little Dickman Records at the end of last summer; and it's a quirky, left-of-center, and masterful collection of garage pop songs loosely centered around the blob-faced detective of the title. Davey performs solo on Tuesday, and it's rumored we'll get to hear some new material.

Davey Jones of Lost Boy ? at The Carousel

Here's "Born 2 Lose" from Gooze Wazoo.



Finally, UNI is the latest project of Charlotte Kemp Muhl, one half of psych rock act The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger. Muhl's collaborator on GOASTT is her partner, Sean Lennon. UNI, though, is something totally new; and, based on what I've heard so far, I'm excited to see them in this very early performance. You'll be hearing more about them after this one, I'm sure.

Uni by Nathan West

So there's your little preview. This is a show that I'd love for you to catch. No excuses about its being a school night or anything. Come out. Grab a stool. Have a root beer, and enjoy some great and interesting bands that don't come through Asbury Park very often.

You can RSVP right here. Doors are at 7:30pm and a paltry $5 gets you inside.

Premiere: New Single Video from Warm Body

"Mercury (In The Morning)"

Warm Body is the project of Brooklyn's Ryan Foster. Foster has spent the better part of the last 10 years as guitarist in the live / touring incarnation of Lost Boy ? During that time, he's also self-released three EPs as Warm Body, a project Foster calls "mostly an outlet for myself."

Warm Body is readying a new release for the rest of the world in 2017 via cassette label GP Stripes. That one is set to include a formal release of both 2010's Extra Warm and 2015's Brainscan along with new music. Today, we have the first taste of Foster's latest work in the form of single "Mercury (In The Morning)."

"Mercury (In The Morning)" is stark, haunting, and mystical. It features Foster (who also did the single cover art) on vocals, bass, acoustic, and lead guitars with Charles Stucklen on drums and programming and George Kalivas on keys and backing vocals.

The video is appropriately spare, Foster alone with nature and his thoughts; and it provides a beautiful accompaniment to the song.

Both the video and the single for "Mercury (In The Morning)" are out today. You can check the video below, and the single should be available over at the Warm Body Bandcamp page.

New, Notable Noms from Mint 400 Records, Davey Jones, and Waiting On Mongo

Lost Boy ?'s Davey Jones at a recent gig with The So So Glos

Covers and Jams

My email and messages and social media feeds have been lighting up with interesting stuff lately. All of that, on top of the list of things I have written down (in the virtual notepad of my mind), makes me think I should just be putting a post up every hour to let you know what's going on. I'm way too lazy for that, though. Instead, I'll do it in little bursts like this.

Various Artists, Mint 400 Records Presents: Nirvana 'In Utero'

A few years ago, New Jersey label, Mint 400, did a full-album cover of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds as interpreted by the bands on their roster. The label is back this month with their take on Nirvana's controversial swan song, In Utero. Despite rumors that Nirvana's label may not even release the album, which was a significant departure from Nevermind, In Utero went on to do pretty ok, selling a few million copies.

And, despite his image as the counter-cultural voice of a generation, Kurt Cobain also happened to be a really good commercial pop songwriter. What we get here are some reinterpretations of the originals that show these songs holding up under some pretty significant alterations. The Duke Of Norfolk transform "Heart-shaped Box" into soothing electro-pop; while the other huge single, "All Apologies," gets the psychedelic treatment from The Maravines. Chris Bobbins and Paul Vanderwal deliver an instrumental "Rape Me" on piano and strings. A. Bird gives us his first official recording following the break-up of Those Mockingbirds with an eerie version of "Very Ape." And we get not one, but two instrumental covers of "Tourettes" -- a version from Defend The Rhino that sounds like a throwback to that Pet Sounds release and a full-on surf instrumental from dollys.

I always find covers fun whether they're faithful or way out there. Mint 400 Records Presents: Nirvana 'In Utero' falls, mostly, into the latter category. It simultaneously showcases the pop sensibility of Cobain and some excellent Tri-State Area bands. The comp is available for free over at the Mint 400 Bandcamp page.



Lost Boy ?, "Grinding Halt (The Cure)"

Our prolific friend Davey Jones of Lost Boy ? takes a break from his own material to delve deep into the dawn of post-punk with his version of The Cure's "Grinding Halt." The song made its first appearance nearly 40 years ago on The Cure's 1979 debut, Three Imaginary Boys / Boys Don't Cry.

I'm gonna place this one in the "pretty faithful" box when it comes to covers. The driving bass is still there; but Jones lets his voice sink further back into the mix than Robert Smith's, adding a hint of swirly psychedelia to the angular post-punk.



Waiting On Mongo, Just a Taste

Listen. I'm going to be the first person to tell you that I am no expert on jam / funk music. I've always been much more of the two- and three-minute pop song, or even 1-minute punk song, kinda guy. That said, I think I can recognize when a hard-working band has talent and a commitment to their craft.

Waiting On Mongo are relentless. I write the show listings every week; and these guys are playing two, three, four shows every time. From what I saw at the most recent Asbury Music Awards, Waiting On Mongo have managed to cultivate a devoted and rabid fanbase.

Just a Taste is a relentless EP, too. None of the songs here clock in at under 5 minutes and 45 seconds. Everyone is on point, especially the super-tight horn section. From the bouncing funk of the title track to the smooth and slinky "Let's Ride," Just a Taste shows a band with some serious chops doling out positive vibes. The production, handled by Jeff "Mudd" Mahajan, is pristine.

Waiting On Mongo promise that Just a Taste is exactly what its title says, so look for more from these guys soon. Just a Taste is available now wherever you like to get your digital music, but you can also grab it direct from Waiting On Mongo's Bandcamp page.

Some New Songs From Lost Boy ?

Lost Boy ? at Sunnyvale in Brooklyn last month.

Post-Trump

Like many of us, Davey Jones of Lost Boy ? is still coming to grips with the surprising events of November 8th, 2016. And one thing that Lost Boy ? has been over the last several years is mind-bogglingly prolific.

In just the last two and a half weeks, Jones has released three new tracks -- two dealing directly with the president-elect -- into which he's channeled his frustration and confusion. In the coming years, it's going to be as important as ever for artists to keep creating; and it looks like Davey Jones is taking that to heart.

"I'm An Alligator (Deathwish)"

Short, less than 1 minute and steeped in the trademark sounds of Lost Boy ?, "I'm An Alligator (Deathwish)" is bouncy but vaguely ominous: "See ya later / Until I make the new list / Then I'll blow you a kiss / Ends up it's a death-wish."



"Eye Out On Silver Lake"

Davey Jones has an affinity for the weird and science fiction-y. On "Eye Out On Silver Lake," he relates the story of spying, and ultimately making contact with, a UFO. The song chugs along with a repetitive, almost krautrock-y beat that's embellished with some of Lost Boy ?'s garage pop flourishes.



"World Psychosis"

Lost Boy ? goes full NYC post punk on this one. The usual poppy twang is gone in favor of something a little colder.

In this world, logic and common sense have gone out the window. All this time, we thought we were evolving when, it turns out, exactly the opposite may have been true all along.



You can check out Lost Boy ? next month when they open for The Lonely Biscuits at House of Independents on December 16th.

Lost Boy ?, Sharkmuffin, Fruit & Flowers, Fraidycat, and Dan Francia Played Brooklyn's Sunnyvale to Benefit The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, 10/21/16

Lost Boy ?'s Davey Jones organized last night's benefit for Louisiana flood relief.

Louisiana Benefit

This past summer, catastrophic floods in south Louisiana destroyed 60,000 homes, caused at least $30 million in damage, and killed 13 people. At one point, in Livingston Parish, over 31 inches of rain fell in just 15 hours. The American Red Cross has called the devastating floods the worst U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy. Last night, at Sunnyvale in Brooklyn, five bands and lots of audience members came together to raise some much-needed funds for the Baton Rouge Area Foundation which has already made $1.6 million in grants to local non-profits to help those affected by the calamity.

Organized by Lost Boy ?'s Davey Jones, the evening was an absolute blast that featured some wild performances. I arrived with Chris and Amy Dickman just as Dan Francia was finishing up his set. His band featured Speed The Plough's John Baumgartner, and I wish we could have made it in time for the whole thing; but work and physics prevented us Jersey bumpkins from making it all the way to Brooklyn in time.

Fraidycat were a nice surprise. The trio kind of killed with their sloppy, post-punk pop. They're a band to keep an eye on for sure. Fruit & Flowers, Sharkmuffin, and Lost Boy ? were a relentless 1-2-3 punch to close out the evening.

I'm more impressed with Fruit & Flowers every time I see them. Their dark, retro, surf-inspired songs and the way the voices of Caroline Yoder, Ana Becker, and Lyzi Wakefield blend together hit a real sweet spot for me. Later in the evening, guitarist Ana Becker joined Sharkmuffin onstage to help out while Tarra Thiessen put down her own guitar to mix it up in the crowd. Sharkmuffin's set also featured Thiessen climbing up on Janet LaBelle's drums and bassist Natalie Kirch rocking out and flinging her hair around more than I think I've seen before.

Lost Boy ? closed things out, pulling songs from Goose Wazoo as well as past releases. Toward the end of their set, they brought Bueno's Luke Chiaruttini onstage to deliver his vocal on Lost Boy ?'s "Hemorrhage."

In all it was a solid night, top to bottom, for a great cause. If you missed the evening, you can still support the Baton Rouge Area Foundation through making an online donation. There is still a lot of work to be done.

All of the pictures from last night are going into the Flickr galleries and onto the Facebook page as we speak.

Lost Boy ?, Goose Wazoo, 2016

Album Review

I first came across Davey Jones and his Lost Boy ? project at Northside Festival a couple of years ago. The band were playing as a 3-piece at Silent Barn as part of an Exploding In Sound showcase. I remember being drawn to Jones's noisy, lo-fi pop back then.

Then, Jones kept popping up at different things. He played as part of both Baked and Titus Andronicus when that show came to Asbury Lanes. He was the drummer for Wicked Kind, a band I saw as part of the Titus Andronicus #SEVENSEVENINCHES release show for one of their earliest ever sets. Little Dickman Records and I booked Davey Jones as Lost Boy ? to play one of our shows at the Carousel in Asbury Park. Currently, he tours with The So So Glos and Bueno as a part of each of those bands. Somewhere in all of that, Davey Jones found time to put together an album -- an addition to Lost Boy ?'s already extensive catalog of releases, everything played and written by Jones himself -- of some of the most alien-sounding, out-of-left-field, and infectious garage pop I've heard in a long time.

Goose Wazoo is a loose concept album that revolves around the title character, a detective who also happens to be a blob with a melting face. It opens with the twangy "Farmer Mysterious." The song sets the sci-fi, cartoonish tone for the rest of the record as it introduces us to a talking chicken from Tennessee.

...And I'm going to stop here for a second...

...A blob detective with a melting face...

...a talking chicken from Tennessee...

It all sounds kind of absurd. And I guess it is. But Jones is able to do that thing of using a bizarre, sci-fi premise to comment on some very down-to-earth concerns. And the songs are just so good, burrowing into and wrapping themselves around your brain, that it all works incredibly well.

"Replay," over the course of its one-minute running time, uses repetition and the mosquito buzz of Jones's vocals and guitar to capture the debilitating effect of going over and over that dumb thing you did or said (I can identify.). "Born 2 Lose," which premiered here and features a reference to Daniel Johnston's "Walking the Cow," is a countrified cataloging of a life that's been on a downward spiral. And, in an example of what Lost Boy ? is so good at, early single, "Love You Only," takes a straightforward love song and puts it through some sonic stretching and bending until its 50s-inspired song structure sounds like it came from a galaxy far, far away.

On "Pimple Sith," "S.O.S," and the almost spoken-word (over a police radio, or maybe that radio that plays constantly in your head, telling you what to do and how to act) "Detective Clue #1," I hear hints of Built To Spill and Pavement at their least jammy. The title track introduces Goose Wazoo by name and sounds like it could be the theme song to a psychedelically-animated television series.

"Have You Seen My Brain" sounds like a response to the advice in "Detective Clue #1" to "use your brain" to solve cases. Jones asks, "Have you seen mine? Does it make you sick?"

"Deja Vu" and "Crystal Ball" are a pair with Jones realizing he can shape his future through his dreams on the former and then realizing he "was chasing the impossible dream" on the latter. Album-closer "It Before," which we also featured, takes the point of view that there's nothing alarming or insane about intrusive thoughts. Everyone gets them.

Goose Wazoo sees Davey Jones employing a strange idea to get at some of the strangeness that swirls around in everyone's brain. Regret, depression, and self-loathing are things that plague us all at times. By using images of talking livestock, radio transmissions from inside your own skull, and a blob detective who can manipulate time and space, Jones makes all of those feelings -- which, in the still and darkness of a sleepless night, can seem kind of strange -- appear downright normal and mundane.

Goose Wazoo is out now on Little Dickman Records / State Capital Records, and the LP version comes with a comic book / lyric sheet by David Owen Beyers.

The North Jersey Indie Rock Festival and Lost Boy ?'s Goose Wazoo Release Show, 9/10/16

NGHTCRWLRS

Too Much?

My Saturday: 25 bands. More than 12 hours. Many hundreds of photographs. Probably a few pounds lost in water weight from sweating in stifling heat. Sore feet. So a pretty fantastic day and night.

Things started off for me when I headed up to Jersey City for the inaugural North Jersey Indie Rock Festival. New Jersey independent labels, Sniffling Indie Kids and Mint 400 Records, put together the festival to showcase their bands and some of the artists and businesses from around North Jersey.

The event took place in a recently de-sanctified church called Cathedral Hall. In the main sanctuary upstairs, pews had been removed or moved to the side; but the vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows, and marble all remained. It made a stunning backdrop for the 11 bands who played that stage. Downstairs consisted of a banquet / event hall with a large stage at one end. It was certainly less imposing than the church upstairs, but it was actually a more purpose-built performance space. Vendors and a bar dotted the area around the perimeter of the downstairs room.

Ken DePoto and The Goddamn Jets

Now, let me get out of the way that it was excruciatingly hot. After the first few minutes, I resigned myself to the facts that there was nothing to be done about the weather and that everyone was as gross and sweaty as I was (right?). I just settled in for the bands.

I got to see bands for the first time that I've written about here before like Tri-State, The Clydes, Underlined Passages, LKFFCT, C.R. and The Degenerates, Ken DePoto and Quality Living. I got to enjoy sets from bands that I've seen and enjoyed many times like YJY, dollys, Sink Tapes, Toy Cars, Rocky & The Chapter, and NGHTCRWLRS. I even got to experience some bands like Shane Vidaurri, Young Legs, Ancient Babies, The Bitter Chills, Fairmont, The Maravines, Pixl-Visionary, and a one-minute set from Cult of Mary for the first time. Down the stairs. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. Up the stairs. One really solid set after another.

Dave Sachs (YJY) and Frank DeFranco (Sniffling Indie Kids, NGHTCRWLRS). It was hot.

The festival was an amazing thing to pull off, and I commend the organizers -- Neil Sabatino (Mint 400), Frank DeFranco, Joe Lanza, Eric Goldberg (Sniffling Indie Kids) -- for a job well done. Credit should also go out to the Jersey City 4th Street Arts Organization and Mike McNamara. They're a non-profit that raises money throughout the year to help kids with music and arts education and helped to organize and promote the event. I'd like to thank everyone for allowing me to participate in a small way by having me introduce Underlined Passages and dollys. Also, thanks for inviting so many other bloggers, writers, and photographers. It was great to see so many friendly faces. I look forward to whatever the team has planned for the future.

Ed and Alice Magdziak of You Don't Know Jersey introducing YJY

dollys

Sink Tapes

Festival done and I headed back to the CoolVan for the trip into Brooklyn to help Lost Boy ?, Little Dickman Records, and State Capital Records celebrate the release of Lost Boy ?'s Goose Wazoo. It would be an evening of singing drummers with The Prits, Warcries, and Yucky Duster rounding out the bill.

Chris & Amy Dickman

There wasn't any relief from the heat to be found at Shea Stadium; but, again, I just threw on a dry shirt in the van and rolled with it. It was a pretty festive atmosphere as Lost Boy ? mastermind, Davey Jones, is a fixture in the community that's grown up around Shea Stadium, playing some instrument in what seems like just about every one of the bands that calls the place a home base. As the evening progressed, Shea got more and more packed; and the energy level ramped up.

In keeping with the evening's singing drummer theme, The Band and The Carpenters blasted over the PA between sets. Each opening band brought something slightly different to the proceedings from the noisy, lo-fi pop of The Prits, to the more experimental sounds of Warcries, to the hilarious and hilariously subversive pop punk of Yucky Duster.

Yucky Duster

Davey Jones emceed a joyously sweaty party during Lost Boy ?'s set -- first from behind the drums, then from the edge of the stage. The set included Goose Wazoo, Lost Boy ? deep cuts, a Ramones cover, and guest appearances, including one from Detective Goose Wazoo himself and a turn from Bueno's Luke Chiaruttini whose band I'd just seen on Thursday and who Jones will be touring with in the fall.

Lost Boy ?

As Lost Boy ? were finishing up, my friend Joe and I made our way down to the CoolVan for the ride home. I was pretty much toast, but it was a great day. Sunday? Less of a great day, but that's the price I pay, I guess.

Portrait of Goose Wazoo by David Owen Byers

Pictures from the entire day will be going up into the Flickr galleries as soon as I finish exporting them. If you prefer squished, low rez versions, those will be up on the Facebook page.

Lost Boy ?'s Goose Wazoo Is Out Today, and Here's Another Comic

"Born 2 Lose"

Today marks the release of Lost Boy ?'s Goose Wazoo. The physical release comes with a comic book drawn by David Owen Byers; and, on this release day, Lost Boy ? have given us another installment. This one accompanies track "Born 2 Lose."

Lost Boy ?'s Davey Jones is one of the best at creating garage pop that's both quirky and accessible. On "Born 2 Lose," Jones sings of a life that's been on a downward spiral over the infectious twang and churn of guitars. He even includes a reference to Daniel Johnston ("I've been walking the cow.") whose lo-fi, outsider catalog is a clear inspiration for Lost Boy ?.

"Born 2 Lose" is the third track on Lost Boy ?'s Goose Wazoo, which is out today on State Capital Records / Little Dickman Records. You can order it from State Capital or grab it from your favorite online music retailer. The vinyl release is limited to 200 copies (half on "creamsicle" vinyl, half on "brainsicle" vinyl).

If you're near Brooklyn on Satruday, September 10th, you can pick up a copy at the Goose Wazoo record release show at Shea Stadium where Lost Boy ? will be joined by Yucky Duster, Warcries, and The Prits.