Couple of Recent Things from New Jersey's Brother Andrew and School Drugs

School Drugs

Remember November

I wanted to draw your attention to a pair of things that a couple of our Jersey Shore friends put out at the end of last month.

Brother Andrew, "Thank You Tony Robbins"

Following up on the release of his Baby Brother EP last year, Asbury Park's Brother Andrew put out a video for single "Thank You Tony Robbins" a couple of weeks ago. Brother Andrew has a real knack for catchy indie pop, and "Thank You Tony Robbins" has retro feel that's Beatle-esque in that Tame Impala sort of way.

The black and white clip features Andrew, quite literally, trying to outrun his demons.



School Drugs, First Dose

"Based on a steady diet of 80s hardcore and prescription pills, School Drugs exists somewhere between your initial high and impending purge." That's the description that Jersey Shore hardcore five-piece, School Drugs, have up on their Bandcamp page.

With lyrics like "I can't turn off / I'm wide awake" on opener "Deprivation" and "Now I've got the sickest feeling / I'm crawling on the fucking ceiling" on "Constant Headache," you get a sense of some of the side effects that can accompany all of those prescription pills. The 80s hardcore side of things is covered with the jagged, spiky (and, at times, Night Birds-ishly surfy) guitars, rapid fire drums, and a cover of JFA's 1981 "Cokes & Snickers."

According to this Wall Street Journal opinion piece from earlier this year (Subscription required, but you get the idea from what they give you for free.), Cokes and Snickers bars deserve a place in everyone's medicine cabinet.

First Dose comes in at just over three minutes total, and our good bud, Gentleman Jim Norton, helped out with the mixing duties.

NJ Music Odds and Ends: Thomas Wesley Stern, Happy Mondays, Vote for Lost Romance

Dentist plays Happy Mondays at The Wonder Bar tomorrow night.

Pre- and Post- Super Stuff

New Jersey is hosting today's game, but that fact appears to be lost on much of the country. Well, there are a few things you can do over the next couple of days to show some support for New Jersey music anyway. As you get ready to decide which huge corporation tried to sell you stuff in the funniest, sexiest, most interesting way, think about adding one or two of these to your plans.

Thomas Wesley Stern will be playing two sets of their fun and foot stomping roots revival music for this Sunday's Country Comfort at Langosta Lounge between 1pm and 4pm today. It's an excellent way to get back to basics -- and to enjoy an excellent Bloody Mary -- before the sensory onslaught of today's game.

Tomorrow will be the first February edition of The Wonder Bar's Happy Mondays. It's an all-NJ edition featuring New Brunswick's Lovelectric, Trans Charger Metropolis (whose "A Less Dense Dimension" made Alex Rosen's list of best local songs of 2013), and our good friends, Asbury Park's lo-fi dream poppers, Dentist.

Also tomorrow, voting opens for 2014's Hard Rock Rising competition. It's billed as a "global battle of the bands," and New Brunswick alt rock band, Lost Romance, will be competing. You can head over to Hard Rock New York's Facebook page to cast your vote starting tomorrow. All the details of the contest are available at Lost Romance's website.

See that? You've got plenty of chances to support New Jersey and its music, and you don't have to miss a single, big commercial.

Have fun. Enjoy the game. Don't drink and drive. And, remember, you probably have to work tomorrow.

Wreaths Opened for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Deap Vally at The Stone Pony (PHOTOS)

Last Minute Show

At about 6pm last night, Mike over at Speak Into My Good Eye asked if I'd like to accompany him to the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club show at The Stone Pony. Also on the bill were California's soon to be blowing up, heavy blues rock duo Deap Vally and Asbury Park's Wreaths. I cleared it with CoolMom and headed out to the show.

Little Dickman Records recording artists, Wreaths, opened what would prove to be an evening of blues-y psych rock jams. Here are some photos of Wreaths' set. I'm still working through the rest of my pics from last night, but I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to give some space to the local band.

SIMGE Hosted the Prehistoric Forest LP Release Show with Dentist and Paper Streets (PHOTOS)

The Berkeley Bar

Prehistoric Forest celebrated the release of their self-titled debut last night at Asbury's Berkeley Bar. Speak Into My Good Eye presented the event that featured the downtown NYC garage sounds of the Ocean County headliner along with the surf-infused rock of Dentist and the 1990s-inspired indie rock of Paper Streets. The evening ended up being a showcase of some of the interesting, original, and modern rock and roll that's currently flourishing in our area.

I had a lot of great conversations with some passionate and creative people, and I came away with some interesting ideas for CoolDad Music. Watch this space for some of those.

You can check out some pictures of the evening below.

Interview: Gerry Perlinski, Lost Romance

The Light and The Dark Out on September 17th

Quite simply, Lost Romance are a New Brunswick, NJ trio that play rock and roll. Their songs feature both big, rock guitar sounds and catchy, pop hooks. What Lost Romance have come up with is an alt-rock / power pop combination that's both hard-driving and accessible.

The band are set to release their first studio EP, The Light and The Dark, on LA's Starving Dog Records next week. To celebrate, they'll be holding a release show at New Brunswick's Court Tavern this Saturday, September 14th. Joining them on that bill will be Science (a project featuring Lost Romance bassist, Alexander Paul), Chris Batten and the Woods, and The Everymen.

I sent a few questions over to Lost Romance founding member, guitarist, and songwriter Gerry Perlinski. Read on to find out about the band's approach to creating their first studio recording and about some of the things the band have on "tap" for their release show (Hint: That was a really bad pun.).

CDM: Your band is called Lost Romance. A lot of the music that New Jersey is famous for -- Bruce, The Gaslight Anthem -- contains a pretty big strain of romance. On The Light and The Dark, I can hear some of that big, TGA-style sound. Is that something you guys are going for? Keeping the romance in rock music?

GP: Absolutely! I think that's what missing in a lot of today's music. There's no danger, no passion and as you put it, no romance in rock music. That's not to say there isn't any good modern music out there, because there certainly is. But, it seems that so many new bands are out there playing it safe. They are doing what they think people are into instead of being vulnerable and real. But, that's the way I've always written my songs. I try to take personal experiences and make them relatable to the everyday listener. There's a place for confessional songwriting, but to me the best music leaves things to the listener's imagination. That way, it becomes personal to them in a way only they know.

CDM: You guys have been a band since 2010 and The Light and The Dark is your debut studio release. You've been pretty relentless about playing live, though, even releasing the live recording Live at Great Scott last year. How do you go about capturing the energy of your live shows in the studio?

GP: We record all the basic tracks live. So bass, guitar and drums, plus some scratch vocals are all done live. To me that's the key to making the studio tracks feel like it's a live show. It's the closest you can get without actually being in a club. We don't do many overdubs or effects, so it's pretty pure.

CDM: Lost Romance are a straight-up power trio. It sounds to me like you try to combine the sound of guitar-driven bands of the 1980s and 1990s like The Replacements or Hüsker Dü with a real ear for pop. Can you talk a little more about the recording process? What's the band's songwriting process? Do you have a songwriting philosophy or are you doing what comes naturally?

GP: As I mentioned earlier, the recording process is very raw. We want the songs to speak for themselves as opposed to having the studio do the talking. There's a place for pristine production and multi-tracking and all that, but we're keeping things real and honest for now. We want to give people hearing our songs for the first time a taste of what to expect in the live show.

The songs at this point are mainly written by me, but that's changing. I'm a much different songwriter when we jam together as opposed to sitting in my house working out tunes on an acoustic guitar. It inspires me to write outside of my comfort zone and I think that makes for exciting music.

CDM: You've got this release show for The Light and The Dark coming up on September 14th at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick. What special things do you have planned for that night?

GP: Fire-eaters, sword swallowers and jugglers are all on tap for the show! Joking aside, we are planning a big night with some great friends on board. We have our bass player Alexander's band Science opening up the night, Chris Batten & The Woods right before us to get everyone fired up, plus the ubiquitous and raucous The Everymen closing out the night. I'm sure we'll be sharing the drunken mic with all of those bands at some point during the night with some sick covers as well.

We're also working with a new micro-brewery based out of Virginia called Starr Hill Brewery to help promote the event. We're going to have a beer special for the night called "The Light And The Dark" which will be a black and tan (Northern Lights IPA & Dark Starr Stout) named after our EP. We're pretty psyched about that!

CDM: So your debut studio recording is almost out. You're doing the big record release show at the iconic Court Tavern. What does Lost Romance have on tap for the rest of the year? Can we expect to see you again around Asbury Park?

GP: The rest of the year will see much more touring all over the Northeast and perhaps a West Coast tour at some point in support of the EP. We'll know more once the radio charts start coming back in. We'll also be hitting the studio to begin our follow up to this recording before year's end. As far as Asbury Park, it's a guarantee that we'll be back there to shake things up very soon, so look out!

_________________________________________________________________________________

I'd like to thank Gerry for taking the time to answer my questions. You can stream The Light and The Dark right now over at Lost Romance's Soundcloud.

Titus Andronicus #LP4 To Be 33-Song Rock Opera. Available for #PREORDER

A Chance to Vote with Your $

So I'm not Pitchfork... ...or Stereogum... ...or SPIN in the music news department. I pretty much try to call your attention to stuff that interests me; and, maybe, give whatever teeny tiny boost I can to the efforts of musicians whose work moves me in some way.

In that vein, I've often come to you to relate the latest news in the world of New Jersey punk rockers Titus Andronicus. Today -- hot on the heels of an evening during which I got several compliments on my fashion sense -- I read some details of the forthcoming Titus Andronicus LP. Those details indicated that the fourth LP from the Glen Rock, NJ band would consist of a metaphor for manic depression in the form of a 33-song rock opera and accompanying film.

I'm a sucker for punk rock epics held, however loosely, together by a unifying theme -- see Fucked Up's David Comes to Life and Titus Andronicus's own The Monitor -- and I got a chance to hear some of the songs destined for the upcoming LP at the penultimate Titus Andronicus performance at Maxwell's. It was with very little hesitation, therefore, that I headed over to titusandronicus.bigcartel.com and placed my order for one of the available packages.

The album is slated for release in November of 2014, and comes with the guarantee of a refund in the event of the band's dissolution.

We've seen efforts recently to fund upcoming album releases via PledgeMusic and IndieGoGo. Titus Andronicus are bypassing those sources and, in true DIY fashion, taking things directly to the people.

You can read all the details on #LP4, as related by Patrick Stickles to the Missoulian, at your indie music news outlet of choice (or better yet, at the Missoulian). Once you've done that, if you'd like to help what sounds like it will be a mammoth undertaking see the light of day, you can head over to the new Titus Andronicus web store and place an order.

The So So Glos and Diarrhea Planet Played Asbury Lanes with Elevator Art, 9/2/13 (PHOTOS)

BLOWOUT

If you think of the summer as the year's weekend, then Labor Day is like the mother of all Sundays. Folks are winding things up after vacations, relaxation, or constant partying. It may be a little difficult, then, to get worked up for one, final party on the day that you're loading up the car in preparation for your return to reality. But those of us who found that last reserve of summer energy and made it out to Asbury Lanes on Monday night got an evening that I'm pretty sure we won't forget for some time.

Except for a little humidity, it was really a beautiful evening on the boardwalk after a dreary, rainy day. CoolMom and I had some pre-show drinks, and the beautiful evening kind of had us lamenting the fact that we hadn't spent more time on the beach this summer. September is here, though. It's usually a beautiful beach month, so we've still got our chance.

We walked into Asbury Lanes just as last minute fill-ins Nick Berry and Darrin Bradbury were concluding their set. I'm sorry I missed them, but I'll make sure to check out Bradbury's Ka Kool EP. As the acoustic duo stepped down from the stage, Elevator Art began setting up for what would be their last local set before calling it quits.

A crowd of fans, friends, and family filled the floor for the Toms River six-piece. They did an emotional set that included fan favorites "Lesbian Father," "Tent City," and recent single "Bear 141." CoolMom turned to me several times to remark on the band's great energy and, especially, on vocalist Maureen McGowan's performance. Each of the members displayed some significant musical chops and showed why this band has become so popular on the local scene. Good luck to all of them in whatever comes next.

I love it when CoolMom comes out with me because, well, I love her with every fiber of my being; but it also means I get to have a few drinks. While we do get some great shows in our area, the fact that we live out in the 'burbs means that we almost always have to drive. That can present a few issues for those of us who are responsible, but enjoy an adult beverage now and then. It can also present issues, in New Jersey at least, for minors who drive to all-ages shows like the one last night. More on that in a moment.

Nashville's Diarrhea Planet took the stage at around 9:30. Unlike the show I reviewed as this blog's first post, the band were at full four-guitar strength on Monday night. They played a set heavy on selections from their just-released I'm Rich Beyond your Wildest Dreams like "Separations," "Babyhead," and "Kids." Old favorites like "Ghost With a Boner" also made the setlist.

Diarrhea Planet are, quite simply, a great rock band. Their four-guitar assault references hard rock, arena rock, metal, 90s alt rock, punk, and pop punk. They bring an energy and abandon to all of their shows that infects the entire audience, whatever its size. We can only hope that Diarrhea Planet see fit to make our area a regular stop on their East Coast swings.

The Brooklyn-via-Brooklyn So So Glos, whose Blowout could be my favorite record of 2013, closed out the evening. They opened with "Diss Town" from that album, and got the crowd -- especially two seventeen year-old guys up front -- moving immediately.

"You know," said lead singer / bassist Alex Levine, "we played a show at Shea Stadium last night. Sold out. Boston the night before. Sold out. Night before that, Boston. Sold out."

Referencing the less than sell-out Mother of All Sundays crowd, he said that the band were getting back to their DIY roots on Monday. He said he looked forward to an intimate evening. The band took every advantage of their ability to interact with the crowd, talking with individual audience members and choreographing audience participation.

At one point, one of the seventeen year-olds, citing New Jersey's "probationary driver's license" restrictions, asked if the band couldn't finish in time for him to drive himself back to Middletown before his state-imposed curfew. Levine had the young man call his mother; and, from the stage, promised to make sure that her son got home safely and legally, getting the entire band's agreement to drive him home.

That problem resolved, the band completed a fantastic set heavy on Blowout tracks like "Lost Weekend," "Xanax," "Blowout," "Wrecking Ball," and main set closer "Son of an American." They also included Tourism / Terrorism standout "My Block." For the finale / encore, The So So Glos brought Diarrhea Planet back on stage for a version of the Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right" during which just about every member of the audience got a chance on the mic.

I went into yesterday with those typical Sunday-type blues about having to return to the aggravation of being a corporate lackey in the morning. For a few hours, though, music and a sense of community washed over me and took my mind off of anything other than just having a great time out with some great bands and the lovely CoolMom.

Thanks to Speak Into My Good Eye and Asbury Lanes for making the evening possible.

Enjoy your fall. And if you ever see that The So So Glos or Diarrhea Planet are coming to your town, make sure you get yourself out there. You won't regret it, no matter what night of the week it happens to be.

Final Summer BLOWOUT with The So So Glos and Diarrhea Planet at Asbury Lanes

Asbury Lanes. Tonight.

It's been a weird summer here at CoolDad Music HQ. Lots of time spent at the beach, but not much time spent on the beach. CoolDaughter #1's trip to Eastern Zones and CoolDaughter #2's tonsillectomy meant that we didn't do our usual road trip this year. And since that heatwave in July, it's pretty much felt like fall for the last five or six weeks.

In another week or so, school, swimming, soccer, etc., etc. will be upon us. But before all of your schedules fill up, there's one, last chance for some summer fun at the Shore.

Thanks to our friends over at Speak Into My Good Eye, The So So Glos and Diarrhea Planet are bringing their co-headlining tour to Asbury Lanes tonight; and both of these bands are fantastic live acts. I can honestly say, having met members of each band following area shows, that they're also a bunch of great guys. Local bands Ba Babes and Elevator Art (who will be playing their last local show prior to disbanding) will be providing support.

I did a review of The So So Glos performance at Maxwell's a few months ago along with write-ups on the latest albums by each of the headliners over at Speak Into My Good Eye. You can check those out before the show.

The So So Glos Played Maxwell’s With The Everymen & Kid Karate
Album Review: The So So Glos – Blowout
Album Review: Diarrhea Planet – I’m Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams

So study up. Suck it up and come out on a work night to say goodbye to summer. Come find me.

I'll buy you a beverage.

The Front Bottoms Played a Sold-Out Stone Pony, August 30th, 2013

When I Sing, You Sing Harmonies

Drummer Matt Uychich was out among the crowd. He stopped to take pictures with fans. He signed ticket stubs, posters, arms, faces, foreheads. Admirably, and in particularly un-rockstar-like fashion, he politely declined to sign other body parts. A scrum of fans, most of whom wore Front Bottoms shirts and tanks, moved with him through the crowd. They were ecstatic that he was there with them, and he seemed to be enjoying himself.

The Front Bottoms had sold out Asbury Park’s Stone Pony; and, even during the opening sets, the place was packed. The Menzinger’s Tom May, filling in for a comedian who’d canceled at the last minute, did a solo acoustic set that had a good portion of the crowd singing along. Things grew more raucous for New Jersey emo-punk duo, Dads, with audience members beginning the crowd-surfing that would go on for the rest of the evening. 

In between sets, DJ Dancing Tony provided a soundtrack that included some 80s Top 40 classics (“Maneater,” “Bette Davis Eyes”). I’m sure that I was one of only a few audience members who was listening to those songs during the years that they actually made the Top 40.

As I mouthed the words along with Kim Carnes, someone passed out glo-sticks to the crowd; someone else stacked a pile of beach balls behind the drum set; and Matt Uychich laid a couple of confetti sticks next to his seat by the drums. Tony got the nod from someone at stage right and started up the intro to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.”

The Front Bottoms -- Uychich, bassist Tom Warren, multi-instrumentalist Ciaran O’Donnell, and frontman Brian Sella -- came onto the stage to the “Dearly Beloved…” sermon and began tossing beach balls into the crowd. Once they’d taken their places, they launched into “Skeleton” from this year’s Talon of the Hawk; and the place absolutely exploded. Glo-sticks -- wrapped around arms or held overhead -- waved or were tossed on stage. Crowd surfers began storming the barricades; and almost every person in attendance -- from young women in Front Bottoms t-shirts to muscle-bound, crop topped guys in tanks -- sang along. Every, single word. Throughout the night, it didn’t matter if the songs were old favorites like “Mountain,” “The Beers,” "Rhode Island" or “Swimming Pool” or new ones like “Peach,” “Santa Monica,” or “Au Revoir.” This crowd had done its homework.

At the end of the first song, Sella just shook his head, “Holy shit! This is unbelievable.” I’m not sure what kinds of crowds The Front Bottoms usually play to on tour, but The Stone Pony holds around 800, probably more when the outside is open as it was last night; and every single person there was a devout Front Bottoms fan. 

The band played through most of the songs from their two, official LPs, aided a few times by three of those air-powered, wavy figures that one sees in front of car dealerships. Sella remained incredulous at the crowd response, stopping several times, once to point out that he was at a rare loss for words.

As the one hour and forty minute set wound down, Sella told the crowd that the band would leave while we all did the “Cha Cha Slide,” and then return for three more songs. True to Sella’s word, DJ Dancing Tony gave us a few minutes of Mr. C The Slide Man. Then the band returned to close out the evening with "Bathtub," “Maps” and “Twin-Size Mattress.” Yellow, wavy men waved. Confetti sticks fired. Pop punk kids crowd surfed.

The entire evening was amazing to behold. In New Jersey, at least, Brian Sella and Matt Uychich are gods. They’re not so full of themselves, though, that they can’t be humbled by the adulation of their fans. And they’re not above signing a few foreheads.

I arrived a little too late to stake out a good picture-taking spot; but here’s what I could get.

Ariana Grande Played The Count Basie Theatre, 8/17/13

And CoolDaughter #2 And I Finally Got Our Burrito

"This is just unacceptable!"

That was the 6-year-old CoolDaughter #2 upon seeing the crowd -- huge line, no available seating -- at the Red Bank location of Surf Taco.

"Can we pleeeeease go to that other one by the beach?"

So we headed back to the car to make our way to West End and the, usually, much less crowded Surf Taco outpost. As we walked, I became aware of the marked increase in well-dressed teen and pre-teen girls walking around the borough of Red Bank. This didn't surprise me, as CD #2 and I were out on our little burrito expedition together because CoolMom and CoolDaughter #1 were heading for the sold-out Ariana Grande concert at The Count Basie Theatre.

Ariana Grande is probably best-known for playing the lovably air headed Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon's Victorious and its spinoff Sam & Cat (which unites the Victorious and iCarly universes in kind of a 'tween Laverne & Shirley). Grande is also an absolutely huge social media presence with just short of 9 million Twitter followers and something like 80 million views of "The Way," her top 10 hit with rapper Mac Miller.

As CoolDaughter #2 and I neared the Long Branch Surf Taco, it became apparent that this was not our night. Brighton Avenue and the surrounding side streets were closed to through traffic for a car show and concert. The tears started flowing (hers). I doubled back on Ocean Avenue; and, against my better judgement, headed for Pier Village. Miraculously, we quickly found a parking spot and made our way to Shaka, the Hawaiian-themed purveyor of burritos and shaved ice. I always feel like I'm cheating on Surf Taco when I go there.

As we sat down to wait for our order, the texts from CoolMom (sitting in the cheap seats with CoolAunt while the girls sat in the orchestra) started coming in:

CM: "[CoolAunt] and I in nosebleed seats, 2nd from top row...packed!!"

CD: "Sold out. Will be lots of screaming."

CM: "No shit!! Insane!!"

Other than a few dark pics, that was the last we heard from them until they got home at about 9:30pm. The show, I guess, was pretty short. Understandable, given that Grande's debut album isn't even out yet. CoolDaughter #1 loved the show. CoolMom and CoolAunt were happy that The Count Basie Theatre serves wine.

CoolDaughter #2 and I had our burritos -- "Surf Taco is better, I think," she said -- and followed them up with a couple of delicious gelatos by the beach on the wonderfully cool, late summer evening.

Here are a few photos of the show. All photos by CoolMom from the upper-balcony.

Ceremony Played Asbury Lanes with Ed Schrader's Music Beat (PHOTOS), 8/14/13

Hysteria

Asbury Lanes has some really excellent shows on their schedule in the coming months, including this weekend's show featuring The Obvious / Ether Sunday / Black Wine, a show on 8/25 with TWIABPAIANLATD / Modern Baseball / Pity Sex, Labor Day's So So Glos / Diarrhea Planet (featuring the last-ever area performance by Toms River's Elevator Art) show, Laura Stevenson on 9/20, and Screaming Females / Waxahatchee / Tenement on 9/28. What looks like it will be my personal, two-month residency at the venue kicked off last night when Ceremony and Ed Schrader's Music Beat brought their tour to Asbury Park.

I'd actually been to Asbury Lanes on Tuesday for Tuesday Night Trivia at Asbury Lanes, so I wanted to stay home for a bit last night and spend some time with the family. I made dinner. CoolMom and I enjoyed the cool summer evening, eating out on the patio. Once the cooldaughters were going to bed, I headed down to Asbury Park. I arrived too late to catch the opening set by Philadelphia's Luther, who also opened this year's Stone Pony Summer Stage on Memorial Day.

I did manage to catch the set by Washington, DC's Give. The five-piece turned in an aggressive set of their combination of hard rock, hardcore, and pop punk. At the end of the night, I caught Screaming Females' King Mike stocking up on Give vinyls at the merch table.

Ceremony's tour mates, Ed Schrader's Music Beat, were next. The duo of Ed Schrader on tom and Devlin Rice on bass, illuminated only by the light coming from Schrader's drum during songs, were friendly and funny during their between song banter. Once they started playing their songs about sugar addiction and weekend train rides, though, Schrader took on a stressed, almost paranoid persona.

"We're from Baltimore, and we're weird," said Schrader. The crowd fed off of the duo's paranoid weirdness, clapping along with songs and trading jokes with the band.

After a quick set up, Ceremony took the stage at about 10:30. The Bay Area band have progressed from their early powerviolence days (their 2006 classic Violence Violence consists of 13 songs and has a running length of 13 minutes) to the more widely accessible punk of 2012's Zoo. They opened with a more recent track, and the crowd reminded me of what I saw throughout Ceremony's set opening for Titus Andronicus at Maxwell's back in December: into the song, bobbing in time, but calm. At the opening strains of the next song, however, all hell broke loose.

Fists flew. Guys started climbing on stage and screaming into frontman Ross Farrar's mic. A huge circle widened on the floor to accommodate the violence, leaving just a hardy row or two at the edge of the stage. Stage divers risked life and limb, leaping from the stage onto a no-longer-that-crowded floor. For my part, I made my way to the safety of one of the bowling lanes at stage right.

Things continued this way for the remainder of the 45 or so minute set. At one point, the entire first row of the audience swarmed Farrar in a rugby-like scrum. After the final song, Farrar -- totally spent -- said, "And now we go to sleep. We love you." The band slowly climbed down from the stage.

As usual, the lighting at Asbury Lanes pushed the ISO limits of my point and shoot; but here are some shots of the evening.

Show of the Week: Ceremony at Asbury Lanes 8/14

Back to Work

Lots of great shows scheduled in Asbury Park for the coming weeks and months. One that comes at just the right time for me -- post-vacation, back to the job -- is Ceremony this Wednesday at Asbury Lanes. If you're planning on going, come find me. I'll buy you a beverage.

I'll be the middle-aged guy in the back, standing well outside the fray, with the huge smile on his face.

My Hometown: A Tribute to New Jersey, 2013

Music from the Garden State

The family and I are preparing to drive to Richmond, VA tomorrow so that CoolDaughter #1 can participate in the 2013 Eastern Zone Long Course Swimming Championships. It would be an understatement to say that I'm proud of the girl.

Last Wednesday night at the first zone team practice, the coach said, "From now until next Saturday, you are no longer CJAC or Berkeley Aquatic Club or Somerset Valley Y. You're New Jersey Swimming." As impressed as I am by the fact that my 10-year-old daughter worked her butt off -- getting up all summer at 6AM to go to practice -- to achieve her goal, I'm doubly proud that she gets to be one of the kids to represent the state of New Jersey at the meet.

These are two of the three team shirts that the kids will wear on different days of the meet:

Here we are, almost ten months after Sandy; and I guarantee that some of the 170 kids on this year's zone team are still feeling the effects of the storm.

I think it's appropriate, then, to call your attention to My Hometown: A Tribute to NJ, a compilation album of New Jersey artists covering songs by other New Jersey artists with all proceeds going to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund. The album, released last month by New Jersey's FDR, is 19 tracks and covers New Jersey-born pop from The Shirelles to Bruce Springsteen to Pete Yorn to Yo La Tengo.

Janet LaBelle delivers a beautifully spare, ukulele accompanied version of "Baby It's You." Yo La Tengo's moving "Our Way to Fall" (one of two YLT songs here) gets an appropriately moving cover from Roomtone. Jon Caspi & The First Gun give us a relatively epic in its 1 minute and 14 second length take on The Bouncing Souls' "I Like Your Mom." The Bongos' "The Bulrushes" gets two interpretations: One by The Tim Lee 3 and the other, paired seamlessly with Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot," by Jim Testa & His Inappropriately Younger Band.

Three Bruce Springsteen tracks make the cut. Keith Monacchio goes for a non-obvious choice with his acoustic version of Born to Run's "Meeting Across the River." Paper Jets do an excellent, faithful rendition of the oft-covered "Atlantic City," one of my all-time favorites. "My Hometown" was never a favorite of mine, but The Successful Failures improve on the original by getting rid of that cheesy 1980s organ.

In all, My Hometown highlights some of the great pop music that's come out of New Jersey along with some of the great New Jersey acts working today; and it's all for a great cause.

You can get My Hometown: A Tribute to New Jersey over at the FDR Label Bandcamp site. All proceeds from the sale of the album benefit the New Jersey Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund.

Harper's Fellow / Paper Streets at Asbury Lanes

Sunday Night Music

There was a great bill at Asbury Lanes last night featuring Mississippi's The Weeks along with locals The Black Jesuses and our good friends Harper's Fellow and Paper Streets.

I was only able to duck out for a little bit, but I did manage to catch the first two sets. Harper's Fellow played songs from their fine, just-released debut full-length Thanks for Tonight along with non-album track "The River;" and Paper Streets overcame some initial sound problems to deliver a solid set of Pacific Northwest influenced indie rock.

I forgot to grab my SD card on the way out the door, but here are some of the few pics I could cram into the camera's internal memory.

Night Birds, Born to Die in Suburbia, 2013

First Album Review Here in a While

How do you like your punk? It comes in so many forms that the term "punk" itself is kind of hard to pin down.

I'm not an authority on the genre(s). I came pretty late, after all, to the whole punk thing. Other than some Clash or Ramones, I was pretty much a classic rock kid who didn't pay much attention to what was happening in hardcore during the 1980s. But I've got a sense of what I like now.

Night Birds, a mostly New Jersey-bred and New Jersey-based hardcore quartet, produce a strain of punk on Born to Die in Suburbia that mixes the ferocity of 1980s Southern California with the wiseass attitude of the Jersey 'burbs. They round out their sound with some surf-type guitar and give the record a sense of place that screams "Jersey Shore" (the place where I grew up, not the reality TV show, obviously).

The album opens with the instrumental track "Escape from New York" and transitions seamlessly into the title track. It's an interesting pairing to me. While I wasn't born here, I got here when my parents left Brooklyn for the suburbs when I was five, and here I still am.

Born to Die in Suburbia has its share of less-than-two-minute hardcore burners like standouts "Modern Morons," "Pretty Poison," and "Villa Obscura;" but the record really shines when the band opens up and, sometimes, even slows things down a bit on three-plus minute tracks like "Nazi Gold" (includes piano!), "Maimed for the Masses," and "Less the Merrier" along with the album's second instrumental, the heavily surf-infused "Silver Alert."

I feel like hardcore punk has always been a suburban thing. Born to Die in Suburbia takes West Coast suburban aggression and melds it with East Coast suburban attitude and comes up with something I'm not sure I would have appreciated in my teens. With a few decades of life in the Jersey 'burbs under my belt, though, Born to Die in Suburbia hits me right where I live. Literally.

Born to Die in Suburbia is out now on Grave Mistake Records. You can stream / buy the album over at Night Birds' Bandcamp page.

Maxwell's Closes Its Doors Tonight

Keep Supporting Live Music in NJ

Tears at a Condo Fucks show. Five encores from The Feelies. The entire club on the stage with The Everymen. Screaming Females winning new fans. Titus Andronicus performing Local Business in its entirety along with new songs from LP4. The members of Shellshag hugging on that stage one, last time. Ted Leo performing covers by The Velvet Underground, Rush, and Pink Floyd. Real Estate performing their unheard new album and two songs with Glenn Mercer of The Feelies.

I've accumulated years' worth of musical memories over the last six weeks. Thank you to all the bands. Thank you to CoolMom for putting up with all of my late nights. Thank you to all of the CoolDad Music readers who have made July 2013, by far, the biggest month in the history of this blog.

And thank you to Maxwell's.

You're all allowed to mourn the loss of this New Jersey institution today. After today, though, get out there. Support your favorite bands by buying their music and going to their shows. New Jersey has way too much going for it musically for this to be any kind of real ending.

Jersey City. New Brunswick. Asbury Park.

Someplace will step up. Go make yourself some new memories.

The Last Weeks of Maxwell's
Part 1: Condo Fucks / Yo La Tengo
Part 2: The Feelies
Part 3: The Everymen / Life Eaters / Black Wine / Brooklyn What
Part 4: Titus Andronicus / Screaming Females
Part 5: Ted Leo / Shellshag
Part 6: Real Estate / Cassie Ramone

The Last Weeks of Maxwell's, Part 6: Real Estate / Cassie Ramone, 7/29/13

Our Careless Lifestyle, It Was Not So Unwise

I've mentioned before that CoolDaughter #1 swims competitively. This past weekend (actually, starting Thursday) we went to Rutgers for the summer Junior Olympics. She's a specialist, CoolDaughter #1 -- a breaststroker. That meant that we were at the meet for two individual events and two relays.

I absolutely love watching the girl swim. What usually happens, though, is that she swims her individual event; and then we wait about four hours for the relay. On Thursday, I took out my phone during the four-hour wait and noticed that Real Estate had booked a last-minute, late-night show at Maxwell's for Monday night. I'd promised CoolMom that, after all of these Maxwell's shows were over, I'd take it easy for a while. I couldn't pass on this one, though.

Opener Cassie Ramone of Vivian Girls and The Babies was set to go on at 11:30. I'd left myself what I thought was plenty of time, but the nearest parking garage to Maxwell's closed for entry at 10PM. That meant a walk up from 2nd Street for me. I'll miss a lot of things about Maxwell's, but looking for parking in Hoboken will not be one of them.

I made it inside after Ramone had started her set, but managed to catch almost the whole thing. She played solo, using Martin Courtney's acoustic guitar. Always a good songwriter, her new material showed that her songs have gotten even smarter, sharper with experience. Ramone also seems much more confident in her unconventional singing voice. She pointed out that, like the members of Real Estate, she'd been to many shows at Maxwell's while growing up in New Jersey and that she was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the send-off.

The stage had already been set up for Real Estate, so the band were able to begin their set almost immediately following Ramone. Martin Courtney warned the crowd that the band would be playing several new songs. The band played what had to be almost a full album's worth of new material, including an instrumental and songs on which Matt Mondanile and Alex Bleeker each took lead vocals.

Though I love the first two Real Estate records and would have loved to have heard more from them, the new material had all the reverb and single-coil jangle that I was looking for coming into the evening. The crowd appeared to enjoy all the new material as well, but the biggest reaction during the early portion of the set was for "Green Aisles" from 2011's Days.

Glenn Mercer joined the band on stage; and, after some initial technical difficulties, played what will likely be the last Feelies music ever heard at Maxwell's ("It's Only Life" and "The High Road"). The band closed the hour and fifteen minute set with "Beach Comber" from their debut and another Days track, "It's Real."

After the set, I got to speak to a couple of the members of Real Estate and was able to get that the album containing all of last night's new material is due in January. As I've said, Maxwell's is great for that. There aren't many places where, when one of your favorite bands is done with their set, you can just go up to them and ask about the new record.

This really was my last trip Maxwell's. I'll be at a Team NJ swim practice while the closing block party is happening. As I sit there in the stands, watching CoolDaughter #1 and her New Jersey teammates swim their sets, I'm certain there won't be any surprise Maxwell's shows popping up that I just can't miss.

I Saw The Shock Mommies Re-reunion

And I Can't Unsee It

The Shock Mommies played their first show in nine years -- and their last show ever -- on Saturday night at The Brighton Bar. This was one of those times that I went purely as a spectator. No notes. No pics. I was just there to enjoy myself.

Oh. I enjoyed myself. I especially enjoyed all the free snacks.

You're all in luck, though, as some very intrepid individuals took pains to document the night's proceedings. Below is some video of two of the best moments from Saturday's show, including retching and, I'm pretty sure, some carbon monoxide poisoning.

Who knows? Maybe The Shock Mommies will find it in themselves to do another one of these nine years from now. If that doesn't happen, though, we'll always have the video. Because, as we all know, stuff on the Internet follows you forever.

Brick + Mortar Premiere New Single

"Locked in a Cage"

Things are happening for Toms River's bass / drum / electronic duo of Brick + Mortar. The pair of Brandon Asraf and John Tacon are coming off of a main stage slot at the Jersey Shore Music Festival. Their Bangs! EP is set for release on July 30th, and they'll follow that up with an appearance at this year's Lollapalooza Festival.

Today, the band premiered a new single, "Locked in a Cage," over at CraveOnline. The track features the throbbing beats and sneering vocals that make the band unique among a collection of great artists who call Asbury Park a home base.

Check out the song over at CraveOnline and have a look at the ultra-violent trailer for the (curiously, released in full last year) Bangs! video below.

The Last Weeks of Maxwell's, Part 5: Ted Leo / Shellshag, 7/21/13

Click, Click, Click and the Moment's Gone

Last night was my last scheduled trip to Maxwell's (I showed amazing restraint when the two Mission of Burma shows were announced for today). I talked with my friend about it as we rode in the car up to the show. While we agreed that losing Maxwell's is definitely a big loss for music around here, we also agreed that it's all part of a natural evolution.

Like Mike V of The Everymen said in an interview with me a few weeks ago, things might feel worse if Maxwell's were being forced to close. That's not how things are happening, though. Todd Abramson and his partners have made the choice that it's time to leave, and I'm not sure that they're wrong. So I'm not shedding any tears. And there were no tears from the performers or the crowd on what will likely prove to be my last night at the space.

We arrived just as Shellshag were preparing to take the stage. Had I decided to come a little earlier, I probably could have staked out a better spot; but something about this night had me stressing a lot less about those types of things. One of the things I love about Shellshag is how obvious it is that they love what they're doing. That's evident on this year's Shellshag Forever, and it really comes through in their performance.

The duo -- facing each other on stage with John "Shellhead" Driver on guitar and Jennifer Shagawat on drums -- played a set heavy on songs from their new record with all of the exuberance that they showed during their record release show a few months ago. King Mike of Screaming Females, who'd played an afternoon set that same day, was right in the middle of things once again, fist pumping and singing along for the entire set. Shellshag closed with their cover of "Just Like Heaven," built their tower of instruments, and thanked Maxwell's for thirty years. There were no tears, no emotional goodbyes, only smiles.

Ted Leo took the stage at around 10PM and drew from a setlist 26 songs strong (I think he may have played closer to 30). This would be a solo set without The Pharmacists. As the evening progressed, it felt appropriate to be closing things out with Ted Leo. Yo La Tengo and the Feelies are older than I am. The Everymen, Titus Andronicus, and Screaming Females are younger. Ted Leo is almost exactly my age. He peppered his set with covers, most of which I remembered from my own youth.

The two-hour set covered Leo's entire discography, from 1999's tej leo(?), Rx / pharmacists to the songs he's currently working on with Aimee Mann for their #BOTH project. Leo is a charismatic performer and engaged the crowd all night with stories of his early band days (when an audience member at ABC No Rio told him, "Fuck tune! Just play punk!") and his days as a student in Catholic school ("Really, Teddy? A song called 'Angelfuck?' Take it home."). He spoke about the Game Theory show he missed at Maxwell's in 1987, and he also does a pretty good Paul Stanley impression.

The crowd did a great job of singing along with favorites like "A Bottle of Buckie," "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone," "Me and Mia," "Under the Hedge," "Timorous Me," and "One Polaroid a Day." For "Bottled In Cork," Leo grabbed an acoustic guitar, stepped away from the mic, and led a full-crowd sing-a-long, campfire style.

Leo included covers of songs by Rush ("The Spirit of Radio"), The Misfits (yes, "Angelfuck"), The Velvet Underground ("What Goes On"), Pink Floyd ("Goodbye Blue Sky"), Game Theory ("Erica's Word"), and Bruce Springsteen ("I'm Goin' Down"). He closed out the evening performing Blondie's "Union City Blue" as an encore.

Leo was joking and smiling throughout the set, getting laughs from the crowd, and having a good time himself. At one point, while reminiscing about Maxwell's, his voice cracked a little. He was quick to point out, though, "I'm not crying. I'm choking." There wasn't any crying last night, and it felt just right.

So this is it for this series. It's been fun. There are still several shows on the Maxwell's docket for the next 10 days. Most are sold out, but I hope you get / got a chance to say goodbye in your own way. Don't cry. Just keep supporting the music that you love, and maybe someplace will appear to take the place of Maxwell's.

I didn't have the best vantage point in the house, but I managed to get a few shots to commemorate the evening.