Ed Schrader’s Music Beat/Piss Ghost/Taxer
Monday, November 9th 2015
Mojo Books & Records, Tampa FL

Originally published at Suburban Apologist

This past Monday at Mojo Books & Records there were three bands playing with as much variety and deliciousness as the store's offerings.  Members of Permanent Makeup and Velma and the Happy Campers brought us an early performance from Taxer, a mad and improvised jazzpunk merry-go-round.   Also new on the scene (and with Permanent Makeup credentials) was Piss Ghost, taurine-ripped and pissed-up and playing old school punk.  Finally at this Savage Beat show was Ed Schrader’s Music Beat.  This light-up-drum and bass powered Baltimore two-piece lavishly entertained all present, bringing sharp shards of humour and vocals where Mark E. Smith gloom meets Yasuko Onuki pitch.  Also fuck New York City and microphone chords.  Have a mojo at this photo from Brian Mahar that captures members of all three acts.

2018 note: I can't find the actual photo this bonus cup was written to accompany, but you can see Brian's awesome photos at his instagram here.

Savage Beat Promotions: https://www.facebook.com/groups/127944510594921/

Awful People/Raging Nathans/Wonk Unit and more

Sunday, October 25th 2015

Xtra Medium Video Productions, Largo FL

Originally published at Suburban Apologist

It’s been 15 years today since I went to my first gig.  It’s also my first official day of unemployment in a long time.  These occasions are to be marked in an unlikely venue in humble Largo, smothered in an international punk atmosphere that I aspire to have in the rest of my life.  Xtra Medium is a venue within a business inside a living room. Just two nights earlier, they showcased the band Carb On Carb from New Zealand, and tonight's event is something of a pre-Pre-Fest for bands that have travelled from Europe to Florida.  If this keeps up the warm-up shows will keep moving south until Hot Water Music are playing spoons in my kitchen.

The lineup has a geographic trajectory too.  Überyou from Zürich have already been on tour for over ten weeks, starting in Cuba and going throughout South America.  They don’t need any tax-free rides bankrolling their ventures.  Their solid punk set comes with a gravelly singing voice and a thin Zach Galifianakis on bass.  “Let’s have some beers later,” says the hardworking vocalist, sounding like he could do with one now.  Or maybe the lack of alcohol license in a video conversion shop should be considered a blessing after some three months on the road.

From Lodi, Italy comes Red Car Burns.  Another burned voice soothes us (it’s ironic, how that works), right in the Stubbs sweet spot but with pretty hard backing music.  Their backup-singer/guitarist moves gingerly from foot-to-foot as they perform, hinting at the delicate souls underneath the hum. Even though Red Car Burns appear to write primarily in English they speak very little in their set, but that’s okay.  I sure as fuck can’t write their review in Italian.

Power-poppers Personal Best have a singer from Wales (Newport), an English bassist, and an English touring drummer who lives in Brooklyn.  They are also fantastic. I love simple songs about buses and work, and if John Peel was still around he’d be having them in for a session.  A flowery purple amp that may well have been there all night comes to my attention and fits perfectly. Singer Katie’s voice stands atop the melodies just right.  Listen to ‘If You Meet Someone In Love’ and try not to love it. I dare you.

When you’ve lived over here for a while, it can be easy to forget just how laughable certain aspects of American culture are.  Londoners Wonk Unit (new album here) remind me, telling us how they drove all the way from Alabama, praying to the baby Jesus as the billboards no doubt instructed them.  The last laugh might be for the theists, though: Alex has lost his voice en route, resulting in an unwanted gravelly delivery. Coincidentally, many of Wonk Unit’s songs are about laying gravel, plastering, and the like.  Alex explains it all in spoken word intros, apologises for his state and gently lambasts the drummer for not doing the “woos” in ‘Nan’. It’s a rubbish shame but still a pleasure to see a band associated with the scenes back home, and that’s saying nothing about guitarist Benny’s Stone Roses hat.

Wonk Unit are on tour with Ohio “No Coasters,” Raging Nathans.  They connected through Wonk Unit’s current label -- Drunken Sailor Records -- which is funny, as The Nathans bear a most positive resemblance to Wonk cohorts Revenge of the Psychotronic Man and the associated TNS Records.  The three-piece play what might accurately be called “lightning fast” punk live (with perhaps Kris Roe on vocals) and run a distro/label (Rad Girlfriend).  I picked out a 7” by a band called Couch, though I’ve yet to confirm whether it’s the group that were a big influence on fellow-Fest performer Andrew W.K.  These friendly Ragers tell us how unfortunate we are to have missed the full Wonk Unit experience, as this is the first night on tour where “they’ve made us look good.”

There’s a nice poetry and holisticness to having the newest, most local act play last after all of this. Awful People are a tight and melodic Pinellas band with former members of Arm The Poor, Feral Babies and Criminal Culture.  They pay it backwards, suggesting support of all the touring acts, as they “don’t have anything.” Nothing except a chugging punk sound and much potential.  

This daring, unique and globe-spanning event was made possible by the accommodating and friendly Savage Beat flyer-drawing company.  

Unchecked Aggression/Life Hereafter/The Attack and more
Saturday, October 3rd 2015
Pegasus Lounge, Tampa FL

 
Originally published at Suburban Apologist

Three gigs in two days. Part three: conclude!

Dunedin’s Wes Gutter is playing his usual gritty, acoustic punk with character. And Gutter is right. Tonight Wes’s shirt features nothing more than an oppressive word beginning with the letter ‘c,’ and I’m not talking about this economic system. Numbers don’t seem to be this man's prime concern anyway. I’ve listened to his bright yellow Three Shitty Demos tape lots of times, and I am convinced it contains four tracks, failing even in its promise of down-to-Earth, no-messing-about simplicity. Still, it was generously free, and not shitty.

Numbering on, the second act is a duo named Mannrs, with sources telling me this is their second show (or similar). Hailing mainly from the indie field, you suspect on hearing them that they simply removed a letter from the debut Passion Pit album, with one guy sounding a bit like Nate Ruess of The Format/fun. A pinky toe dipped into emo comes from the introduction of Get Up Kids-style piano keyboard. For the third time in my three gig-weekend there are technical difficulties; is our disposable society crumbling so? These well-mannered boys make it two-for-two in the accurate moniker game. Punk gigs could certainly do with more politeness (Wes). The previously referenced economic system is rude enough.

Dabbling on the other, pacier side of The Get Up Kids coin is Enview, from Riverview. Amongst a flurry of onstage chatter their bassist refers to himself as Not-So-Silent Bob (so uh, more like the real Kevin Smith?) Yet his name is neither Bob or Kevin. It’s Chris. More innocuous confusion abounds when a cover of a song announced as ‘Sugar’ is not in fact System of a Down, but Fall Out Boy’s ‘Sugar, We’re Goin Down’. Band-based gravity of some kind is involved at least. All that is clear is that Enview are entertaining, and their new single ‘We’ll Burn That Bridge When We Get There’ is pretty good.

The Jukebox Romantics are not romantic in the most obvious sense, nor do they romanticize material in the way that, say, Postmodern Jukebox does. But they do love friendship and good times, displaying it through sincere onstage banter and relentless punk rock. They play like Bouncing Souls or Ten Foot Pole with Stza sometimes coming in on vocals. The fun and dancing and bearded singer Terry also remind me of local Oldsmar elusives Sugar Dynamite Delight. Bassist Bob’s shirt featuring Hank Hill and the word “ASS” maybe should have been a warning of things to come, when to my fake horror I win a booty-shaking contest (twerking not mentioned). I and some others got a just-in-time beer coozy and some other niceties from the touring New Yorkers. Later we’re all encouraged to forget our adult troubles and crouch down -- like we’re punk singers posing for an album's back cover photo -- and at the optimal moment, jump.

The next apropos name comes from The Attack from Orlando. Moving like a well-oiled military machine this is clean, fast hardcore a la 7 Seconds. It’s short, it’s sweet, the group vocals are spot on. The point is made and The Attack move along. What if there’s an attack in America?

It’s always exciting to attempt to describe a band that’s eking out something new from the bloated musical landscape. Quite how it escaped me this long I couldn’t say, but what Life Hereafter do is known as easycore. In my notes I describe it as the sound of “kids brought up on pop-punk and downtuned agro hardcore,” whatever the tarnation that’s supposed to mean. In any case it works for Life Hereafter, with weird choppy aggressive song structures and a great soft/heavy balance. Covers of Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Carlton are sufficiently unrecognisable from their originals. Despite minimal stage talk there’s a surprising presence and non-arrogant confidence from these suspiciously handsome, beardless youths.

It’s now 1am. Unchecked Aggression have set my expectations high with their truly wonderful name, and fitting the motif of the night it’ll work whether they’re funny or intense. Ska is always a good sign for humour, although the Bad Religion lesbian nun shirt on display doesn’t fill me with confidence (a disappointingly legit item from a 2010 tour). When you have approximately 27 dudes performing in a row I suppose that’s what you get. The music and set, though, is thankfully entertaining. It’s been a while since I heard some good ska-punk, and for a minute I’m taken back to Manchester’s Retro Bar (which I’m told looks exactly the same as ever). Unchecked Aggression probably used up their desire to actually incorporate John Goodman into their performances a long time ago, but their own comedy is just as genius: “This song is instrumental. Sing along if you know the words!”

They also had some smart things to say about work. On that note, I’d like to thank the promoters, Let’s Get Fired, for all the good music, as they are following their own philosophy somewhat and taking an extended break following this event. As I write, I am enjoying my first day of unemployment, before heading out to another local gig. JUST… DO IT!!!

Peace in the Park

Saturday, October 3rd 2015

Williams Park, St. Petersburg FL

 

Originally published at Suburban Apologist 

Three gigs in two days.  Part two: continue!

I catch a bus to Williams Park.  By Valentines Day of 2016 that may not be possible.  Learning nothing from the overwhelming rejection of its business-centric and regressive Greenlight Pinellas package last year, Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) have followed it up with a set of alternative reforms to the bus system that will continue to weaken our community.  It includes taking most of the buses away from Williams Park and spreading them throughout downtown.  Zero effort has been made to disguise the fact that one of the goals of this move is to discourage homeless people from visiting the park.  Today, opponents of the plan are coming together.  Besides performers, attendees and organisers, there are tables of support from the Green Party of Pinellas, St. Pete for Peace, the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, and perhaps most fittingly, St. Petersburg’s brand spanking new Food Not Bombs group.

A good thought project for any campaign to engage in is what boardroom types call backcasting.  This means imagining your end goal and working backwards from it, to see what your path to success might involve.  In this regard it makes sense for the first act at Peace in the Park to be named Sonic Aftermath.  They are a hard rock and blues band from Clearwater and they sow the seeds of the day very well.  Their song ‘Radio Sucks’ focuses on the theme of tedious repetition, applicable also to local government crackdowns, or the working poor who take the bus to their corporate jobs only to hear endless loops of crap.

Next, Chuck Terzian (also known as Citizen Chuck) does a set of acoustic numbers and spoken word poetry.  Terzian quotes Dr. Cornel West -- ”Justice is what love looks like in public” -- in explaining his track ‘Justice Dust.’  As if to demonstrate a wide swath of influences, the spoken word piece has a Jedi structure, which appears to be a recurring theme with this citizen.

Cody Kingsley is even more laid-back, sitting down to mellow-entertain us, kindly being a last minute fill-in for Nicaraguan-born local hip hopper Pedro el Poeta Jarquin.  Fluctuating with musicians throughout today are speakers and poets connecting the dots.  These include self-proclaimed “revolutionary poet” Cali Poetik and Sarah Lain.  As diverse as these performers works are their origins (none come from St. Pete).  This mimics the diversity of Pinellas, that we should be celebrating with a modern, intelligent public transport system.

Joe McCutchen comments on Florida’s magnetism in his song ‘Southern Style.’  McCutchen is apparently the person responsible for local “thorn in the side” of the city, Reverend Bruce Wright, one of today's organisers.  That’s quite a notable bullet point on your resume.  He plays more pleasant acoustic guitar.  The continued family friendly tranquility is keeping away a weather blowout, which has been threatening all afternoon.

There comes a point though when you need to amp it up no matter how family friendly you’ve been, and local Krown Deon gets people moving.  Mainstay of every righteous musical event in the Bay Area as of late, as well as the Revolutionary Road Radio Show, his set even includes some of the programme’s classic production.  There’s further challenges through some sort of malfunction in the sound system, and a flex visit from friends of the homeless (and fans of smart black hip hop), the boys in blue.  Energy, positive and negative, goes up and down in the park.  Despite it all Deon’s ‘Fight For $15,’ ‘Everyday We’re Struggling’ and other tracks manage to inspire and entertain.

Following hot on his heels with heel-based problems, Trenchfoot Shindig sport a name that certainly promotes having fun in the face of adversity.  With a trenchy soup of reggae, ska and rock, the Largo band manage not to upset the serenity weather gods, even with the thrilling riffing encore that is the highlight of their set.  Unfortunately at this point I had to go, but other performers to come later were Refuge Beat Poets, Dream Window and Fall On Purpose.  

 

I’ve been sitting and walking around here for hours.  There’s no sense of the “bus enclosure” that officials claim exists, nor such a sense from the surrounding buildings for that matter.  In fact, it’s as a community green space should be: a sense of openness in an otherwise urban environment, where all are welcome.  A social space easily reached from anywhere and separate from the commerce and consumption that most of the bus line serves.  What PSTA is proposing with this hub removal is more marginalisation of the downtrodden and atomisation for everybody -- all to wring a few extra dollars out for businesses.  If PSTA wants us to believe that its transport reforms are in good faith and for the best of all, it will stop making its decisions at the behest of powerful interests in this county.

UFO Sex Scene/i_like_dog_face
Friday, October 2nd 2015
Frolic Exchange, Tampa FL

Originally published at Suburban Apologist

Three gigs in two days. Part one: go!

The music marathon begins at the Whirlynn-based art house, where I get a sneak preview of the astronaut and alien scientist characters who will later welcome us into October. Performance and make-believe is not the domain of corporate entities nor exclusive to the selling season, innit!

When we get to Frolic Exchange in Tampa there’s more of that sentiment. A series of tiny enclaves are to host, a shoebox-shaped vintage shop and two adjoined courtyards. The main one with the performances features windowboxes and tabletops made out of pallets and many cacti on spring; there’s rocks on the ground. It’s like being inside a mini zen garden on some CEO’s desk, that they use to centre themselves when faced with a pending ideological crisis. Sarah Valdez AKA i_like_dog_face can be spotted rolling on these rocks. I see little, unfortunately, of her set, but to further judge by her recordings this experimental fare is ethereal both vocally and musically. ‘Bubble gum drop dinkers’ and ‘Hearing The Void’ have a dark old dubsteppy production. Attending is a dog with a likeable face. 

It’s possible that decades from now, operations like Frolic Exchange will be displaying quasi-kitsch paraphernalia from UFO Sex Scene the way they currently do Playboys, signalling an enlightened trajectory. The best foreign-being themed act since Foo Fighters or Alien Ant Farm want to believe in that great future (space travel and all), pushing the envelope in all directions visually and audibly. One of their warmup notes sounds like the opening to the Fatboy Slim remix of ‘Body Movin,’ while Valentina Garcia body morphs a green balloon dog into existence. Roundup-defiant bees fly around the mothership CFL bulb in anticipation. Sadly, when you stretch yourself you are sometimes frustrated by current limitations, with equipment struggles one after the other not resulting in the band's finest hour. The anthemic ‘Don’t You Try To Play Me’ might as well have referred to UFO Sex Scene’s instruments. But that’s the risk there is in science, without which your life would be extremely fucking dull. The potential is what is exciting. To read the data on a more successful study, here’s the band in August. You should try to play it.

Video courtesy of footage lord Jim Grinaker.

Thieves Are Watching/Open Box Policy/Say It Ain't So/Pinehurst
Friday, July 17th 2015
The Market on 7th, Ybor, FL

Originally published at Suburban Apologist

The Market On 7th is a place where you can get tasty pizza, alcohol and live music all at the same time. That's not the only way it's muddled. On the Ybor brick walls there's an ad for old furniture, surfboards, butterflies. highly original naked women in the name of art, and Tiki poles. In the back parking lot you'll find chickens in the trees like some ethological CBS programme. Even the TV on this night has lost it's centre: America vs Man United? What? (Turns out it's not "America" but Club América, a hugely successful Mexican soccer team.)

Like the venue, first act Pinehurst are something of a mutt, but I'm not necessarily being critical of them for it. In fact, they were my most anticipated and favourite band of the evening. They quickly reassure anyone worried about the acoustics of a place filled with circles of dough. Flitting between third wave (what some might call whiny) emo/screamo vocals and a melodic hardcore sound overall. There's soft instrumental parts that come and go seamlessly too, and all this takes place within the songs rather than between them. Although Pinehurst may remind you of the likes of Small Brown Bike they pull off the difficult task of original songwriting. Pressured by the need to get one of their members to work early the next morning, they play just 20 practically nonstop minutes. Pining for more is not just a bad pun at this point. 

Named after a Blink lyric, Say It Ain't So also mix a few interesting influences, throwing metallic minded guitar solos in with the pop-punk. But that isn't enough to sedate their time jumping desires. SIAS cover a track from almost every decade of modern music: The Beatles, The Ramones, The Romantics, Green Day and current radio friendlies Walk The Moon. Even old posi hardcore makes an appearance, with the line "it starts tonight" trailing off a song, 7 Seconds style. Early in the set singer Jack Eppink's voice seems to be breaking. I wouldn't make note of this, seeing as it's normally raised in a pejorative manner, implying some sort of BS punk seniority, but it works very well for them. He uses his voice to give a shout out to Let's Get Fired Promotions, incorporating them into one of the bands' tracks, and to increasingly display a circus ringmaster showmanship.  There's lots of without further ado's and an attempt to carve out a ring for himself on the floor while doing a spinning chicken walk. 

On the subject of the promoter, this debut gig of theirs had a couple of bands drop out. Luckily Let's Get Fired kept it cohesive with an open slot policy making room for Open Box Policy, yet another Tampa Bay act. The most striking aspect of watching this 3-piece as opposed to listening to their recordings is just how much vocalist Vinny Suffredini sounds like Billy Joe Armstrong, going so far as to mimic his silly face warp expressions. 'When I Come Around' mega confirms that this isn't a coincidence (dedicated to Say It Ain't So). The Green Day/Blink-182 sandwich filling of the show is completed with a rendition of 'Dammit' sung by a guest singer, with neither the guest or the inclusion of a verse from TLC's 'No Scrubs' being explained whatsoever. Their open box policy might account for that particular innovation, but the band is hardly thinking outside the box, with stage talk rarely rising above the tired level of evil girls and grandmas giving blowjobs. Their new bassist is covered in patches for Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot and Lamb of God though, so maybe as just a fun side project we can allow for some laziness. 

I wonder if Thieves Are Watching are on the NSA's radar? Aside from the fact that damn well everyone is on the NSA's radar, the irony of this privacy-stealing organisation listening to this band might make their fancy vacuum cleaner computers short circuit. Using their Batman-undermining technology they'd have a good view right now, judging by all the people on their phones. If being nice in a world of impersonal economic relations is dangerous to the authorities, Thieves Are Watching fit the bill. This self-deprecating band ("this song needed a pointless breakdown, so we put one in") came all the way from Ft. Lauderdale at rather short notice, and the sadly diminishing crowd does not do them justice. Swinging his carrot inspired microphone scarily close to my head, singer Ryan Camuto, like Shawn Renfroe of Pinehurst, occasionally goes a little high for some tastes, but it's backed up by enough slabs of heavy that it works. Between 5 dudes there is not a single band t-shirt. They show that there's a way to not take yourself too seriously without acting clumsily adolescent. It's pop-punk, it's hardcore, it's intriguing. Give Thieves Are Watching a listen -- even if you can't easily watch them.

Introducing: Let's Get Fired Promotions 

St. Petersburg pop punk specialists 

Upcoming Events, July - October

Pop punk music has a subtle, subversive nature which can teach us something important about progressive politics. It's less in your face than many other sub-genres but reminds you that fun is critical -- nay, essential.  Quit your job!  Do an immature Tyler Durden style act of rebellion in the bathrooms!  Or at least improve your work-life balance, you yuppie.  St. Pete's new promotions team Let's Get Fired (LGF) is here to assist you.

Stealing is a good way to start your liberation mission, so the first headlining band of LGF’s life are the shoplifters’ advocates, Thieves Are Watching. Yeah, they can watch back!  This band play a heavy-tinged tribute to some of the more respectable music of emo’s early third wave.  They will be supported by Open Box Policy of New Port Richey, an appropriately labeled revival band who incorporate chugging guitars, emo and alt-rock into songs with titles reminiscent of pop punk legends ('Boredom,' 'Hello Suburbia').  Tampa's Pinehurst will come with the strained heaviness and emotional subject matter of Small Brown Bike and the vocal variations of Smoke or Fire, while Say It Ain't So invite you to enjoy a universe of high-pitched nostalgia inspired by Tom DeLonge.  This show is Friday, July 17th at 8pm, at The Market On 7th in Ybor.

The latter band -- who are implanting Weezer in my head repeatedly despite not sounding like them -- will also be playing at LGF's second gig on July 31st at The Neptune Lounge (Tarpon Springs).  Weekend-loving Atari types Saved By Friday will be there, as will the sparkly, summery, golden age emo punk of Starlight Envy from St. Petersburg.  Anthemic-but-warbly-vocalled Gainseville band Former Planets provide LGF with their second underdog-rooting headliner in a row. (Pluto, y'see -- last hired, first fired.)  They'll have a new, self-titled album for sale.  Last-minute addition The Casey Little Band will provide various variety due to their interesting combination of ska and folk.

Both of these gigs are $7 and all ages.  Let's Get Fired also has shows in the punky crock-pot for August 30th, September 1st, September 11th, September 19th and October 3rd.  So whenever it is that you happen to find yourself getting the corporate elbow, you can spend one of those final minimum wage hours on a good night out.  

These events not brought to you by Donald Fucking Trump.

Let's Get Fired on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letsgetfiredpromotions
Let's Get Fired Tickets: http://letsgetfiredpromotions.ticketleap.com/

Event 1: https://www.facebook.com/events/967464486611252/

Event 2: https://www.facebook.com/events/780940655359560/ 

 

Thieves Are Watching: https://thievesarewatching.bandcamp.com/
Open Box Policy: https://openboxpolicy2.bandcamp.com

Pinehurst: https://pinehurstfl.bandcamp.com/
Say It Ain't So: https://soundcloud.com/jack-eppink/sets/pop-punk-pizza-and-pussh-doors
Saved By Friday: https://savedbyfriday.bandcamp.com/
Starlight Envy: https://starlightenvy.bandcamp.com/
Former Planets: https://formerplanets.bandcamp.com/
The Casey Little Band: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheCaseyLittle

 

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BONUS CUP 

PS. His headline band dropped out of the first show, so here's the cut bonus footage if you're interested.

"And just as the deaths of our youth jobs are often the end of one phase of life, and the start of something better, coming first for LGF is Finish Last. On tour from Rochester and the impetus behind the promotions company, Finish Last play modern, catchy pop punk with a great amount of skate and punk rock underlying it all. They're promoting their EP Never Settle on this, their first tour venturing south." https://finishlast.bandcamp.com