Tonight: So So Glos & Ex Humans @ DBA

Punk rock show in Brooklynburg tonight! This will be a good one for sure. The Coathangers and Unholy Two are also playing.

So So Glos, Ex Humans, Coathangers, Unholy Two

@ DBA (49 S. 2nd Ave)

$8

8PM

Tonight: No Age, Sigmund Droid, Team Robespierre, The Weight, Sounds Of Kaleidoscope

Lots of good shows tonight. Go to a couple at least.

• No Age @ KCDC Skateshop, FREE show. 7pm, all ages. 
• Sigmund Droid @ The Rock Shop, $7 (I think). 
• Team Robespierre @ Shea Stadium
• The Weight @ Union Pool
• The Sounds Of Kaleidoscope @ Don Pedros

Soundgarden Played Conan Last Night...Wow!

First off, congrats to Conan on the new show. I've already laughed more times than I did the entire time he was on The Tonight Show. It's good to have old Coco back. It's also good to have Soundgarden back!

Last night Soundgarden played their new old song "Black Rain" on Conan. It was unreal how fucking good it was. I'm completely blown away that Cornell can hit those high notes. He generally stopped singing in the range after Badmotorfinger and I just didn't think he had it in him to pull that off live. It's simply stunning. These mothers better fucking tour and play NYC soon. I will gladly pay upwards of $200 for a chance to see them live and that's saying a lot because, if you know me, I bitch about any show over $7. Long live Soundgarden!

Click here if the video doesn't load (there's also another song)

Last Night: Wild Yaks, Regal Degal, Cerebral Ballzy & Black Lips

I woke up yesterday hungover and never really recovered. I was dragging ass all day and spent a good majority of it on the couch resting up. But evening came around and things did not get much better. Too bad because a whole lot of fun was happening in a few hours.

First up was Van-efit, which Wild Yaks and Regal Degal were playing. The show was a fundraiser for some dude who's van broke down in Ohio and he needed money to get back out there and get it fixed...something like that. I got to Good Co for the show right around 10pm. Regal Degal was on while I was walking through the door. 

One of my good friends is the drummer for the band so I was glad I made it in time. I've only seen them play one other time, a few months back at Don Pedro's. That show was so insanely loud that I honestly couldn't even figure out if I liked them or not. Last night, however, they sounded great. The vocals were a little low in the mix but overall it was awesome to hear them at a bearable volume. I was at the show with Tom from Radio America who was seeing them for the first time and pointed out a resemblance to Television. 

After Regal Degal played we worked on a few beers and waited for Wild Yaks to set up, which seemed to be taking a very long time. Finally the Yaks got started and the fun began. The room was totally packed and it seemed like everyone there knew the words to every song. In fact, a few times Rob backed off the mic and let the crowd take over vocal duties. 

As with any Yaks show it was awesome. It was also far from flawless. Rob managed to break a string on two songs, which happened to be back-to-back. The singer/guitar player from Regal Degal (who is also in Dinowalrus) decided to just let Rob use his guitar to speed things along. After that things went swimmingly. The set was damn good and they closed with my two favorites, "Blood Red Field" and "River May Come." 

The second they finished we rushed out the door and headed towards The Shank. The show at The Shank was a late show, so it was just starting, but we already had friends there waiting for us so we hurried over. On the way over I desperately started texting and calling friends because I had an extra ticket and didn't want to eat it. But it was too late and I got to pay double admission to get in. An awesome start.

When we got inside some band was just starting up and the venue was filling in. There was already an obscenely long line for the two port-o-potty's conveniently located right next to the bar. If you haven't been to The Shank it's a massive open space covered in graffiti with 50-foot high ceilings and no rules. It's about as DIY as you can get in Williamsburg these days. 

The first band finished up and we headed upstairs to the balcony-esque area which overlooks the main floor. The upstairs area was cloudy from all the smoke. We managed to snag two of the five seats available in the entire venue. We heard the K-Holes starting up but didn't want to lose our seats so we stayed put. I love the K-Holes but I was tired and hungover and that seat was comfortable, especially since my bum knee was acting up. 

While we were sitting there a bunch of dudes started pissing in the corner to avoid an hour wait for the crapper. The corner turned into a lake of piss and spilled beer. A couple of girls, who may or may not have been aware of the source of this lake, started jumping around and dancing in this massive piss pond. It was totally fucking gross. 

Eventually we noticed that the Ballzy dudes weren't hanging upstairs anymore so we figured they must be setting up. We abandoned our post and headed downstairs for the show. Just as we got down on the main floor they started up. Immediately everyone in the room noticed how awful the sound was. You could not hear the vocals at all and the guitars and bass were super muddy. It sounded like shit. 

Nonetheless, Ballzy kept on trucking along. Honor kept grabbing different mics in an attempt to find one that would actually project his voice, that didn't really work out. Then he started climbing the walls and speakers. At one point he leaned on the monitor and it buckled. One of the sound guys had to grab it and he spent the rest of the set holding this speaker in place. Meanwhile the kids in the pit were going apeshit. The crap sound seemed to actually fuel the madness as punk kids were diving into the crowd. At one point someone started carry around a massive cross made out of skateboards. 

I give Ballzy credit for playing through what must have been the worst mix ever. They didn't let up at all but it was painful to listen to and in no way was it their fault. I know it's a DIY joint and all but I've been to tons of DIY shows and that's right up there with the shittiest sound quality I've ever heard and that's including basement shows in high school. 

Towards the end of the set I headed to the back of the room in hopes that the sound might be a little better further back - it wasn't. While back there I noticed that the floor was soaked. I looked along the dark wall and I could make out a ton of people, male and female, pissing along the wall. A good quarter of the venue was flooded with piss, spilled beer, cigarette butts and Four Loko (which they were selling for $10, yikes!). It was fucking gnarly and I'd hate to be the guy who has to clean that shit hole in the morning. 

After Ballzy finished up the crowd was getting noticeably antsy. It was about 2am at this point and the smoke cloud, urine and lack of seating was getting to people. As such it seemed like they rushed the Black Lips on stage to keep people sane. Surprisingly the Black Lips sounded pretty good. The vocals were audible and everything else sounded pretty decent, not great but for a lo-fi band in a DIY space it wasn't bad at all. I'm convinced they did a sound check for the Black Lips and just left the board set up for them and the other bands had to play through their sound settings.   

All of the bullshit scared my friends off. The sound issues made them all abandon ship either during or after Ballzy but I hung in there and I'm glad I did. The Lips made the hellish atmosphere all worth it. Within minutes of the start of their set people just started climbing on stage and dancing. Halfway through the set the stage was so jam packed full of dancing kids that you couldn't even see the band up there. Even with all the commotion they were still able to play an awesome set. At one point I think the power strip for the amps went out because they did two or three songs acappella.

The whole place was dancing and singing along towards the end, it was great. The set was pretty short but it was so late at that point that I don't think anyone minded. If I recall correctly they announced they had one more song and went into "Bad Kids" to close it out. Immediately after the song some drunk dude started yelling at the top of his lungs, "turn up the vocals! turn up the vocals." Sorry dude, shows over. 

Tonight: Black Lips & Ballzy @ The Shank; Wild Yaks @ Good Co; Tigersapien @ Glasslands

Lots of good music tonight in the Burg. The big news is the JellyNYC party with the Black Lips and Cerebral Ballzy. The show is only $5, which is awesome considering the average Lips show these days is like $20. Putting Ballzy with the Black Lips is pretty much perfection in the world of show promoting. The crowd is going to be foaming at the mouth by the time the Black Lips hit the stage.

The show at The Shank starts at 10pm so I suggest either hitting Good Co for Wild Yaks and Regal Degal or Glasslands for Tigersapien and French Horn Rebellion first.

Links:

Black Lips Tickets

Tigersapien & FHR at Glasslands

Wild Yaks & Regal Degal at Good Co

 

Tonight: Paul & The Patients / Raccoon Fighter @ Cameo

Our homeys Raccoon Fighter are back from their Mexican tour and tonight they're playing Cameo with Paul & The Patients.

RSVP & Tix:

TK421 Music Showcase

Black Lips & Ballzy Playing The Shank, $5 Cover!

JellyNYC put together a killer show at The Shank this weekend. Black Lips and Cerebral Ballzy will be playing a late night show on Saturday. These two bands were meant to play a show together and I'm stoked that it's happening. All hell will break loose. I can't believe the cover is only $5. Tix go on sale today at 5pm, which is like 20 minutes from now.

Link:

Black Lips / Ballzy Tix

Video: So So Glos "Fred Astaire"

"Fred Astaire" - The So So Glos from Matthew Greeley on Vimeo.

Tonight: JEFF The Brotherhood @ Union Pool; Wild Yaks In Greenpoint;

It's Halloween but I'm not really feeling it this year. People out there on the streets seem to feel the same way. Maybe the moon is in a weird position but the consensus seems to be that Halloween sucks this year and not in the appropriate vampire sense. So you know, maybe catch a show or something instead.

JEFF

Wild Yaks are playing this one:

Saturday CMJ Day Shows

Tonight: Smell The Glove w/ Prince Terrence, Kelle Calco, The Party Death (I'm DJing too!). No Cover, $2 Beer.

Me and my homey Carlos (the dude I throw STG with) are both celebrating our October birthdays at Smell The Glove. We've got the official East Coast listening party for the new Holy Grail album, Crisis In Utopia, from 9-10pm. Then I'm doing my first ever DJ set from 10-11. After that Dave from The Party Death, Prince Terrence and Kelle Calco handle the tunes for the rest of the night. As always, no cover and $2 beer until midnight! Eddy and Amber are our lovely gogos for the night. In all likelihood this will be the best STG ever.

RSVP:

http://bit.ly/STG_6

CMJ Day #2: STRIFE!

Yesterday's CMJ festivities started with the press mixer at the Rivington Hotel. They had a 3-hour open bar and finger foods. Needless to say I left drunk and full. I was actually surprised by how few people I bumped into. I mean, the place was packed but very few of the NYC crowd was there. Anyway, it was a nice way to kick off the night.

After that I ran over to Webster Hall for the Orchard party. Surfer Blood and The Drums were playing upstairs but I just wasn't feeling it. Especially knowing that one of my all-time favorite hardcore bands was playing a free show at Mercury Lounge. All I could think about was how much I would hate myself if I didn't get in. So I had a couple of drinks and split.

I got to Mercury Lounge around 10:30 (I think) and had to wait a few minutes to get in but there wasn't a line. The joint was packed and Iron Age was just getting started when I got there. I've heard their albums and thought they were good but holy shit, they're fucking killer live. Next up was Disembodied and well, it's pretty generic hardcore - nothing special.

After Disembodied finished up the place kinda cleared out. I don't know why because Strife was due up next. I was so friggin' excited to see Strife. I think I may have seem them in the 90's but I can't say for sure. Those days are a blur now.

Strife took the stage and upon the first strike of a chord the crowd busted open and the middle of the room cleared out. The familiar circle of a mosh pit took shape, I can't say I've ever seen that at the Merc before. The crowd was a nice mix of hipsters, CMJ music nerds, beardo metal-heads and only a handful of hardcore goons. The pit was the fun kind where you don't have to worry about ending up in the hospital.

Rick, the vocalist, was pretty much on the floor in the pit the entire show. He's still got his trademark shaved head but nowadays he's sporting a monster beard to go with it. He was fucking shit up the whole time down there and passing the mic off to damn near everyone who wanted to get in on the action. It was an old-school hardcore show, the kind that simply don't exist anymore.

I was singing along to all the words that I could remember, which were fewer than I expected. Despite a busted knee I was right up front, standing around the edge of the pit, hoping someone wouldn't roll over my knee (almost happened - from Rick!).

I can't even express the sense of nostalgia that came over me. This was the type of show that made me love music and I felt like a fucking kid again. Sure, it's cliche but it's totally true. I miss these types of shows. Hell, every show used to be like this but that scene is dead now and these shows are gone.

But I digress - Strife fucking ruled! When I say one of the best shows I've been to in years I'm not exaggerating. Go see them tonight in Brooklyn at DBA, it's $10 and worth every penny. DBA is a DIY venue so it'll be pretty nutso.

Long live Strife!

***Sorry about the pic quality, didn't have time to edit.