|
Links
SMASH!
|
Concerts, May 2002
The Swingin' Neckbreakers with the Quitters, True Love and the
Grinders at Mercury, Rochester NY May 24, 2002 / The Swingin'
Neckbreakers with the Grinders and the Irving Klaws at the Mowhawk,
Buffalo, NY May 25, 2002 / The Swingin' Neckbreakers with The iRTHLINGS
and the Grinders at Thee Bugg Jarr, Rochester, NY May 26, 2002
So this was a memorable weekend to say the least... it was like the
full out family reunion at Mercury with all of the grandchildren but
my brother there- Suzanne, Rosemary, Chris, Dave, Steve, and myself-
kinda scary when you think about it. Sunday nite at the Bug Jar
was like the club meeting for the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the I Want
Christina Ginger's Ass Organization (you boys know who you are, and
so do I... ha ha) And lastly, thank you to every one who did something
nice for me this weekend; you know who you are as well, and I
appreciate it greatly:) NB: Like the Rev. Horton Heat review, this is
grouped and lumped together in some order. The Grinders and Swingin'
Neckbreakers are the last two reviews.
Friday was the first day, and the Quitters played first. They are one
of my favorite local bands, and unfortunately I hadn't seen them play
out in a while, so it was great to see them again. It seems like they
never run out of old or new material to perform, which means you're
always going to hear something that will satisfy. Playing for about
45 minutes or so, the band put out a fairly solid set that was highly
energetic, entertaining and chock full of tunes like 1982,
I Got You Babe, Damn Thing, No Silly and lots more 2 minute gems
that rock. I like the Quitters. So should you.
After the Quitters on Friday True Love played. They're from New
Jersey, and it was initially suppossed to be just them coming up this
weekend, not the Neckbreakers too. But hey, whatever works. I had heard
them on the cd that they sent up with their press kit and liked the
blend of jangly-sugary-but edgy power-pop stylings circa 1970-something.
Live though, performing Foreign Fiction Books, (Get Your) Ass (In
Gear), Why Did You Change Your Mind, Baby's Little System and more,
they had a bit more of a mod Who sound because of the harmonies,
but then again I'm on crack, so this observation may not be what they
had intended for... not half bad. Catch them if they come around again.
The Irving Klaws were the "other" band in Buffalo, and they really drew
the crowd into the Mowhawk. The Irving Klaws have been around for quite
some time; however they don't play out much (which I guess adds to their
mystique) and I hadn't seen them, so it was beneficial all around. Once
again, they played very well and were enjoyable- a mix of rockabilly with
some surf tinges and horror subject matter in the way that the Groovie
Ghoulies would write lyrics (ghouls, ghosts, graveyards monsters, etc.).
All of the musicians were great, though I must say that look wise, their drummer, who according to what I saw, likees to call himself Wheez,
topped the nite in a blue wig and spandex. It takes a strong
man to pull that off. Definitely a cool blend, and worth seeing for
your self just how fun taking a ride in a Surfin' Hearse sounds.
The iRTHLINGS opened the show on Sunday nite at the Bug Jar. I had seen
them play at the Bowie show when I did my little Christina Ginger sings
with the Quitters stint for the second time, and I liked what I heard.
Maybe it was because somebody else wrote it or something, because I
didn't really get into their vibe the other nite. They started off well
enough, but it just fell into a downward spiral- not performance wise,
but more song wise. Which is too bad, because they do have the
potential to really rock out well. Needless to say, thanks to the lack
of sleep I had all weekend, I ended up being somewhat miserable during
their set...
However, Sunday nite (and every nite for that matter) the Grinders
managed to rock and roll the way that they know how, and they sounded
great. Now featuring a new bass player, Johnny (aka Johnny "Rock Balls"
Grinder- the name has the Todd Dentico Seal of Approval, whatever the
hell that is) the Grinders have a new found sense of energy and drunken
stage charisma that works wonderfully for them. The prevailing
sentiment that I heard over this past weekend was "I never thought that
anyone could out show Todd, but Johnny does it". They really compliment
each other well. Anyways, the Grinders barrelled through many tunes
over the course of the weekend and kept their sets fairly diversified
too. We had the likes of Crack Your Head Open, Never Met a Girl
Like You Before, Psycho, Moonshine, Cock, Lotion, I Mean It, Jumpin'
Jack Flash, You Can't Judge a Book By the Cover, and the Johnny
sung Mother (Sunday nite only). Ha ha ha, wonderful indeed,
even if Todd's thumb was "broken".
And lastly, we had the Swingin' Neckbreakers, who hail from Trenton, NJ
served up their tasty high-octane Rock and Roll all three nites, each
one better than the last. As everyone knows, the last time they played here
almost ended in the destrucion of the Bug Jar floor- kinda like the
collapse at the Horizontal Boogie Bar aka Water Street Music Hall- so
I think everyone in Rochester was back for a kick ass rehash. And this
time the Rock and Roll won. The band, Tom (vocals, bass), John
(drums, bg's), and Jeff (guitar, bg's)- all three being great musicians
who perform solidly and nice guys as well- brought forth the likes of
So Less, Definition of Love, Get Down on Your Knees, Do the Stand,
Shake It Some More, One Potato Two Potato, Boss Hoss, Saturday's Best
and I'm the Mailman (lovingly dedicated to Todd Grinder)
plus others all three nites, and diversified it by pulling out a bit
more showmanship in Buffalo and the Bug Jar show. Because the bars in
Buffalo are open till 4AM, they played more tunes to lengthen the set-
the tunes were grabbed from their reserves and played well (I think
there was) Hail to the Baron, Mighty Mack, Pool Hoppin', Daddy's
Little Girl, and The Girl Can't Help It. The Bug Jar show
featured many of the previously mentioned songs plus Shakedown,
Super Stuff, The Girl Can't Dance / Look Away, and my favorite,
Thinkin' Man's Girl (I had just been saying how I wished they would
do that too). There was also surprise visit from Todd on their
rendition of the Kink's Till the End of the Day . It rocked
something fierce, definitely exacted revenge on the little club kids.
I'm sure that as long as they have a place to stay at Todd's house,
they'll be back for more hip shakin' action in the near future. Check
them out or be square forever...
Peter Noone with Herman's Hermits at the Lilac Festival, May 19, 2002
So it was freezing out (and I mean it- something like high thirties
to low forties in fucking May), but that didn't stop the masses- young
and old alike- from heading out to this show. I think the age range went
from 4 years to 64 years old with the median being somewhere around age
50 give or take 5 years. Fairly interesting. Now I'll be the first to
say that Herman's Hermits are not one of the most stellar groups to
have emerged from the 60's, and in most musician's circles they are
laughed at because they were very much considered to be an attractive
way to get the young girls' money. The show had the kitsch value that
one would expect when seeing and aging rocker and at first I thought,
"ugh, this is bad". Then, in a shocking turn of events, I started to
actually like it. I know. But I have to admit that Noone's
voice sounded in top shape as he sang and cracked jokes, and the band
(which probably has no original members, but a beautiful Rickenbacker)
sounded great as well as they played through all the "hits"- I'm
Into Something Good, Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter, Can't You Hear My Heart Beat, Silhouetes, I'm Henry the VIII I Am, Must To Avoid, and
more. I mean sure, the words are a bit cheesy at times and it would
hardly sell at all today no matter what the market was, but the fact of
the matter is that they gave the masses what they wanted, and it
worked.
Swearing at Motorists with Matt Pond PA and 764 Hero at The Bug Jar
May 14, 2002
Well this was an interesting evening; not too sure what to make out of
this one either. I went to an indie show! I think I'm going soft. But,
music director responsibilites do call, so I answered. And I saw my
slacker metal music director too. With a girl who wasn't his
girlfriend. WTF...
Swearing at Motorists took the stage first to the sweet smells of
Tootsie Pops and Blow Pops (green apple for me). I had been told that
their singer was a bit eccentric, and I saw that. He offered to buy me a
"soft drink" a bit later on, and I just laughed at him. I didn't mean to,
it was a laugh of flattery, and I felt bad afterwards. Oops. So anyways,
the band, which consisted of the singer/guitar player Dave Doughman ,
and drummer Don Thrasher, was actually not too bad- what I like to
describe as eclectic-minimalistic-with-White Stripes-tendencies.
Very arty, and probably not much of a mainstream sound at all,
however the pieces just somehow happened to fit together in a way that
just, for a lack of a better word, worked. There were low key
downtempo pieces and harder, edgy indie rock type pieces (the White
Stripes correlation), and some interesting story-like lyrics. And by
the way, the packed house dug em.
Matt Pond PA won me over, I must say. The band consists of 5 members
(the website says 6 though, but I only saw 5)- singer/guitarist Matt
Pond, drummer Mike Kennedy, bassist Matt Raisch, cellist Eve Miller
(who also joined S@M on stage; there is another cellist, Jim Hostetter)
and guitarist Jim Kehoe. Their sound consists of dreamy, melodic
instrumentation a la Belle and Sebastian but more uptempo and alive sounding,
and wonderful vocals. Each instrument seemed to compliment the next,
none really overpowered the other. I really liked the cello in the mix,
because as a classically trained musician (piano), it is nice to see a
"classical" instrument in a band, and I felt that the cello added a
smoothness, depth, and emotion that really brought the pieces forth in a
whole new way. Very impressive indeed; check them out and expand your
horizons to the next level.
764 Hero played last, and they were my least favorite band of the evening.
The crowd seemed to dig them- they did a mini "encore" when they were
done. The band started off good enough, but each song seemed to drone
and drag with little variation or relief. After a while, it got too be
too much and over-burdensome for the listener (me) and I just allowed
my thoughts to drift elsewhere. However, when the band came back on
after their set was done, it sounded fresh and new and not that bad
again. I think that the key here is: 764 Hero are not bad, they just
need to be taken in moderation. If more breaks had been taken during
the set, I'm sure that I would've liked them much more.
|
