WTF is up Folks?
We played three shows in the past month and I'm now going to give a quick rundown of them in chronological order and because they all will all appear in the context of a single post, run against the reverse-chronological order theme already set forth by the city, county, and state of this blog. I'll attempt to give accurate credito where credito is due.
June 12 - Arts Center - Bayonne, NJ
Never having heard of this venue before, we were amazed at the size of the space. We looked towards the giant stage and saw Norm's ominous traffic cones staring back at us. How did they find us again???!
I don't recall anything particularly unusual about our set--we tore through it like a GIANT SLOAR!
Kirk and Ryan Killing All Humans
photo: Emily Lovesy
Rollie Batman Soprano
photo: Emily Lovesy
Up next was The Midnight Ghost Train from Buffalo, New York. These dudes opened with a bad-ass foot-stomping hymn, then went on to play a solid set of a Clutch/Black Sabbath/Kyuss-type rock. Bassist Odee is originally from Bayonne, so this was an important stop on their cross-country tour.
The Midnight Ghost Train. Next stop, Ohio.
photo: Rachel Meyers
Torrential Downpour then took the stage and broke it over their knee. A third of the way through the set they were told by Huey Lewis that they were "just too darn loud." Ignoring Huey and his News, they continued to turn up until the plug was finally pulled.
Torrential Downpour moments before getting SCHIAVO'D
photo: Me, baby. Me.
The lame part was that as we all packed up our equipment out back, we could still hear the music from the cover band playing downstairs continue to blast out of the windows into the Friday night sky. Your loss, Bayonne.
June 23 - The Delancey - NYC
How would NYC handle The Plow-rential DownTour? Superbly, it turned out. Division of Planes, another awesome Jersey City band, rounded out the slot this time. Zac Clark, Rocker Tycoon was in attendance and he got footage of "Bottleneck" and us fucking up the start of "Modus Operandi" (which you can find embedded within his review of the evening, or on the PMF Video Player, player).
Chia Ryan
photo: Joseph DeBenedictis
There's certainly something to be said about Jersey City fans showing up for Jersey City bands even when it's not in Jersey City-- Jersey City Jersey City Jersey City, Jersey City Jersey City "Jersey City Jersey City Jersey City," Jersey City Jersey City! All right, just back and read Zac's blog. He said it better.
July 8 - Groove on Grove - Jersey City, NJ
Groove on Grove is Downtown Jersey City's free outdoor weekly summer concert series. Every Wednesday two local bands command the Grove St. PATH station's attention from 6-8 PM. Dancing Tony and Downtown Jersey City’s Historic Downtown Special Improvement District (HDSID) get it organiz-ized marvelously.
This show was a shitload of fun and it was exciting to be playing outside in an area with lots of human traffic. Even though our sound and humor is clearly not loved by all (we are honored to have gotten Groove on Grove their first official noise complaint), we still are proud to be a part of the Jersey City local music scene and want to do anything we can to keep it diverse and interesting.
Speaking of the local music scene, we decided to pay homage to our friends in WJ & The Sweet Sacrifice, by covering their tune "Evil of Idle Hands." We started out pretty faithfully, but then quickly interjected Faith No More, Tim & Eric, Conan O'Brien, Temple of the Dog, and "Birthday Sex" to keep it real, PMF-style. We heard there's video of this out there somewhere and we can't wait to see it. Mr. Billy "WJ" Alpha is now threatening to turn "Serpentor's Love" into a country song. Bring it on you Sweet Sacs!
"Shop at Duane Reade"
photo: Irene Sanchez
While we didn't have time to play our new one, "Especially Heinous," we did bust out our Fugazi cover "Facet Squared" for the first time in quite a while. All in all, the songs got a positive crowd response. We even saw a random long-haired dude headbanging for most of the set. That was nothing compared to the slamddancing 4-year olds during No Pasaran's set, but we'll take it.
IN THE BUTT!
