Mothers Played Wonder Bar with AMFMS, ROMP, and Yawn Mower, 1/28/16

Mothers' Kristine Leschper

There's No Crying in Baseball

Have you gotten tired yet of reading about how sad I am that Asbury Lanes is closed? Well, last night's show at Wonder Bar gave me hope that maybe -- just maybe -- a certain type of touring band may still consider making a stop in Asbury Park. That type of band is a band just on the cusp of greater notoriety, a band doing something a little different than everyone else, a band with a growing and devoted following but not quite enough of a following to pack out a larger venue yet. A band like Mothers from Athens, Georgia.

This is a bit of a cheat, though. Asbury Park and Mothers may have looked right past each other, never giving each other a second thought, if it weren't for Asbury Lanes. Mothers were the opener for Of Montreal back in August when that band played Asbury Lanes. I don't think anyone knew what to expect from Mothers back then, and many of us were blown away. When I saw the show pop up on Wonder Bar's event page this time around, I knew I'd be there, especially with New Jersey's ROMP and Yawn Mower as part of the bill along with Mothers' touring companions, AMFMS.

I had to check out CoolDaughter 2's school SciVention Convention before heading down to Asbury Park, so I walked in when Yawn Mower were about halfway through their set. They're a fun duo and last night was no exception. They dabble in everything from surf to garage to indie rock to pop. Yawn Mower always throw in a few covers, and the hair (both natural and artificial) flies during their set.

Yawn Mower gave way to ROMP, a band riding the wave of excitement generated by that day's premiere of single "Last Year" over at Brooklyn Vegan. This was ROMP's first trip to Wonder Bar. It had been a while since I'd seen them live; and the intervening months of recording, touring, and playing have really tightened (ha!) them up. New drummer Mike Linardi (formerly of Deal Casino) was a force of nature, and the rest of the band were their usual combination of sweetness and badassery. It was fun to sing along again to "Drive" and "Portrait," and the new songs show some real growth.

AMFMS were totally new to me. Lead singer Shawn Kyle introduced the band as being from Baltimore, Annapolis, LA,... ...I think Salt Lake City got a mention. Wherever they're from, they laid it all out onstage, delivering a set that ranged from garage rock to glam to something a little more epic. The band straddled the line between gritty and polished, and the amount of care and preparation they put into their set was just as obvious as the amount of blood and sweat they let fly during the performance. AMFMS are almost a straight-ahead rock band, but they mix that in with something a little bit left-of-center that makes me think we'll be hearing more from them.

Three bands in, and it wasn't even 10pm. Mothers took the stage and went straight from soundchecking / tuning into the set. The chiming guitars of Kristine Leschper and Drew Kirby are a sharp contrast to the rhythm section of Matthew Anderegg (drums) and Patrick Morales (bass). Together, they create something like a combination between shoegaze and prog with Leschper's vocals cutting through everything. The band covered Devo's "Gut Feeling," delivered their own version of a "holocaust section" during "Fat Chance," and closed with the mesmerizing "No Crying in Baseball."

I recognized a lot of familiar faces from the Lanes at last night's show. Some people were even sporting Mothers merch they'd grabbed back in August. I'm glad that Asbury Lanes introduced us all, and I'm glad that Wonder Bar hosted the reunion. Mothers are set to take off when their LP comes out next month and gets a whole bunch of accolades. I hope the next band like them notices Asbury Park when planning the East Coast portion of their tour and comes to meet us all.

You can check out pictures from all of last night's sets by clicking through the links below.

Mothers

AMFMS

ROMP

Yawn Mower

of Montreal Played Asbury Lanes with Mothers, 8/23/15

My Drug of Choice

Yesterday was a crappy day for me. I have those sometimes. For no reason really. Bad chemicals maybe? Who knows? I was just lethargic and irritable and couldn't really get myself going. CoolMom, CoolDaughter 1, and I took CoolDog on a nice walk in the park which was ok. Then I just came home and kind of dozed by the pool and never really got my ass in gear. I wasn't even going to go to the of Montreal show at Asbury Lanes. I've gotten better at pushing through days like that, though. So I showered; ate dinner; and headed out.

There were only two bands on the bill: Mothers from Athens, Georgia and their neighbors and compadres, headliners of Montreal. When I walked in at about 7:45, there was already a group of fans two rows deep pressed up against the stage. That's how you can tell when a lot of people have come from out of town for a show at the Lanes. The regulars tend to mill around and push up front when a band takes the stage. Young out-of-towners always do that festival thing of staking out a spot hours before the headliner comes on. I could tell that taking pictures would be a challenge.

Mothers are on their first-ever tour and played to a packed out floor in front of the stage. That's one benefit of the early lineup thing. Openers get to play to almost the full audience.

Mothers are riding a bit of buzz created by the recent release of their only publicly available recorded output, single "no crying in baseball." Guitarist / vocalist Kristine Leschper sits somewhere in the space between a haunting wail and spoken word, and the rest of the band creates swirling soundscapes around her. They've got a full-length due in 2016, so watch for that.

It was a while between the end of Mothers' set and when of Montreal took the stage. That gave me a chance to hang with a few of Asbury's coolest in the lounge. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the floor got more and more packed; and when the red-masked master of ceremonies came out to introduce the band, I started worming my way to stage left. I'd end up kind of stuck there for the whole set, but it allowed me to take in just about everything -- from the costumed dancers to the psychedelic light show.

While I love almost everything that has come out of Athens's Elephant 6 collective, I'll admit to being less familiar with of Montreal beyond their biggest songs. That didn't matter. The band's 19-song set was an almost non-stop barrage of sights and sounds with frontman / mastermind Kevin Barnes leading what felt, at times, like a joyous religious revival meeting.

Light, shadow, large-breasted poodle boxers, cattle-skulled apparitions, projections, and of Montreal's wild psychedelic sounds whipped the sweaty mass into a frenzy. Barnes was like some strange mix of Lennon, Wilson, Bowie, and his own secret ingredient. There were kisses from masked dancers. There was weeping in the front row.

I took a ton of pictures from my spot at the side of the stage. There were plenty of times, though, when I just did my thing of closing my eyes and letting the sounds wash over me. Even through my clamped eyelids, I could sense the flickering projections and feel the pulsing of the crowd. Following the final song of the evening, Barnes unplugged his guitar, climbed down from the stage, and moved past me into the audience towards the back of the room.

I gathered my stuff together and felt like I'd just gotten a dose of the most effective anti-depressant out there. I'd sung along with "Wraith Pinned to the Mist (and Other Games)," "Coquet Coquette," and "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider;" and I'd just been carried along for the rest of the set. My shirt stuck to me as I made my way out into the evening. It was only about 11.

CoolMom was still awake when I got in, and I'm happy she got to see a better side of me before she turned in for the night. Whatever it is that crawls up inside my head sometimes and makes me tough to be around, it's nice to know that the cure is musical and not chemical.

Here are some highlights from last night. The rest of the pics are in the Flickr galleries.