What's Been Going On?

Titus Andronicus at Rough Trade NYC

So, What Have I Been Up To?

I always kinda hate reading blog posts that are like, "Sorry. I know I haven't posted in a while." But, sorry...?

For a variety of reasons, I haven't been feeling the fire that I used to around here. Some of it is feeling the need to maintain some perspective about what's important in life. Some of it is probably just age. Some of it is wanting to spend more time with the coolfamily before the cooldaughters start to move on to the next big phases in their lives. Some of it is... ...well, I don't really know.

I felt a little surge of inspiration around Father's Day Weekend with shows from Sweet Spirit / High Waisted, William Tyler / Renee Maskin. Then, later that week, I got out to a great show with White Reaper, TWEN, and Dentist. It felt like I was getting back in the groove.

Sweet Spirit at Rough Trade NYC

High Waisted at Rough Trade NYC

William Tyler at The Saint

Renee Maskin at The Saint

Dentist at Wonder Bar

TWEN at Wonder Bar

White Reaper at Wonder Bar

The following weekend, I hit both local release shows with Titus Andronicus for An Obelisk. I got to watch and talk to my favorite band. I took a bunch of pretty cool pictures. But I never got around to saying anything about the shows. Same for the excellent Happy Mondays that week with Daddies, QWAM, and Shut Up.

Titus Andronicus at Rough Trade NYC

Titus Andronicus at Rough Trade NYC

Titus Andronicus at vintage Vinyl

QWAM at Wonder Bar

Shut Up at Wonder Bar

Daddies at Wonder Bar

As usual, though, our fantastic contributors, Henry and Rosi, kept the content coming with Henry's reviews and a truly in-depth interview with Chris Stamey and Rosi's coverage of Screaming Females and Swearin' at Brooklyn's Industry City. Tom Barrett also honored us with the opportunity to premiere his solo EP, Three Songs.

Screaming Females by Rose Lamela at Industry City

Swearin' by Rose Lamela at Industry City

This past weekend, CoolMom and I hit the heartwarming (and body-roasting) show with The RockNRoll Hi-Fives and Mulch (who we all know by now is Dentist, right?) at Asbury Park Yacht Club; and I made a last-minute decision to catch Potty Mouth and Colleen Green at Asbury Park Brewery on Sunday night. That was a good call. More pictures.

"Mulch" at APYC

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives at APYC

Potty Mouth at Asbury Park Brewery

Colleen Green at Asbury Park Brewery

I've also been listening to lots of stuff including new albums from Pip Blom, Mannequin Pussy, Rick Barry, and of course Titus Andronicus. Reviews haven't been coming as easily as they used to, but I plan on writing something about at least a couple of these.

Anyway...

What am I saying? I'm not sure, really. I've toyed with the idea of saying that, for all intents and purposes, I'm done here; but I don't think that's the right call. It's been fun spending more time at home with the coolfamily, riding my bike, and watching my Yankees / Mets games; but I also love taking and editing pictures. And almost nothing makes me happier than the feeling of being at a live performance for a band that I love. Every one of those shows I mentioned above elevated my frame of mind for, at least, a little while.

So, I guess, I'm going to keep doing whatever it is I've been doing here as best I can for a little while. I'll continue to share whatever Henry, Rosi, and whoever else want to provide. I'll tote my camera along to shows, and I'll do my best to help my friends find places to play their music. And I'll always be a place where artists can share their art if they want to continue to give me that opportunity.

I haven't been reading emails or messages as religiously as I used to, and I'm sorry for that; but that kind of stuff has taken kind of a backseat to things like driving the girls around or riding my bike by the beach.

Thanks for reading and thanks for sticking with me.

Oh! And don't forget to come out to The Saint on 7/29 for the show... ...No! THE THING!... ...I've been most excited about this summer. You might get to see my heart burst right out of my chest, and you'll have a blast.

Poster by Matt Hockenjos

In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram at @cooldadmusic. All the pictures I take eventually show up in the Flickr account.

Peace.

White Reaper Played Wonder Bar with TWEN and Dentist, 6/19/19

White Reaper

The World's Best American Band

Back in May of 2015, I went over to Asbury Lanes on a rainy Wednesday night. Openers that night were Roy Orbitron and Glycerine Queens. The headliner was a rock band from Louisville, Kentucky called White Reaper. The street out in front of the Lanes was torn up. It was pouring. I think there may have been rain leaking through the ceiling in some spots. There were, maybe, a dozen people there who weren't in one of the bands.

White Reaper at Asbury Lanes in 2015

None of that stopped White Reaper from giving it everything they had. Early in the set, guitarist / vocalist Tony Esposito smacked bassist Sam Wilkerson in the nose with the headstock of his guitar. Wilkerson bled for the entire set and never slowed down. Ever since that night, I've been a fan.

On a rainy Wednesday night in June of 2019, White Reaper came back to Asbury park for a headlining set at Wonder Bar. Joining them for this one were Boston-born / Nashville-based, TWEN, and local faves and best CoolDad buddies, Dentist. Following the success of The World's Best American Band and some past stops in Asbury Park -- including a slot on one of the Front Bottoms' Champagne Jams, White Reaper played to considerably more than a dozen people. Wonder Bar packed out pretty nicely with the area in front of the stage taken up by fans dancing and singing along.

Dentist started things off; and, honestly, there isn't much more I can say about them at this point. For my money, they're absolutely one of the best and hardest working bands to come out of Asbury Park in the last five years or so. Their consistent touring has paid off not only by reaching new fans but also by allowing them to hone their chops as a live band. What looked like it might be a pretty lightly attended first set of the evening ended up drawing a good crowd from every nook and cranny of Wonder Bar to the stage.

Dentist

Dentist

Dentist

TWEN are accompanying White Reaper on this tour. Founded by singer Jane Fitzsimmons and guitarist Ian Jones, they played on Wednesday as a four-piece. The band's sound is hard to define. It's dreamy and psychedelic, but it also has heaviness and complexity that keep things interesting. The live performance was impressive, and the entire band clearly enjoyed themselves onstage. On Thursday, TWEN announced that their debut album, Awestruck, would be out on 9/20 via Frenchkiss.

TWEN

TWEN

TWEN

The crowd edged up towards the stage as White Reaper came out. The band's set included songs from an unannounced (I think), upcoming album like recent single "You Might Be Right" along with older selections like "B.T.K." (an audience request / audible) and a cover of Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket," a song from the era that clearly provides White Reaper with a good deal of inspiration. The intro to crowd favorite "Judy French" was an aborted / fake out cover of Brian Adams's "Summer of '69." At one point, guitarist Ryan Hater suggested that it might be ok if the crowd jumped around a little bit; and that set people bouncing for most of the set.

White Reaper

White Reaper

White Reaper

White Reaper are heavily influenced by the era when rock and pop were essentially the same thing -- Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick. Their power-pop rock is loose in its feel and amazingly precise in its execution. The band play up the arena-sized rock theatrics, even in an intimate bar on the Shore.

Wonder Bar

White Reaper

White Reaper

The White Reaper tour rolls on with a stop at Philadelphia's World Cafe Live on Saturday, 6/22. They'll be co-headlining that one with the like-minded Sheer Mag. Thin Lips join.

All the pics from Wednesday are up at Flickr.

SXSW Day 2 w/ The Dickmans, Superchunk, White Reaper, Ringo Deathstarr, Sweet Spirit, Nobunny, and More, 3/13/18

White Reaper

A Sprint Not a Marathon

Yesterday was a busy day. Chris and Amy Dickman picked me up at around 11:30am, and we headed over to Kerbey Lane for brunch. Now that I think about it, that omelet may have been my first actual meal since Sunday night. It hit the spot.

We lingered over that and took a leisurely drive around town before arriving at Waterloo records at around 2pm for Superchunk's 3pm in-store. We were right up front for the intimate acoustic set from the band. They played several selections from this year's excellent What a Time to Be Alive including "Break the Glass," for which they were joined by A Giant Dog's / Sweet Spirit's Sabrina Ellis. They also included "Sick to Move" from their recently re-released debut LP.

Superchunk w/ Sabrina Ellis

From there, we headed over to Historic Scoot Inn for sets from Philly's Mt. Joy and Louisville greats White Reaper. Mt. Joy do folk-infused indie rock, and White Reaper do high-octane garage pop. Both bands had avid fans in the crowd. During White Reaper's set, beer cans were flying; and Chris and Amy were bopping.

Mt. Joy

White Reaper

We drove over to Hotel Vegas to check out the evening's set times and used the hour we had before Ringo Deathstarr would take the stage to grab a burger from P. Terry's Burger Stand. After wolfing those down in the car, it was back to Hotel Vegas.

Ringo Deathstarr went on just after we walked in and blew me away. I'm a shoegaze fan, and they do it so well. The band were working out some new songs and everything sounded great.

Ringo Deathstarr

Hotel Vegas was running three stages: the outdoor Patio Stage, the indoor Hotel Vegas Stage, and the indoor stage at Volstead Lounge. We squished into Volstead for a set from Tall Juan. That was a party. Tall Juan encouraged everyone to dance and sing along without worrying what anyone thought, and most of the crowd took his advice.

Tall Juan

Then, it was a bit of wandering around to catch some of the country bands playing inside on the Hotel Vegas side and Yonatan Gat with a drum circle on the dusty ground in front of the outside stage. Volstead was running a good 45 minutes behind; but, at around 10pm, local psych-rockers, Hidden Ritual, finally took the stage and shook the small space.

It was back out into the dust for what would be my final two acts of the evening. Sweet Spirit includes most of the members of A Giant Dog. They trade that band's glam punk for something a little more soulful. Sabrina Ellis is still able to command a crowd no matter the genre. The crowd was a lot less violent than they were for A Giant Dog the previous night, but they were no less enthusiastic.

Sweet Spirit

The craziness came when Nobunny took the stage at around midnight. I made it through a song or two up front before things got too wild. Nobunny played as a relentless power trio on Tuesday but promised more band members for the sets they'll be playing at Hotel Vegas throughout the week.

Guy who kept crowd surfing to Nobunny.

Nobunny

So that was yesterday. Non-stop and pretty bananas. I may slow it down a little bit before tonight and try to take in a few conference sessions. Gotta pace myself. We'll see what happens.

A Few Post-Swim Meet Things from White Reaper, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, and Beaches

White Reaper at SXSW 2017

Is It August Yet?

Have I mentioned how crazy July is around here? I probably have. So many swim meets. I spent the first half of today at the NJ Junior Olympics swim meet where CoolDaughter #1 swam the (extremely grueling) 200m breaststroke. She qualified 6th for the finals, and CoolMom gets to take her back to Rutgers for that this evening. I've been pretty useless for much of the day since arriving at the pool for this morning's early warm-up, but a cup of cold brew perked me up. I've been going through the inbox to see what's what.

White Reaper, "Judy French"

How far this Louisville band have come in just a few short years. They've gone from playing to about 12 people on a rainy Wednesday at Asbury Lanes to making videos that star Alexandra Daddario as "the band."

"Judy French" is more of their arena-sized, hook-laden rock and roll; and the Brandon Dermer-directed video is simple in its execution and a great-looking complement to the The World's Best American Band highlight.

The World's Best American Band is out now on Polyvinyl.



The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, "When I Dance with You"

I fell in love with 2009, self-titled debut from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and absolutely wore the album out (metaphorically, of course) on runs, in the car, at my desk. I've been a fan of the Brooklyn band's retro-influenced indie pop ever since and was excited to hear about their upcoming fourth LP, The Echo of Pleasure, which is due from the band's own Painbow label as a digital release on 9/1 with physical copies to follow on 9/15.

"When I Dance with You" finds the band moving beyond the post-punk and shoegaze influences of their earlier efforts into something a little more synth-heavy. Even though he's working with some slightly different sounds here, frontman and songwriter, Kip Berman, still knows his way around a pop song.



Beaches, "When You're Gone"

Australian psych rock five-piece, Beaches, will be releasing a double LP, Second of Spring, with Chapter Music on 9/8. Earlier this week, they shared single "When You're Gone."

"When You're Gone" isn't so much a psychedelic freakout as it is a catchy, almost surfy, bit of fuzz pop. It's a contrast to earlier single, "Void," which is darker and hurtles along on a motorik beat. Taken together, what the band have shared so far shows that they can cover a wide range within the genre of psych rock. It should be pretty interesting to see what they do over the course of a double LP.

Lots of Stuff from Some Favorites This Week: Cayetana, White Reaper, Single Mothers

Single Mothers at Baby's All Right in 2014.

Holiday Friday

It's a long weekend. The cooldaughters have a half-day at school today. CoolAunt is bringing her kiddos down from Buffalo. I'm going to see the Yankees tomorrow. It's our wedding anniversary on Sunday. The weather sucks! Yeah! Memorial Day Weekend 2017!

Here's a bunch of stuff that came across my virtual desk this week, from some of my current favorites.

Cayetana, "Bus Ticket"

Earlier this month, Cayetana released the follow-up to their much-loved debut album Nervous Like Me. New Kind of Normal finds the Philly trio coping with the idea of pursuing their dream as a band, while people around them "grow up" and start doing adult-type things like getting engaged.

Single "Bus Ticket" is ultimately inspiring. Singer / guitarist Augusta Koch sings of hitting rock bottom before finding that she has the strength and toughness to turn things around.

Director Adam Peditto uses the metaphor of having the band play through a rainstorm that ultimately gives way to the sun, and the clip looks beautiful.

New Kind of Normal is out now on Cayetana's own Plum Records.



White Reaper, "The World's Best American Band"

Louisville's White Reaper just released the Simon Young-animated video for the hyperbolically-named title track from their latest album, The World's Best American Band. The song opens with the sound of a cheering crowd; and the band lay all of their stadium-sized, classic rock influences out there.

Having seen the band play to about 12 people at Asbury Lanes and, maybe, 212 people at Barracuda in Austin, TX, I can attest to the fact that they do play every show as if they're in front of a stadium full of adoring fans.

The World's Best American Band is out now on Polyvinyl.



Single Mothers, "Leash"

London, Ontario's Single Mothers didn't even have any songs when they decided to start recording their sophomore LP, Our Pleasure. Songwriter / vocalist Drew Thomson and drummer Brandon Jagersky booked studio time on a whim, assembled a band, wrote and recorded a new record which comes out on June 16th via Dine Alone Records.

The latest single from Our Pleasure is "Leash." It's more melodic -- with a sing-along-able chorus -- than lots of Single Mothers' other stuff, but it retains the edge that permeates many of Thomson's musings. He sings of being tethered to events from the past, being the subject of someone's grudge, maybe. "That was just so long ago, man. I thought that you could let it go, man."

CoolDad Does Austin: SXSW Day 3

James of Beach Slang tries his beer trick as Matt Pinfield looks on.

Hinds, Beach Slang, Don Giovanni Records

A slight drizzle on Thursday morning cooled things off a bit, but not much. I got up. Did my show listings and daily recap, then headed downtown.

I'd been shut out of the Hinds show on Tuesday night; so I decided to try and catch them at Frank, a small bar west of the downtown craziness, for their first of five shows of the day. The band's album Leave Me Alone is one I've been listening to quite a bit since it came out.

Getting in this time was no problem, and Hinds were great. They admitted that they'd just woken up; but for a band with 17 shows on the schedule for the week, they brought some really good, positive energy. Never stopped smiling.

Hinds from Madrid.

After their set, I walked over to Waterloo Records to catch Louisville's White Reaper. Once I arrived, I realized that the setup was kind of like the Stone Pony Summer stage -- a stage at one end of a giant parking lot. It was packed; and, while I think White Reaper are great, I was kind of surprised. Turns out that Joe Jonas and DNCE were next on the schedule, and their fans were already staking out real estate. White Reaper got to play to a large crowd holding up DNCE posters. I headed over to the flagship Whole Foods for a sandwich.

Then it was back to Frank for Philly's Creepoid, local kids Residual Kid (who were hosting the Frank party), Yuck, and Beach Slang. Oh. I didn't mention that Matt Pinfield was emceeing the Frank party! Anyway, Creepoid were fantastic. Don't miss them when they play Brighton Bar next week with The Dirty Nil and Restorations. Residual Kid surprised me. They were probably 17 years old, very good, and have obviously spent a lot of time with Nirvana and Pixies. Yuck were pretty laid back as they delivered songs from their latest album and mixed in a few that I remember from their marvelous debut.

Beach Slang were Beach Slang. Blood, guts, sweat, and drama all over a tiny stage late on a Thursday afternoon. I realized during their set that, as much as I enjoy discovering new stuff, I still just love what I love. Love them.

I headed back into the craziness of downtown for some beers with Dentist and to hit the Don Giovanni Records showcase at The Velveeta Room. I arrived as Mal Blum was setting up. Blum and the band turned in a pretty rocking set of Blum's soul-baring soungs. Following that, it was Philly's Pinkwash.

Sound guy: "That guitar's pretty loud. Can you turn it down?"

Guitarist Joey Doubek: "Um... No. I really can't."

Then he and drummer Ashley Arnwine absolutely pummeled the whole room.

Following Pinkwash, it was time for Vacation. They had about 1000 times the energy I did at that point and gave us a great set. When they were done, so was I. I could barely stand after going straight for about 13 hours. I headed back to the hotel, finally ate dinner (at the Waffle House next door), and crashed hard. It's back at it today when I'll try to catch some of the bands I missed yesterday.

Vacation

Stay tuned.

Photo Highlights of White Reaper, The Villanelles, Roy Orbitron, and Glycerine Queens at Asbury Lanes, 5/6/15

White Reaper at Asbury Lanes

Wednesday War Zone

You can take away their street, their parking, their sidewalk, even their porch; but Asbury Lanes will not give up. Even in the midst of what looks like a war zone right now, they'll keep bringing shows, love, happiness, and warmth to our area as long as they're able. Wednesday was no different.

After navigating the "No Thru Traffic" signs and unpaved, sidewalkless roads, those of us who came out on a Wednesday night got an eclectic show headlined by the all-out, full-on rock band from Louisville known as White Reaper. Glycerine Queens opened with their combination of classic rock and dreamy surf pop. Roy Orbitron, who are beginning a summer conquest of points east of their Bordentown home, brought their hard to classify urban outlaw Americana. The Villanelles did a set of gritty rock that's a stark and energetic contrast to frontman Chris LeCompte's singer / songwriter style solo work.

White Reaper just simply brought it. They didn't slow down for a single second of their short set, blasting through tracks from their high-octane, self-titled EP. Think the breakneck pace of The Ramones with the attitude of The Black Lips. There was blood on the stage and vomit in the parking lot after the show.

Here are some photo highlights of all the sets. The rest are in the galleries.

If you approach Asbury Lanes this weekend; and it seems like too much to navigate to make your way inside, tough it out. Inside it's still the happiest place on earth.