Australia Benefit on Sunday, 2/16, at Wonder Bar w/ The Cold Seas, Lyons, The Tide Bends, Yawn Mower, More

Give Love: A Benefit Show for Australia

This Sunday, February 16th, The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park plays host to "Give Love: A Benefit Show for Australia." The all-day event starts at 2pm and goes into the night. Bands slated to perform are The Cold Seas, Lyons, The Tide Bends, and Yawn Mower (who will be doing some Men At Work tunes). In between sets, DJ Foggy Notion and DJ Jay Insult will be spinning some of their favorite tunes by Australian artists. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a silent auction featuring items donated by local businesses and artists. All proceeds from the show will benefit the WIRES Australian Wildlife Rescue Organisation.

Event organizers Jenny Vickers and Amy Malkoff of Lyons and and Tori Paxton of Paws & Anchor said, "We were so horrified about what was happening in Australia and wanted to do something about it. As local musicians, we thought we could bring together some of our favorite bands to perform and help raise funds for the victims of the fires and drought. We appreciate Wonder Bar lending their support for such an important and time-sensitive cause."

You can grab advance tickets for the show here, and RSVP to the event here. And, as you get ready for the show, you can check out some music from all the bands.

New Stuff from Ella Ross, The Cold Seas, A Deer A Horse

"Cold Shoulder" artwork and layout by Rachel R. Adler.

Gettin' Back into the Swing of Things

I won't be able to ride this excuse for much longer, but I've spent the better part of March getting ready for, attending, or recovering from South By Southwest. The world keeps turning, though, even when I'm on my little musical Spring Break; and there are a few things I wanted to share with you even though I may be a little late to the party.

Ella Ross, "Hurt."

Asbury Park-based singer / songwriter, Ella Ross, is working on the follow-up to last year's Uncharted Waters EP. Her sophomore effort, Wasted Youth, is due this summer; and, earlier this month, Ross shared single "Hurt."

Ross co-wrote "Hurt." with Tor Miller; and, like she did with Uncharted Waters, Ross went into Asbury's Lakehouse Recording Studios to record the track. The song is expansive, danceable pop rock about moving forward with someone against your better judgment. "Hurt." has a sound that I could see taking Ella Ross pretty far.

"Hurt." is available from your favorite digital music outlet.



The Cold Seas, "Retrograde"

Another Asbury Park band, The Cold Seas, released the video for their single "Retrograde" last Friday.

The Cold Seas are Eric Rudic (guitar / keys), Nash Breen (drums), and Chad Sabo (vox / guitar / keys). The band are coming off a string of successes that include a tour with NJ compatriots, Armor For Sleep, a set at Brooklyn's Barclay's Center alongside Deadmau5 and D.R.A.M., and Sabo's production and songwriting work on Rihanna's platinum-selling Anti.

"Retrograde" is the first of several singles the band plan to release throughout 2018 as a follow-up to last year's Bad Dreams EP. "Retrograde" is brooding, synth-heavy pop; and the black and white clip directed by Dom P plays right into the song's overall mood. The song deals with longing for the past, and there's a dreamy quality to the video that has moments that play like memories.



A Deer A Horse, "Cold Shoulder"

From slick, Asbury Park pop, we turn to jagged, Brooklyn rock.

A Deer A Horse are back with a new single "Cold Shoulder." The song finds the trio of Rebecca Satellite (guitar / vox), Angela Phillips (bass / backing vox), and Dylan Teggart (drums) hammering out another artfully aggressive slice of post-punk noise. Confrontational both sonically and lyrically, "Cold Shoulder" builds tension and demands your attention through tempo changes and some off-kilter beats.

It's available now over at A Deer A Horse's Bandcamp page as a download or as a limited edition cassingle from GP Stripes.

dollys Kicked off Their Fall Tour at Asbury Lanes with Hodera, The Cold Seas, Goodbye Tiger, and Bradley Cooper, 9/23/15

Local Freak

Back when I started CoolDad Music, last night would have been a no-brainer for me. I would have gone to the big show featuring the international touring band at The Stone Pony. While I never spent much time listening to Ride, I am an absolute shoegaze nerdling; and I've been meaning to check them out on this tour. Choices have gotten more difficult for me, though, as I've become aware of all of the great local music we've got around here.

I love dollys. They put out, maybe, my favorite record of the year so far; and they keep cranking out solid pop tune after solid pop tune. They were releasing two more of those at Asbury Lanes last night with help from some other really good bands in The Cold Seas, Goodbye Tiger, Hodera, and Bradley Cooper. dollys were also about to embark on a 3-week tour, and this was their send-off party. I made the decision to skip Ride and head to Asbury Lanes pretty much in the car on my way down to Asbury Park. Someone did call me a local freak for choosing the Lanes, but I have no regrets.

Bradley Cooper, featuring members of Deal Casino and dollys opened things up. Billed as a "hard rock" act, they fell more into just the "rock" category as far as I was concerned. They turned in an extremely fun set, their first in a long time apparently, as several people in the crowd were particularly excited for the band's return. At the end of their set, frontman JoeP said that it would probably be at least five years or so before we saw Bradley Copper again.

Goodbye Tiger have been busy lately. I feel like I've seen them on some bill almost every week. The constant playing pays off in the form of a tight and cohesive set of their somewhere between groove and prog experimental sound. They featured songs from their recent The Pixelated Soul.

Asbury Park's The Cold Seas had just released their Afterglow EP prior to last night's show. The band have a sound that's retro and modern at the same time. They play in that psychedelic, indie rock space of bands like Tame Impala; and I've really enjoyed them every time I've been able to catch a show. The fog machine was in full effect last night; and, while it swamped drummer Nash Breen a couple of times, it worked well with The Cold Seas' vibe.

A few months ago, I reviewed Hodera's 2014 Reset To Default. In that review I said, "The entire set gives the impression that a Hodera live show could be a pretty impressive experience." I'm just gonna say, I know my stuff. I'd missed a bunch of chances to see Hodera live before, so last night was my first time. Even with frontman Matt Smith recovering from an illness, the band tore through an ultra high-energy set that touched on that 2014 EP as well as the band's current release, United By Birdcalls.

I'm not sure what else to say about dollys at this point. They're just really incredible every time. From Jeff Lane's guitar work, to Erik Romero's bass, to Natalie Newbold's joyous drumming and vocals, they just consistently bring it. My one complaint might be that their sets always seem too short, but that's the mark of a band that knows how not to overstay its welcome and always leave them wanting more, I guess. The two new songs that dollys released yesterday -- "I Know" and "Imitator" -- sounded great live and fit in seamlessly with the rest of the band's set.

There is no doubt in my mind that Ride put on a great show and that I would have loved every minute of it. But I can't imagine its being any better than last night's show at Asbury Lanes. That's not a knock on anyone. It's just an observation about how incredibly lucky we are to live in such close proximity to so much great music.

Pics from every set are up at Flickr. You can click the links below to check them out.

dollys

Hodera

The Cold Seas

Goodbye Tiger

Bradley Cooper

dollys Held Their Tour Kickoff Party at Asbury Lanes w/ Perennial Reel, Armstrong Leigh, and The Cold Seas, 6/2/15 (PHOTOS)

Impressive All Around

The first time I saw dollys, they were tacked on at the end of a show at The Saint. I think Chemtrail were the headliners. dollys went on super late and there were only a few of us still there.

"Hmmm," I said after their set. "Now that was interesting."

I saw them again as part of the release show for Dentist's self-titled debut and as part of a bill at The Court Tavern when I headed up there to see Smalltalk. Each time, they impressed me more; and dollys became one of those bands I'd make a special effort to go see.

dollys are a trio now, and drummer Natalie Newbold has taken over the bulk of the singing duties. It's made them even stronger. Jeff Lane writes some just classically great pop songs. He's also a pretty damn good guitar player. Newbold and bassist Erik Case Romero are a kinetic rhythm section, and Nat gets an amazing amount of badassery out of one of the most minimalist drum sets I've ever seen.

So I wasn't going to skip the band's tour kickoff show at Asbury Lanes on Tuesday.

I was pretty excited to catch Jersey City's Perennial Reel. They're in my weekly listings post almost without fail every Thursday, but I'd never seen them perform. The band combine electronic sounds with some rock and indie rock influences to get to something that's pretty hard to classify. That's a good thing, and it makes for a live set that takes some interesting twists and turns.

Next up were Austin, TX duo Armstrong Leigh. The combination of Michelle Armstrong's powerful voice and Cristopher Leigh's guitar created an impressive alt-pop sound -- dark yet accessible. The duo exuded personality on stage, and I wouldn't be surprised if big-time music industry types jumped on this band soon. I hope, when that happens, Armstrong Leigh stick to what makes them unique.

They did a great rendition of Bruce Springsteen's / Patti Smith's "Because the Night;" and I noticed a The River button on Leigh's guitar strap. After their set, Armstrong mentioned how excited her bandmate was to be in Asbury Park. I still find that cool.

This was the second time I'd seen The Cold Seas. The Asbury Park quartet play psychedelic-influenced indie rock. It's familiar and modern at the same time. Frontman Chad Sabo mentioned a forthcoming EP a few times, and I'm looking forward to that.

dollys closed things out with... ...well, I'd call it their "usually strong set;" but it gets stronger each time. Let's just say they impressed me yet again, and Phil from Speak Into My Good Eye confessed to me when they were done, "Yep. I'm hooked." They hook you with their hooks is what they do, those dollys.

Anyway, they've got a set of strong songs -- "Lilypad," "How Charming," "Cornerstones," and more -- that they deliver as part of a personable and energetic live show. They're definitely heading out on tour on a high note.

dollys will be on the road for about two weeks before hitting Wonder Bar for the free Happy Mondays on June 15th. At the end of that week, on June 19th, they'll be holding the release celebration for their long-awaited debut LP, Oh, Please, at Court Tavern.

Check out pics and the rest of dollys' tour dates below. There are a bunch more pics at Flickr.



dollys on tour:

JUN 3
Metropolitan Kitchen and Lounge
Perennial Reel, Phantom Lanterns, Bencoolen
Annapolis, MD

JUN 6
Carpet Palace
Freaky J & The Bears
Richmond, VA

JUN 7
Artful Dodger
Jaguardini, Western Star, K-Sean Long
Harrisonburg, VA

JUN 9
Jon and Peter's Bar
Perennial Reel
New Hope, PA

JUN 10
Deja Brew
Haymarket, VA

JUN 11
All Sounds
Fire is Motion, Del Paxton, The Cardboard Swords, NGHTCRWLRS
Montclair, NJ

JUN 13
Woodbury Music Shop
Budris, The Lively, Terraveer, Jelani Sei
Woodbury, CT

JUN 15
Happy Mondays
Asbury Park, NJ

JUN 19
dollys debut record 'oh, please' release show
Deal Casino, ROMP, Rocky Catanese and The Chapter, The Mellowells
New Brunswick, NJ

JUN 20
Mohawk House
Deal Casino
Sparta, NJ