After unfortunately missing the first night of the Don Giovanni Records showcase due to lack of sleep the previous couple nights catching up with friends, I wondered to myself if I would be up for the adventure to Brooklyn. I'd hoped to have a friend join me on the trip, but as the departure time grew closer this prospect was looking meek. As I prepared myself to drive a few hours by myself, the obvious thoughts of what am I getting myself into took me over. I'd had opportunities to see the bands that I was looking forward to in the past year and I'd seen my friends in Laura Stevenson and the Cans, twice in the past few days. So despite my reservation, I got in my car and drove to Williamsburg. Thankfully, my good friend Adam and I had a good talk on the phone that helped the drive go by quite successfully, as we had much to talk about. After a couple hours only stopping once for gas, I passed the famous 1964 New York Worlds Fair sculpture in Queens, as depicted in the final scenes of the film Men In Black and I had realized how fast the time had gone by. After sitting in a small amount of traffic I found myself in a sea of fashionably dressed men and women and realized that all that I had heard about Williamsburg's "hip" culture was no myth. I arrived at the venue and had anticipated scrambling for parking and or paying a sum like one may in Boston, but I was surprised to find a prime spot in what seemed to be a pretty safe area a block away.
As I entered the blue lit stairwell of the venue, stepping out of the cold Brooklyn streets and into the quite warm venue I felt a sense of comfort that would last throughout the night. This was much needed after a long solo drive. I explored the venue and found myself quite pleased with the layout, which included an upstairs and raised areas on the side that provided many adequate vantage points. After saying hello to the cans, I took a seat in the main bar area which was removed from the main room. I thought to myself, could this be true? I was at a music venue where there wasn't an advertisement or opportunity for the consumption of alcohol at every corner. I sat alone as I watched a collection of what I could only imagine the average person would consider the text book definition of the term "hipsters". Feeling quite intimidated by the amount of people who clearly put much more time into their outfits than I had, I patiently awaited the beginning of the concert. I milled around upstairs, contacting a few people who I would hope to see while I was in town as the band Byrds of Paradise collected themselves on stage. I had not previously been exposed to this band, but knowing Don Giovanni's current roster and alumni, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. The Byrds gave their effect-laden take on what I would consider indie rock, with a punk rock heart. Their guitarist jumped around stage with his fender telecaster, which pierced through a quite prominent and always heavily fuzzed bass tone. Their guitarist seemed to be enjoying himself quite a lot and that in turn made me enjoy their performance. He utilized his guitar in a way that bordered psych-rock, every so often using a chorus or phasing effect to highlight his playing, but always kept punchy and distorted in true punk rock fashion. Their vocalist's somewhat apathetic vocals were certainly highlighted by the amount of saturation that a reverb effect provided. Although his the vocalist's stage presence was not a driving force of the band, I would say that the drumming definitely made up for it. His style was quite precise and aggressive, certainly feeding off of the energy of the guitarist. I sort of trailed off towards the end of their set, because I was really anticipating the next set from one of my favorite bands of the past few months, Lemuria.
As Lemuria took the stage, with their always humble demeanor, I was shocked to see that they opened their set with one of their strongest segues of their first full length Get Better, Dog > Dogs. Their presence was made quite clear as they quickly transitioned into a few of the stronger songs off of their first collection, which included "Bee Spit" a song that isn't played quite often from my deduction. It seemed to me that Lemuria were aware of their disposition, being the only band who isn't actually on the record label, and the first in a line of bands to feature a strong female front figure. Knowing this, I think that some of the bands insecurities showed, but in the most positive ways possible. They flew through a set of songs that I found to be a wonderful summation of the bands abilities as performers as well as songwriters. It seemed as though they were focusing a lot of vocal efforts on vocalist/guitarist Sheena's part during this set, and when vocalist/drummer Alex's parts came in, his mic barely came through in the mix to my dismay. They played a few songs from their new album pebble, but unfortunately didn't play either of the songs from their new split with the band Cheap Girls, which I have been playing constantly. It was quite a treat to watch this set from a great vantage point beside my friend Jeff Rosenstock who is undoubtedly a huge factor of why I discovered this band. Watching him recall drum parts with a huge smile on his face to drummer Dave Garwacke of his project Kudrow, was definitely a highlight of the set. Although much of the crowd stood with crossed arms, I could tell that their performance was definitely appreciated.
After Lemuria played, I followed some friends to the top deck to catch Shellshag from above which was definitely a good idea. For those unfamiliar with this band, they are a two piece who are origionally from the west coast and were somewhat recently transplanted on the east coast which much of their latter following, including myself, can be attributed to. It was brought to my knowledge that they have been a band for roughly twenty years and a collection of all their early tapes can be found on Don Giovanni Records. I was familiarized with this band by way of a cover version of their song "Resilient Bastard" as done by Olympia, Washington's RVIVR featuring Matt Canino previously of the band Latterman. The two performers Shell and Shag played guitar and a standing three piece drum kit with an immense energy as both delivered vocals directly to each other. It has also been brought to my attention that these two have been a couple for quite sometime, but are opposed to marriage and are quite open about it. Their relationship was quite apparent in their relation to each other, as they passionately accompanied each other to the best of their ability in a somewhat minimalist setting. Although the instrumentation was minimal, the sound certainly was not. Sweat bounced off the drums as they were pounded vigorously, with a large bass drum being approached like a floor tom would. The crowed bounced along with their driving grungy pop punk tunes and the energy in the crowd was certainly building as they dramatically finished their set in a drumkit-stacking floor-writhing pool of noise which the audience encouraged with applause.
The crowd roared as their hometown heroes Laura Stevenson and the Cans took the stage dressed uniformly in plaid and presented one of their strongest sets that I have witnessed. Feeding off of the energy of the crowd, the beautifully dynamic sound of the Cans was taken to a new level for me as they played to undoubtedly one of the largest crowds that they have seen. The often timid yet personable approach of Laura towards the crowd seemed more confident than usual (as it should always be) as she addressed the crowd. I think the comfort and support of friends definitely played in their sound that night. They played new songs from their upcoming Don Giovanni release including the first single "Master of Art", which to me seemed quite familiar to a crowd who acknowledged their excitement as they recognized this song. Despite the large crowd, and the stylistic shift they seemed to be quite respectful towards Laura as she sang with little to no accompaniment and as they should be were in awe as her voice filled the room and grabbed the attention of I'm sure just about everyone in the audience. After seeing this band for a third time, I hadn't nearly grown tired of these songs which I think says a lot about their ability to perform them. Needless to say, It was a pleasure seeing this band on their home turf and I patiently look forward to the reception they get from their new release on this label which I see as a great fit for them especially after this showcase. Mike from the cans has agreed to assist in a feature of this band which should be coming very soon, so keep an eye out for that!
I was lucky to score free tickets to see the final performers Screaming Females on tour with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists last march and my first impression of them was definitely a lasting one. They live up to their name in that they have a female lead vocalist and guitarist who is known to scream from time to time but they are certainly not limited to this. This band had captivated me almost a year ago, but what I didn't know when I saw them last saturday was that I had really missed out on their latest release Castle Talk which I believe was released after I saw them for the first time. This New Jersey three-piece has taken their DIY approach to punk rock all the way to Late Night with Carson Daly, but don't call them sell outs yet, because they have grown infinitely better in my humble opinion. Somehow Screaming Females have managed to make a three piece sound fuller than ever and have learned how to incorporate guitar solos into a live setting without making it monotonous and dull. Guitarist Marissa Paternoster, really sets standards high for punk rock guitar playing and I'm sure makes guys and girls jealous of her chops all the same. For the first time throughout the night I found myself pulled into the music in an indescribable way. Not to say that I didn't expect it, but this headlining performance was definitely an improvement from the last time I saw them, which caught me somewhat off guard. I was mesmerized by their performance to the point where I'd almost forgotten the rest of the crowd was there, mosh-pitting and all. If you do get the chance to see this band live, I highly suggest you take it because they are one of the most unique and powerful acts on the circuit today. This whole show left me feeling so motivated by the way that so many people could gather together and support such a diverse bill. I highly anticipate Don Giovanni's releases of 2011 as they have in my eye become one of the most powerful and influential record labels in the punk rock and indie scene today.
all pictures courtesy of brooklynvegan.com
No comments:
Post a Comment