Converse Rubber Tracks Live at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Apparently as a local music fan in the Williamsburg area I am in such a coveted demographic that companies keep giving me things for free. Consider for example shoe manufacturers. The House of Vans in Greenpoint has been throwing free concerts for a few years apparently as a marketing thing. Now it seems that Converse feels the need to grab some hipster mindshare. They have started their own concert series at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Personally I am looking forward to the old-school rap concert series sponsored by Adidas.

The best part is that at 37 years of age I am far too old to pay attention to their advertising so their marketing dollars are wasted on me. Wasted I say! Having said that this was a 16+ show (yes, sixteen and older) because these corporate types know very well who marketing works on.

You would think that four good bands at one of the better-sounding venues in the area would be a crowd-pleaser and this show certainly did not disappoint. I was particularly glad that Vivian Girls sounded so good despite having been on a bit of a hiatus (I don't think they've played a gig together since last Summer). I'm not sure how many shoes it sold, but hey, thank you Converse! Please continue to give me free stuff!

The bands played (and the photos above appear) in this order: Heliotropes, Eternal Summers, Widowspeak, Vivian Girls.

Posted: 2/16/2013 at 8:20pm     Tags: Converse Rubber Tracks Live  Eternal Summers  Heliotropes  Music Hall of Williamsburg  Vivian Girls  Widowspeak 

Boxtopus at Manitoba's

It looks like Manitoba's is going to have bands play in the back. This particular show was lit by track lighting but they had some spotlights on the ceiling almost ready to go. Just move some tables out of the way to make a stage and voilà, instant rock!

The honor of being the first act at Manitoba's in a while goes to Boxtopus. They are the comedic punk duo of singer/acoustic guitarist "Don Vongiovi" and electric guitarist/nose floutist "Punchy George". Their music is catchy enough but I'm pretty sure that they are more about the comedy. The core of their humor is the hyper-masculine persona of "Don" (aka Lynne Von of Trick Babys and The Vondelles). "He" sings about how eating meat is good, eating paint chips is good (they give you "retard strength" and being strong is good) and then punches Punchy George a couple of times. Manliness, fuck yeah!

Then there are the outfits. I will let the pictures speak for themselves on that subject. Let's just say that I had some good laughs and a lot of fun catching these guys perform. Sorry, these "guys" perform.

Posted: 2/12/2013 at 7:06pm     Tags: Boxtopus  Manitoba's 

Titus Andronicus at Brooklyn Bowl

Titus Andronicus is not exactly a traditional punk band. They do quite a few songs about relationships (not exactly a major punk topic) and also a few about real ships, mostly on their Civil War themed album called "The Monitor". Their mosh pit, however, is exactly like a traditional punk mosh pit. Either a bunch of exactly 21-year-old kids tried to murder me or there were dozens of people there who really didn't understand how to bowl. Apparently I look way to much like a bowling pin (this is true, sadly).

For a better writeup of the show may I recommend Speak Into My Good Eye. They have a great write-up of the show and ran a few of my pictures.

Posted: 2/9/2013 at 5:35pm     Tags: Brooklyn Bowl  Titus Andronicus 

The Everymen at Brooklyn Bowl

Most of the audience at this show seemed to be punk kids who were waiting restlessly for the headliners, a well known local punk band. The Everymen aren't a punk band. Uh oh, this could end badly...

The Everymen are a rock band who range from heavy-ish, Smithereens-like rock to bluesy stuff more reminiscent of Morphine, though most of their songs are upbeat, anthemic rock-n-roll. Oh, and they are from New Jersey. They really want you to know that they're from New Jersey. They covered a Springsteen song for chrissakes! An obscure song at that. Springsteen with the E Street Band is also obviously among their influences.

That punk crowd was a bit tepid at first but warmed up to them over the course of the set. These guys (and gal) are so enthusiastic it's hard not to! And I have to say, they may have the single wildest keyboardist I've ever seen in a band. How did this guy manange to be all over the stage while playing keyboards? Anyway, they finished off the set with some of their louder rock-n-roll numbers, the big finale. By then they were getting plenty of applause.

Posted: 2/9/2013 at 12:08pm     Tags: Brooklyn Bowl  The Everymen 

White Hills at Bowery Ballroom

If you look at the pictures of this band and immediately think "Metal" then well... actually you're not ridiculously far off. White Hills may be part of the world of psych rock but they are the heaviest band there. It's like they're psych rockers from a planet which is more massive so all the music there is Super-heavy. Then after escaping from the Negative Zone they came to the Bowery Ballroom to blow us all away.

That is not to suggest that these guys are actual aliens or some kind of... threat to humanity (aside from its hearing). To the contrary, drummer Nick Name is also in The Black Hollies and I have it on a reliable source that the members of that band are all "perfectly normal humanoids". Now isn't that comforting?

So let's see, While Hills's music is played loud and hard and is filled with distorted power chords and crushing bass lines. On stage they wear leather and eyeliner and fling their long hair around. How is this not metal? The answer is that sometimes they go in a spacier direction. Something like noodling or chanting over a guitar loop. It's all pretty intense, but occasionally they dial it down from stunningly intense to something more like hypnotically intense.

These guys are pretty awesome and I do recommend checking them out. Just be sure to bring good earplugs to weaken their powerful volume (earplugs are like kryptonite to loud noise).

Posted: 2/8/2013 at 11:39pm     Tags: Bowery Ballroom  White Hills