The New Alternative Music Festival at Asbury Park's Convention Hall, Night 2, 9/17/16

Downtown Boys closed out the New Alternative Music Festival at Convention Hall.

You Can't Start a Fire without a Spark

Strangely, given how much I enjoy eating, I usually forget to eat during shows. I get kind of wrapped up in what's going on, and I don't make time to have dinner or whatever. Friday night was no different; so, after Screaming Females' set, I made my way over to Cookman Avenue to get a Korean burrito.

Asbury Park is actually a pretty small community; and, on a busy Friday night, you're likely to run into someone you know. I bumped into Gentleman Jim Norton outside of House of Independents, and we ended up chatting for a while as we've been known to do. When I finally made it to Mogo for some food, Renee Maskin (more on Renee in the next post) walked in; and we lingered over burritos discussing all manner of things. All of this is to say that it was pretty frigging late (or early, depending on your perspective) when I got home. I woke up the next morning and squeezed in a little photo editing before heading back to Convention Hall for Day 2 of Don Giovanni Records' New Alternative Music Festival.

Vagabon were just finishing up as I walked inside, and Jamie Kilstein and The Agenda were up next. Kilstein made it a point to acknowledge the importance of what the festival represented while delivering a politically charged and hilariously funny set.

Vagabon

Jamie Kilstein and The Agenda

Upset were next. Founded by Ali Koehler, formerly of NJ's Vivian Girls, the band are based in LA and rarely make it out this way. The lineup has changed since I last saw them a couple of years ago, and the focus has shifted from Koehler to be more evenly distributed among the rest of the band. Upset still feature the legendary Patty Schemel (Hole, Death Valley Girls, Sharkmuffin [on Chartreuse], and more), and one of the big thrills of the festival for me was awkwardly saying hello to her over at the merch table. The new, more democratic Upset were great; and I look forward to their new music.

Upset

Other standout early sets for me were those turned in by Philadelphia duo Trophy Wife, San Jose's Try the Pie, Baltimore's Outer Spaces (whose A Shedding Snake will be very high on my personal year-end list for what that's worth), and Dyke Drama (the solo project of G.L.O.S.S.'s Sadie Switchblade). Anti-folk hero Jeffrey Lewis took us into what would have been the dinner break had I remembered to eat.

Outer Spaces

Throughout the day, I saw the members of P.S. Eliot and Screaming Females among the crowd enjoying all of the bands. It's a testament to the community that surrounds Don Giovanni Records that headliners from the previous day would clear their schedules to stick around for Day 2 of the festival.

Things then really ramped up with evening sets from Mal Blum, Aye Nako, Sex Stains, Rye Coalition, Laura Stevenson, Girlpool, and Downtown Boys. Mal Blum was as charming as ever, easily chatting with the crowd between their upbeat, singable songs about depression and self-doubt. Aye Nako, a band I've wanted to see for a while now, were worth the wait. They draw from a well of 90s influences and challenge listeners with songs about sexual and racial identity.

Mal Blum and The Blums

Aye Nako

I wasn't prepared for Sex Stains. Fronted by Allison Wolfe (Bratmobile, Partyline), the band gave us probably the wildest set of the entire festival. I couldn't stop snapping pictures as Wolfe and co-lead vocalist Mecca Vazie Andrews bounced, twirled, high-kicked, and rolled around on- and offstage. At one point, they invited audience members up to dance with them (No surprise, Ed the Punk was first to take them up on the offer.). Short, intense blasts of punk / post-punk. Beer raining on me from somewhere as I was taking pictures. Just amazing.

Sex Stains

Immediately following her band's set, Wolfe was right down front going wild for the reunion of Jersey City hard rock band, Rye Coalition. They played one of the longest sets of the night, and the Jersey crowd ate it up along with band-provided cupcakes.

Rye Coalition

Laura Stevenson. One of my favorites. She and the band took the stage after 9, and that's when I got this weird feeling -- after having spent about 7 hours in the windowless box of Convention Hall -- that I didn't really know whether it was day or night anymore. Anyway, Stevenson's set was wonderful, as expected, if a little too short for me. It was hard taking pictures as I just wanted to close my eyes and listen to the music, but I managed. Stevenson's last two records -- Wheel and Cocksure -- are stunning in different ways, and all of that came across during her set.

Laura Stevenson

Philly via LA duo, Girlpool, had the penultimate Convention Hall set. Harmony Tividad (bass, vocals) and Cleo Tucker (guitar, vocals) stood at either end of the stage right setup, their voices weaving around each other as they sang. The pair's friendship comes through on 2015's Before the World Was Big, and they brought the whole audience into that during their set.

Girlpool

Finally it was time for Providence, RI's Downtown Boys. I've written before here about the band's passion. Singer Victoria Ruiz delivers rousing calls to action as intros while the sounds of the sax and the rest of the band build up behind her. The tension rises until everything explodes into "Wave of History" or "Monstro." At times, Ruiz held the mic to members of the audience who shouted "She's brown! She's smart!" along with the band.

Downtown Boys

Downtown Boys included their cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" towards the end of their set, and the line "You can't start a fire without a spark" seemed appropriate for the entire weekend. Yes, the festival ended up having to cancel its scheduled third day. No, there probably weren't as many people in attendance as Don Giovanni Records (or even I) would have liked. But something important happened over those two days. For a weekend, bands had the chance to play not to help sell beer or energy drinks or to up some corporation's street cred with millennials, but simply to share their art with people who cared about it. They got to play as part of a bill that included women's voices, LGBTQ voices, the voices of people of color -- voices that are often lost in the white, male-dominated bills of major "Indie" rock festivals.

Following the festival, bands went back out into the world of gigs sponsored by beer companies and huge music-industrial complex gatherings. But, for two days in Asbury Park, they got to see that an alternative is possible. The New Alternative Music Festival didn't burn the corporate music industry to the ground, but maybe it was a spark.

Pics are all done. I'll be uploading them to the Flickr galleries this afternoon.

The New Alternative Music Festival at Asbury Park's Convention Hall, Night 1, 9/16/16

Screaming Females headlined Night 1 of Don Giovanni Records' New Alternative Music Festival

Live and Commercial-Free

It was a huge undertaking: 3 days and 50-plus bands inside Asbury Park's cavernous Convention Hall without corporate sponsors and without utilizing the infrastructure provided by the major monopolistic players in the live music business like Ticketmaster. About a week before the New Alternative Music Festival started, there was evidence that maybe it was too much too soon. Don Giovanni Records announced the cancelation of Sunday, the festival's third day, lopping off all but one or two of the bands that were scheduled to play that day. They were left with a two-day festival featuring bands like Screaming Females, Downtown Boys, P.S. Eliot, Laura Stevenson, Girlpool, Sex Stains, Ought, and more. Plenty for those of us in attendance to gorge ourselves on and, looking back, more than I could even imagine handling.

The festival had been underway for about 3 hours by the time I arrived after fulfilling my school pickup and swim carpool duties. Ithaca, NY rapper, Sammus, was just setting up; and it was a great start to my weekend. She was able to turn the vast space into something intimate as she rapped about frustration and anger while mixing in exhortations to positivity and self-respect. Sammus ended her set on the floor without a mic, weaving around the audience, shaking hands and thanking almost everyone personally.

Sammus

The huge Convention Hall stage was divided in two with one band setting up stage right as another band played stage left and vice versa. It was like a whirlwind. We sidled from one side to the other as acts took the stage at a relentless clip. Following Sammus, we got The Max Levine Ensemble, California X, Nude Beach, Radiator Hospital, Tenement, P.S. Eliot, Ought, and Screaming Females.

Each of those sets had something great to offer. I've been a fan of California X, Nude Beach, and Radiator Hospital for a while now; and all three were major reasons why I looked forward to NAMF as soon as it was announced. Montreal's Ought came highly-recommended; and, after their set, I'm going spend some more time digging deeper into their music. The highlights of the evening for me, though, were the sets from Tenement, P.S. Eliot, and Screaming Females.

Nude Beach

Radiator Hospital's Sam Cook-Parrott

I've seen Wisconsin's Tenement a few times, always as a trio. They come out onstage and deliver songs at a relentless clip. No bullshit. Singer / guitarist, Amos Pitsch, channels all of the energy from the band and just blasts it out over the audience. For their performance on Friday, they'd expanded with the addition of keys and backup singers. They steamrolled us all and concluded with a noisy set finale that saw the backup singers pick up a violin and a sax to add to the din.

Tenement

Ought

Then, it was back across the floor for the reunited P.S. Eliot. Katie (Waxahatchee, Great Thunder) and Allison Crutchfield (Swearin', solo) have produced some of my favorite music since I started CoolDad Music. Don Giovanni just re-issued the back catalog of the sisters' early band, P.S. Eliot, and the audience were ready to get back into it. A guy standing next to me had flown in from Amarillo, TX for the set and lost it at the opening chords to almost every song.

P.S. Eliot

In all the times I'd seen Katie Crutchfield with Waxahatchee, solo or fronting a full band, I'd never seen her just rock out the way she did with P.S. Eliot. The whole band appeared to be having a blast.

At one point during the set, an altercation over dancing / bumping / personal space erupted between a man and woman in the front row. Katie Crutchfield stopped the band and told both to "chill out" as she was forced to play elementary school teacher and direct a few people to stand between the pair to keep them separated. It was a tiny bump in a fantastic set, and people screamed for more when it was done.

Screaming Females played to the largest crowd of the two days. Things were running a little bit ahead of schedule (surprisingly), and the band started about 15 minutes early. They blasted through a set that was heavy on selections from 2015's Rose Mountain.

Something happens to singer / guitarist Marissa Paternoster when she puts on that black dress and starts to play. The music runs through her and she goes to another place. You can see it flick off when she speaks to the crowd while tuning her guitar, and it flicks back on again as soon as the next song starts. King Mike (bass) and Jarrett D (drums) are right there with her; and the whole band came together on some extended jams, facing each other and kind of reveling in the noise they were making. As the set went on, I could see sound people and techs standing in the wings or massing on the stairs just to catch a glimpse of what was going on onstage.

Screaming Females

When the set was done and Paternoster had thrown her guitar to the floor, several people up front chanted for more; but the band was done. The switch had flicked off again; and Paternoster was calmly shaking hands, introducing herself, and thanking fans for their compliments.

I was bleary-eyed and kind of in a bit of pain feet and leg-wise. Time to go grab a Korean burrito, head home, and re-energize for the next day.

I'll have a recap of Day 2 with some overall thoughts on the festival a little later. I'm still working my way through pictures, but I'll have shots from both days up in the Flickr galleries when I'm all done.

Debut Single from Finchler Who Play NAMF After-Party at Asbury Park Yacht Club on Saturday, 9/17

"Golden Rings"

Finchler is the full-band project of songwriter, guitarist, and video artist, Adam Finchler. Today the band -- rounded out by David Greenberg on drums and Julian Cartwright on bass -- released their first single, "Golden Rings," with Don Giovanni records. The b-side, if such a thing exists in this world of downloadable digital media, is "Mister Death" and features a horn section comprised of Gabriel Birnbaum (baritone sax), Brian Arnold (flugelhorn), and Robert Butkowski (trombone). The whole thing was recorded and mixed over at Asbury Park's Lakehouse Recording Studios.

The narrator of rocker "Golden Rings" lives a sheltered, comfortable life as the world outside presses in on him. The vampy "Mister Death" features the title character (née Seth) at a moment of career crisis and doubting his place in the world at the ripe old age of 24. Adam Finchler has a knack for addressing personal and introspective topics via his uniquely absurd sense of humor, and that comes through on both tracks.

You can stream / purchase "Golden Rings" over at Finchler's Bandcamp page, and you can check out the band's live set when they perform at Saturday's New Alternative Music Festival free After-party at Asbury Park Yacht Club with Algebra II, Fortune Yeller, and Wild Rice.

New Alternative Music Festival Hits Asbury Park This Weekend, 9/16 & 9/17. Interview with Don Giovanni's Joe Steinhardt

There Is an Alternative

Back when I started CoolDad Music, I focused a lot more heavily on the big-time "Indie" rock that you come across on something like SiriusXMU. I'm not sure why that was other than, maybe, I just hadn't gotten out there to see what else was available for a few years. But, as I started to pay closer attention to the industry, I noticed that only bands on certain labels got those SiriusXMU sessions. Only bands on certain labels got the gigs on Saturday Night Live or Letterman or had every moment of their album-release cycle amplified across social media like crazy. It started to dawn on me that the words "Independent" and "Alternative" had been co-opted by the large, corporate, popular music machine and had taken on meanings that were almost the total opposite of what they used to mean. Kind of like "pumpkin."

At the same time, I'd taken notice of New Brunswick record label Don Giovanni Records, probably since (as has been well-documented here by me) my first-ever post featured Don Giovanni band, Screaming Females. I started to head out to shows featuring Screaming Females, Shellshag, Waxahatchee, Laura Stevenson, Mikey Erg, and other bands on the label. I got to speak to some of the members of those bands and to label co-head Joe Steinhardt; and I'm being 100% honest when I say that it made me think about what I was doing here. I read some of Steinhardt's articles and interviews, and I really started to question whether or not I should even be writing about bands like Arcade Fire or Vampire Weekend or whatever if what they were doing wasn't moving me personally on some deep level. So, a lot of what CoolDad Music looks like today is the result of some of the soul-searching that Don Giovanni and their bands set off in me.

Screaming Females

That's why it was so exciting to me when, back in March, Don Giovanni Records announced that they would be holding their New Alternative Music Festival right in my backyard on September 16th and 17th at Asbury Park's Convention Hall. The festival is devoid of corporate sponsorship -- which, in this era of corporations' looking to up their street cred among 20-somethings, is amazing -- and it's stacked with bands who have no major-label ties. Screaming Females, Ought, Girlpool, P.S. Eliot, Tenement, Outer Spaces, Laura Stevenson, Sex Stains, Mal Blum, Upset, Dyke Drama, Pinkwash, Downtown Boys, and many more. It's billed as a "pro-weirdo" event; and, as Steinhardt has mentioned in interviews, that opens things up to voices that don't usually break through in the lowest common denominator world of corporate-dominated music.

Vacation

We witness a lot of what the New Alternative Music Festival stands for around here in the greater Asbury Park area. From Little Dickman Records lugging their own sound system from show to show in order to be able to give bands a place to play to all of those bands making their own recordings, doing their own artwork, paying to press their own CDs and tapes to house shows to -- yes -- even totally DIY blogs. If you'd like to support an alternative to pay to play and corporate-sponsored events so that bands at least have choices, if you'd like to spend a couple of days having a great time enjoying some utterly fantastic bands, then come out to one or both days of the festival. Tickets are available here and will be available at the door.

I had a chance to run a few questions by Joe Steinhardt in advance of the festival. Read on to see what he had to say; and I'll see you at Convention Hall this weekend.

So, first off, and really simply, why did you see the need for the New Alternative Music Festival?

This seems like a really critical time for independent music where we are looking toward a future where artists who do not partner with multi-national corporations through distribution, branding, or other have almost no chance of being heard.

How long have you wanted to do something like this?

I've wanted to do a festival without corporate interests or major labels long before I started the label even, but I was a pretty weird kid I guess.

With the festival’s manifesto of:

"THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE.
There is an alternative to music released and distributed by three multi-national corporations.
There is an alternative to music festivals as branded experience for millennial males.
There is an alternative to music steeped in sexism, racism, and homophobia.
There is an alternative to corporately managed bands.
There is an alternative to music as a commodity.
There is an alternative to corporately run music festivals."

you’re kind of calling out the entrenched, musical-industrial complex and a lot of what is perceived as making the popular music world go 'round. Have you experienced any pushback or negative feedback from anywhere?

As expected, I have, and I welcome it. I think it's important for these things to be discussed. No one ever wants to hear that something they are a fan of or are a part of isn't allowed to be part of something, but I think a lot of people seem to have never even approached some of these issues or thought about them.

Downtown Boys

Many of the bands on Don Giovanni have participated and do participate in corporately-run or sponsored events. How do bands strike a balance among earning a living, getting their music heard by a wide audience, and maintaining their ideals?

That's really a question for the artists themselves. My goal with events like this, though, is to try to give them options they may not have thought they had, and to show other people who want to get involved with the independent music scene that they can also provide options.

Did you experience any logistical difficulties while putting the fest together as a result of not tapping into that system of huge corporate promoters, ticket sellers, etc.?

Yes.

Speaking of logistics, I count something like 58 bands in the festival announcement. What was it like coordinating all of those schedules to make that happen?

There's been a lot of shuffling around to try to make everything work. As you can imagine, you can't please everyone, but I did my best and I think people see that.

You obviously got a great response from bands on your label and from elsewhere in terms of participation. What was the general reaction when you presented the idea? Was it one of, "Yes! We need this!"

Basically, people were on board and supportive from the start.

Why did you choose Asbury Park?

I wanted to do it in NJ, and Asbury Park seemed like the only option these days for something like this, which is unfortunate in and of itself.

I’ve always been impressed by the sense of community that surrounds Don Giovanni. There’s been a real sense of joy and togetherness that's run through your past showcases and shows from your individual bands. Are you doing anything special at the festival to foster that on a larger scale to what will probably be a large number of Don Giovanni first-timers?

All the bands, whether on or off the label itself are part of the same community. The label isn't really the community and never was, we are also just another part of it. So I think it will be there.

What are some of the things that you’d like to see come out of this experience? I’m not talking about, "Hey. Let’s all do this again next year." I mean what would you like attendees and even some of the newer bands to take away from this?

I want people to realize that something like this is possible, and that anyone can do it. I hope someone else tries something like this next time.

OK. Now I’ll ask. Are you going to do it again next year? Or is it back to smaller-scale showcases after this?

Not sure yet.

The New Alternative Music Festival takes place this Friday and Saturday, September 16th and 17th, at Asbury Park's Convention Hall. There are free after-parties at Asbury Park Yacht Club hosted by the Asbury Park Feminist Collective / Stage A Revolution each night.

Don Giovanni Records Announce Lineup for the New Alternative Music Festival in Asbury Park

The Don Giovanni Records New Alternative Music Festival is jam-packed. It may include break-dancing from label co-head Joe Steinhardt.

Convention Hall

Our friends over at New Brunswick's Don Giovanni Records have just made an epic announcement about their New Alternative Music Festival, coming September 16th-18th, 2016 to Asbury Park's Convention Hall. Billed as an alternative to the corporately-run major festivals that have proliferated over the last decade, the one-time only NAMF will reclaim -- if only for one weekend -- the terms "alternative" and "independent" from the branding and marketing speak of the music industry.

From the announcement:

"Who will be there: Antibodies, Aye Nako, Daniel Bachman, Big Eyes, Mal Blum, California X, Chain And The Gang, Nato Coles, Downtown Boys, Dusk, Dyke Drama, Giant Peach, Girlpool, Izzy True, Jamie Kilstein and The Agenda, Kindling, Amy Klein, Longings, Mikey Erg, Mirah, Moor Mother Goddess, Nude Beach, Ought, Outer Spaces, P.S. Eliot, Painted Zeros, Pinkwash, Puff Pieces, Radiator Hospital, Roadside Graves, Sammus, Screaming Females, Selector Dub Narcotic, Shellshag, Laura Stevenson, Tenement, The Max Levine Ensemble, The Rememberables, Trophy Wife, Try The Pie, Upset, Vagabon, Worriers + MORE ANNOUNCED SOON

Who will not: Multi-national corporations

The New Alternative Music Festival is not just a concert it is also an intentional event. It's an attempt to gather together bands with diverse sounds, but common values. The performers are independent artists without ties to major labels or corporate music distribution. There will be no sponsors, no backdoor advertising via branded content, or other base money-making schemes.

This is a pro-weirdo event held in direct opposition to the apolitical sludge that has come to pass as "indie" and that has nothing to do with operating independently. Where many festivals reflect critical acclaim, the NAMF lineup is meant to reflect a community. In addition to making great music, many of these artists are involved because they are peers, tourmates, and friends."

I can speak from having attended a few of the annual showcases put on by Don Giovanni Records, and the one thing that I have always taken away from those events is the sense of community and togetherness that they foster. In addition, this is an unbelievable lineup of great bands (including a P.S. Eliot reunion??!!??) and promises to be one of the best weekends of the year.

Tickets for the event are on sale now and are eminently reasonable at $28 per day ($30 at the door) with a $75 3-day pass.

This is a great event for music and a great event for Asbury Park. Keep it tuned here for more information as it becomes available.