Premiere: 24-Hour Songwriting Challenge Contribution from No Wine For Kittens (w/ Jon Stewart)

No Wine For Kittens at their final performance in 2012 by Kristen Driscoll, courtesy of Speak Into My Good Eye

"Catastrophes"

No Wine For Kittens were an award-winning and much-loved Asbury Park band who played their last official show in December of 2012, about two years before the first-ever Speak Into My Good Eye 24-Hour Songwriting Challenge. Since then, NWFK members Justin and Emily Bornemann and Andy Bova went on to form Dentist, one of the most vital and important acts to come out of the current Asbury Park music scene. Rick Barry released an EP and a stunning LP, Curses, Maledictions and Harsh Reiterations, that took him all the way to a performance at Lincoln Center as part of the "American Songbook" series. Andy Bova eventually left as Dentist's full-time drummer to focus on the production and engineering side of things with his Simple Sound Studio in Oceanport.

Speak Into My Good Eye's 24-Hour Songwriting Challenge has a way of making interesting things happen. After almost five years of focusing on other projects, the members of No Wine For Kittens got together for one 24-hour period to write and record a new song, "Catastrophes." Oh, and joining them for the session was up-and-coming drummer and van owner, Jon Stewart.

With "Catastrophes," No Wine For Kittens have gone for something a little more sprawling and wide open than the sometimes jittery indie pop of their early work. The trademark vocal harmonies between Rick Barry and Emily Bornemann are still there making this one a treat, especially for anyone who's been missing this band. And the drums are spot on.

For "Catastrophes," No Wine For Kittens are:

Rick Barry - guitar / vocals
Justin Bornemann - guitars
Emily Bornemann - vocals
Andy Bova - keys / synths
Jon Stewart - drums / has a van



"Catastrophes" will appear on Speak Into My Good Eye's 4th Annual 24-Hour Songwriting Challenge compilation, available on November 17th at the SIMGE Bandcamp page. All proceeds from sales of the compilation will benefit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK).

SIMGE will be celebrating the release of the compilation when they join us for Freaksgiving: A Friendsgiving Fuzz Fest at Asbury Park Brewery on November 18th. That show also features a beard and mustache competition, music from The RockNRoll HiFives, Yawn Mower, and NWFK alums Dentist. It benefits the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention as well as 1-800-273-TALK.

Exclusive Premiere: Rick Barry / Andy Bova SIMGE 24-Hour Songwriting Challenge Contribution

"All Is Well"

For the second straight year, our extended family over at Speak Into My Good Eye held a 24-Hour Songwriting Challenge in which they invited artists to write, record, and submit a new, original song all in the space of a single 24-hour period. Last year's event focused on New Jersey. This year, SIMGE opened things up to New York and Pennsylvania (and beyond) as well.

Things kicked off this past September 11th with a show at Wonder Bar. At the stroke of midnight on September 12th, the clock started. By the time it was all over, SIMGE received nearly 40 submissions. Proceeds from the resulting compilation will benefit the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

SIMGE will be officially releasing the 2015 compilation at their CMJ Showcase. That show takes place on October 15th at Littlefield in Brooklyn and features Mount Sharp, A Deer A Horse, Vivid Dreams, Deal Casino, and Julian Fulton.

You don't have to wait until October 15th to hear a track, though. We've got the premiere of "All Is Well," the contribution from Rick Barry and Andy Bova, right here. The pair have worked together before, both as members of No Wine For Kittens and on some of Barry's solo work.

"All Is Well" is spare and beautiful, featuring, simply, Barry's trademark low-key vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar. As I listen, I get the sense that the title phrase is more of a half-hearted reassurance than a forceful declaration.

Check out "All Is Well" below; and keep your eyes peeled for more info on Rick Barry's upcoming Curses, Maledictions and Harsh Reiterations, slated for an early 2016 release. Also be on the lookout for the Andy Bova-produced follow-up to Dentist's debut.

This year's 24-Hour Songwriting Challenge Compilation will be out on October 15th. Make sure you grab a copy when it's available to support a great cause and a bunch of great artists.

Brighton Bar for Bow Wow Wow and Dentist

Another Night Out with CoolMom

My friend was feeling a little guilty about taking CoolMom's place for the Bob Mould show last week.  CoolMom loves Hüsker Dü, Sugar, and Workbook in a major way.  I told my friend not to worry, since CoolMom and I were going to see Bow Wow Wow at The Brighton Bar in Long Branch on Saturday.  CoolMom is a big Bow Wow Wow fan as well.  She even owns The Best of Bow Wow Wow, which actually has like 15 or 20 songs on it.

Well, my friend informed me that lead singer, Annabella Lwin, had recently left (been ousted from?) the band.  The only original Bow Wow Wow member who'd be playing on Saturday would be bassist, Leigh Gorman.  Now, I'm not sure when a band crosses that line from being the original band to being a band that covers the original band; but I'm thinking that the Mike Love Beach Boys and this version of Bow Wow Wow may be there.  But I'll go in with an open mind.

Any doubts I had about attending the show following the Annabella Lwin news went away when I heard that Dentist were one of the acts on the bill.  Dentist are the Rick Barry-less version of Asbury Park-based No Wine for Kittens, and I've really been enjoying where they've taken their sound.  It's a combination of 90's indie rock and jangly surf.  I got to see No Wine for Kittens at their last-ever show at the end of last year, and I'm honestly excited to check out this new project.

I hope to see you at the show tonight.  I'm sure you and CoolMom will love Dentist, and I'm sure it will still be fun to hear "I Want Candy," "Do You Wanna Hold Me?" "C30 C60 C90, Go" and... ...those other dozen plus songs.

Dentist Share New Track

"Hanging 10"

Dentist, made up of the remaining members of the now-defunct (?) No Wine For Kittens, just shared "Hanging 10."

As you might imagine, "Hanging 10" is a surf-inspired track.  Emily Whitt's plaintive, reverb-drenched vocals give it just the right amount of darkness to keep things interesting.

You can grab the song for $1 over at Dentist's Bandcamp page.

No Wine for Kittens, Not Ready Yet, 2012

Studying for a Show Album Review

There is something great about going to a show and being stunned by a band that you've never heard before.  Maybe you weren't expecting an opener on the bill, but then they come out and blow you away.  That happens to me sometimes; and when it does, I love it.  More often, though, I go the slightly less spontaneous route and "study" before a show.  I'll pick up the latest album by whichever band I'm going to see, and listen to it at least a couple of times as preparation.

I just bought a ticket to the Asbury Music Awards happening on December 13th at The Stone Pony.  While I understand that not all of the bands on the list of nominees will perform, I've used the list to study for the evening.  I, maybe a little too obviously, started working my way through the "Top Indie Rock Band" category; and that's how I came across No Wine for Kittens.

No Wine for Kittens are an Asbury Park-based five-piece co-fronted by Emily Whitt and Rick Barry.  Drummer Andy Bova produced the six-song Not Ready Yet E.P.  No Wine for Kittens have a lush, indie-pop sound with some of the hallmarks of the nineties revival sound that's been so popular over the last few years.

The record opens with "Even," which starts out with a strummed acoustic guitar and builds with layers of keyboard, guitars, and crashing percussion.  The voices of Whitt and Barry play nicely off of one another as the song reaches its climax.  "Emily (in which we say hello)" is one of those nineties-revival sounding tracks à la The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, minus that band's heavily produced vocals.  On epic closer "All Your Things, They Wait for You (in which we say farewell)," Barry takes the lead, but again Whitt's voice is there to add to the texture.

No Wine For Kittens have a familiar, melodic, indie-pop sound on Not Ready Yet.  The play between the voices of Whitt and Barry, coupled with Bova's production, work to differentiate that sound from many of the bands (like, say, Band of Horses) working in a similar vein.  The lower-fi production adds a punch and an edge that keeps the songs interesting.

I'm pleasantly surprised almost every day lately by the amount and variety of great music being produced in my own backyard.  Studying for the Asbury Music Awards turned up a local gem in the form of Not Ready Yet.  I can only hope that the rest of my studies produce similar results.