SXSW Pre-Game

Yawn Mower released What's All This New Piss? at The Saint

I Feel Like I've Already Started

I leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Austin and my second year at South By Southwest. I've heard grumbling over the years from people -- including me -- about how corporate the festival has become; but my experience last year was one of the best times I've ever had doing anything. For someone who enjoys live music, South By Southwest is like a trip to a musical theme park. Just about every minute of every day, there is a band playing somewhere; and you do not have to step foot into a single official showcase to experience it.

I feel like I got myself into festival mode a little early this weekend after heading out to three different shows over the course of about 24 hours and spending most of the time in between editing shots. Personally, I was at The Stone Pony, the Danny Clinch Transparent exhibit at The Asbury Hotel, and The Saint; but this was a busy weekend in Asbury with all of the usual spots hopping.

On Friday for me, it was Sammy Kay, Vanessa Silberman, Hot Blood, and Ruby The Hatchet at The Stone Pony. It had been a while since I'd seen Hot Blood, and it was nice to see that they're still the same rowdy and ramshackle crew. Ruby The Hatchet had lots of friends, family, and fans in the audience. They're destined for even bigger things, I think, as they prepare for their first European tour.

Sammy Kay and The 4th St. Singers

Vanessa Silberman from Los Angeles

Hot Blood

Ruby The Hatchet

Saturday, I edited pictures for a while, drove CoolDaughter 2 home from her cooking class, and headed back to Asbury Park for an afternoon of music at rock photographer Danny Clinch's Transparent exhibit. The spot has become, as Clinch called it, "A regular weekend hang" curated by Rachel Ana Dobken on Sunday afternoons. This past week's edition was on Saturday and featured Joe P of Deal Casino, a short performance from Dobken with some help from Clinch, Joe Michelini of American Trappist, and Michael Maffei of Hunter & Wolfe. It was relaxing and -- for me -- inspiring to sit and listen surrounded by Danny Clinch's work.

Rachel Ana Dobken with Danny Clinch

Joe Michelini

Michael Maffei

Then, it was back home for a bit to edit a few more pictures, have dinner with the coolfamily, and pick up CoolMom for the Burger Revolution / Little Dickman Records / Yawn Mower release show / Planned Parenthood Benefit at The Saint. Throughout the course of the evening, The Saint packed out (sold out?) as Pamela Flores, Stained Glass, Lyons, Yawn Mower, and gods took the stage. Yawn Mower celebrated the release of What's All This New Piss? by, along with all the other bands, raising over $1200 for Planned Parenthood.

Pamela Flores

Stained Glass

Lyons

Yawn Mower

Things got late; and CoolMom and I had to miss the set from gods in order to relieve our babysitter, CoolDaughter 1. I was a little down about this because gods have absolutely blown the lid off of the room the last few times I've seen them, but parenthood...

I've said this before, but we're pretty lucky here when you think about it. It may not be 24/7; but there are lots of weeks when Asbury Park can feel like its own little music festival.

More editing this morning, and then I turned my attention toward packing for South By Southwest. I'm not sure how frequently I'll be posting here, but I'll try to keep you posted on things that should be on your radar throughout my time there. You can follow the CooldDad Music Instagram for regular updates from Austin.

All of the pictures from this weekend will be up in the CoolDad Flickr galleries as soon as they finish uploading.

Black Mountain Played Wonder Bar with Ruby The Hatchet, 6/28/16 (PHOTOS)

Black Mountain

Asbury Rocked

Vancouver's Black Mountain came to Wonder Bar on Tuesday, June 28th. It was the beginning of a Northeast / Mid-Atlantic leg of their tour that features Philly / New Jersey band Ruby The Hatchet.

The Wonder Bar appears to be undergoing some significant external renovations. I'm not sure if the work necessitated the disabling of the air conditioning system, but the combination of lots of bodies and some hard rock music made for a sweaty evening.

The quasi-local and growing stature of Ruby The Hatchet ensured that the room was packed out early; and the band turned in a wild set of doomy, bluesy rock. Vocalist Jillian Taylor does a great job of conveying the band's occult-inspired vibe onstage, appearing to lose herself as the music swirls around her when she's not singing. Taylor and the rest of the band, though, revert to gracious autograph signers as soon as the music stops; and there were more than a few fans waiting for their chance before the band even left the stage.

Black Mountain had their own set of devotees waiting for them when they took the stage as people held up camera phones or simply clutched albums throughout their set. Stephen McBean and Amber Webber traded vocals over McBean's guitar experiments, heavy doses of psychedelic keyboards, and the inspired drumming of Joshua Wells. The Wonder Bar shook as Black Mountain delivered one of the loudest sets I've heard in a while.

Black Mountain and Ruby The Hatchet head to Philly's Union Transfer tonight before making their way to NYC's Bowery Ballroom on Friday. Check out some of the pics from last night below. The rest are in the Flickr galleries.

The Men Played The Saint with Purling Hiss, Pampers, and Ruby The Hatchet, 10/23/13

Wishes Can Come True

Two bands from Brooklyn and two bands from Philly converged on Asbury Park last night, bringing a wild evening of Wednesday rock and roll to The Saint. Speak Into My Good Eye, along with The Saint, put together another one of those shows that seemed designed to tick off a few boxes on my own personal wish list. Last night's installment featured Brooklyn's The Men, Philadelphia's Purling Hiss, Philadelphia's Ruby The Hatchet, and Brooklyn's Pampers.

My OCD always has me arriving at shows earlier than I should, and last night was no different. It gave me a chance, though, to enjoy a beverage at the bar and to speak with The Men's Ben Greenberg a bit about the evolution of the band's sound over the course of their last few records. They've gone from noise punk to incorporating a good deal of classic, and even country, rock into their sound; and I was interested to see what the band would do live.

Pampers started things off and impressed with a set of devastatingly loud, left-of-center punk. For most of the set, Pampers' two guitarists only had 11 strings between them; but that didn't seem to slow the band down at all. The crowd was still pretty sparse at this point, but I'm sure the band moved a few LP's as a result of their performance.

Ruby The Hatchet were up next. They're a Philly band that plays our area often. They had quite a few fans in the crowd, but last night was my first chance to see them live. They play a style of blues rock heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath that had me thinking about my recent outing to see California's Deap Vally.

Next up were Purling Hiss. Following the band's performance as an opener for DEATH at (le) poisson rouge in July, I briefly said hello to frontman / guitarist Mike Polizze and told him that we had to get his band to Asbury Park. The universe (and Speak Into My Good Eye) must have been listening, and I could not have been happier that Purling Hiss were on this bill.

The band did a set heavy on tracks from this year's excellent Water On Mars. Purling Hiss do something similar to bands like Dinosaur Jr. or Screaming Females -- and now even The Men -- bringing some of the hallmarks of classic rock, like the extended guitar solo, to a noisier, more punk-influenced sound. I, obviously, love this and ate it up.

The Men are another one of those bands that I've said I'd love to see play our area. When they took the stage, I have to admit that I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The band have released everything from near-hardcore, gut punch assaults to their recent, all-acoustic Campfire Songs. Last night, they went with a good deal of their harder stuff, saving the acoustic numbers for another day. The crowd seemed happy with the choice.

They ran through a relentless, non-stop set, devoid of any real stage banter, that featured songs from their last two LPs like Open Your Heart's "Turn It Around" and "Open Your Heart" and New Moon's "Electric" and "I Saw Her Face." Following the band's template of not really having a single frontman, bassist Ben Greenberg and guitarists Mike Perro and Nick Chierricozzi each took a turn singing lead. The current version of The Men also features Kevin Faulkner on that most traditional of punk instruments, the lap steel.

In all, it was a great way to spend a chilly, rainy Wednesday evening. Thanks to Speak Into My Good Eye, The Saint, and the universe for granting my wish.

Here are some pictures from last night.