Holiday Weekend with Hot Blood, Overlake, and Swervedriver, 9/4-9/5/15

Big Nights for Friends

I didn't go to Against Me! on Friday night. I've really wanted to see the band for a while now, but the thought of a packed to the gills Stone Pony just didn't sound like my kinda thing. And, as it was, our dear friends in Hot Blood were holding the release show for Overcome Part 2 at Asbury Lanes. Not a tough decision.

Honah Lee

It was a really beautiful night in Asbury Park on Friday, and the breeze blowing in through the big, open garage door at Asbury Lanes felt great. Lots of friends turned out to support Hot Blood along with the other bands on the bill -- Execütors, Gangway!, and Honah Lee. Each of the openers had their own take on punk from Honah Lee's more pop punk approach to Gangway!'s combination of hardcore and ska to Execütors more old school sounds. It was almost like a class on the evolution of punk played in reverse.

Gangway!

By the time Hot Blood took the stage, things began to take on their typically chaotic nature. After a few familiar songs, Alex Rosen announced that the band would play Overcome Part 2 in its 4-minute entirety. Kiley chimed in that the band would then take requests.

Execütors

Things got crazier, audience members slipping and sliding on the beer-soaked floor as they tried -- at Kiley's urging -- to start up a circle pit. One by one, various fans and friends of the band climbed onto the stage to assist Kiley on vocals. At one point, Kiley rolled off the top of one of the monitors into the arms of the crowd.

Almost the entire audience climbed onstage for "Class Warfare." Gentleman Jim's voice boomed over the PA warning them that 1/2 inch of plywood wasn't necessarily the most supportive medium for about 75 people. No injuries thankfully.

Hot Blood

Things ended at around 12:30. Handshakes. A smelly, sweaty hug from Kiley (tradition at this point). And my beer-soaked jeans and I headed back home. An evening with Hot Blood can often be more of an interactive experience than a show, and this one was no exception.

Saturday, I edited some pics and kind of spent the day trying to wake up in time to head to Bowery Ballroom later that evening. Jersey City's Overlake had a big opening slot for shoegaze legends Swervedriver. Overlake have grown into one of my favorite bands, and I had such a great time seeing Swervedriver in Philly a few months back that I couldn't miss this one. The holiday weekend meant it was an easy, trafficless shot into the city; and we made it in plenty of time for a few beverages with all of Overlake's Jersey City supporters who turned out for the show.

Overlake

For their part, Overlake made the most of the opportunity and sounded absolutely huge on the Bowery stage. As the crowd pushed up front for Swervedriver, a couple of Swervedriver fans mentioned to me how great they thought Overlake were.

Toronto's Dearly Beloved were main support and leaned more heavily to the garage / psych rock side of things than shoegaze. Bubble guns, a theremin, and a final song done down on the floor among the audience made for a really good set.

Dearly Beloved

Swervedriver were great once again. Frontman / guitarist Adam Franklin came up to the mic a few times looking like he may start some stage banter, but thought better of it and ended up going into the next song. I only had my point and shoot with me, and Swervedriver's set was mostly in the dark; so I was able to just listen and enjoy floating inside the wall of guitar noise.

Swervedriver's Adam Franklin

All in all, it was a really good Friday-Saturday one-two punch. I've been enjoying seeing a lot of the bands I try to support here doing cool things, and I can't think of a better way to have ended an amazing summer of music.

I hope all of your dreams came true this summer. I'll see you out there this fall when, I'm sure, more of our friends will do more great things and Asbury Park will have ample parking.

Friday and Saturday weren't my greatest picture-taking nights, but you can head to Flickr to see what I managed.

Swervedriver played Philadelphia's Union Transfer w/ Gateway Drugs, 3/29/15

Sunday

Sunday was the last day of a busy weekend of shows. Gentleman Jim Norton and I were headed to Philly to see Swervedriver as they began their swing through our area. Also on the bill were LA's Gateway Drugs.

Some Sunday obligations meant that we got a bit of a late start to Philly, but we did manage to arrive in time to catch the second half of the set from Gateway Drugs. We caught enough of it for me to know that the band's combination of shoegaze and garage rock sits squarely in my wheelhouse -- one of its rooms anyway. The venue was crowded but not sold out, and I was able to position myself pretty close to front and center.

I'd been wanting to make it over to Union Transfer for a while. Many of the bands that come through NYC and play Terminal 5 end up playing Union Transfer in Philly. My hatred of T5 is pretty well-documented here, and I've been looking for an alternative. While I can imagine that a sold-out Union Transfer may not be the most comfortable place in the world, there's no way it can be as bad as T5. Pair that fact with a nice early arrival, and it seems like I may have found my spot.

Anyway.

Swervedriver came on at, I think, around 10pm and opened with "Autodidact," the opening track from this year's very solid comeback album, I Wasn't Born to Lose You. The 90-plus minute set ended up covering almost that whole record. The new songs fit in pretty seamlessly with 1990s classics like "Son of Mustang Ford" and "Girl on a Motorbike." Bassist Steve George was unable to join the band for this run of shows, but Mick Quinn of Supergrass expertly filled in.

This was another one of those shows where I had to take a few moments and let the sounds just wash over me. I felt the kick drum hammering my chest and lost myself in the noise a few times. I really love this stuff.

When it was done, Gentleman Jim went to help the band break down and load out (because he can't not work at a show) as I headed for the lobby. I ended up having a nice chat with supremely gracious Swervedriver frontman, Adam Franklin, about the band's upcoming shows in New York and our mutual preference for non-flash photography at shows.

In all, it was a fantastic end to a busy weekend. You have a final chance to catch Swervedriver and Gateway Drugs tonight as they play Brooklyn's St. Vitus. Both bands should shake that 350 or so capacity venue pretty hard.

Here are some photo highlights from Sunday (no flash). The rest are at Flickr.