It's that time of the spring season when colleges are having their end of semester festivals and concerts. We joined NYU for the 25th annual Strawberry Festival, a celebration of the sweet, red fruity goodness. The fest included games, activities, strawberry shortcake, and of course music. The line-up included a nice nix of NY (Little Lungs, Fiasco), NJ (Screaming Females), PA (Hop Along), and even TN (JEFF the Brotherhood) bands. The fest was mostly punk and rock 'n roll. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor festival in the early afternoon. It was loads of fun.
JEFF the brotherhood will headline the Mercury Lounge on Dec. 7. Tickets are on-sale Tues. Nov. 17 at noon. This comes after the band's show with Ted Leo recently sold out. Mr. Leo has been raving about this Nashville 2-piece. He was at their CMJ show at Piano's last month to. The band played 8 shows during CMJ in NYC.
The band returns to the area tonight at Maxwell's with Shonen Knife and Girls at Dawn. The show's at 9:30pm and $14. Gets tickets here. They'll be in Brooklyn with the all girl Japanese pop punk band and Golden Triangle on Tuesday. Tickets are $12 here.
In December they do another small area tour surrounding the Ted Leo show with two dates in New Jersey and the above mentioned NYC headlining show. The band's rock 'n roll jam album Heavy Days was recently released on Infinity Cat Records. Check out the video for "U Got the Look."
Tour dates and video.
JEFF the brotherhood Tour Dates: w/ Shonene Knife 11/14 @ Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ 11/15 @ Great Scotts, Allson, MA 11/16 @ Johnny Brendas, Philly, PA 11/17 @ Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY 11/18 @ Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY
11/19 @ Sneak Dee's, Toronto, Ontario 11/20 @ Village Green Records, Muncie, IN 11/21 Digital Leather, Carbondale, IL
w/ Heavy Cream 11/27 @ Y.E.A.H, Murfreesboro, TN 11/28 @ Springwater, Nashville, TN 11/30 @ The Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN
w/ various acts 12/4 @ Meat Town USA, New Brunswick, NJ 12/5 @ Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 12/6 @ Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY 12/7 @ Mercury Loungue, New York, NY
Red Collar are one of the most intense live bands I've see. The way this 4-piece North Carolina band get into the music and interact on stage is amazing. So energetic, so fun to watch, and so passionate. This how a band should perform. Despite having a drummer with an injured hand, they still played and they still managed to sound great. This band knows how to rock with their catchy songs and heartfelt lyrics. Mike Jackson, Beth Kutchma, Jason Kutchma, and Jonathan Truesdale, bravo. Thanks for a kickass show.
Look Mexico
Bridge and Tunnel The band played as part of the Syndicate/ Punknews.Org showcase. I also caught Look Mexico and Bridge & Tunnel who sounded great. I finally bought Bridge and Tunnel's bicycle t-shirt (see below) and got a sticker to. It was great conversing with Beth of Red Collar and Rachel and Tia of Bridge & Tunnel. The sound was excellent at The Studio. One of the coolest things was when Matt of Look Mexico got off stage during the set and sat on the floor, playing guitar and then slowly more people sat around him, including Rachel of Bridge & Tunnel and one his players. It was really great seeing an awesome set of bands!
Next, I headed to the Beyond Race Magazine showcase to see Bodega Girls and JEFF the brotherhood. Bodega Girls killed it again. This band know how to get people dancing. "Combat Zone" was awesome. They definitely put on a show. JEFF the brotherhood sounded great to with their garage rock sound. After, I headed to Music Hall of Williamsburg to see Mumford and Sons, an indie folk band from London with some great songs. I easily got into "The Cave." It's such a hopeful song: And I'll find strength in pain/ And I will change my ways/ I'll know my name as it's called again. It was great hearing banjo in their songs and boppin' about. After their set I ran to Glasslands Gallery for the Death+Taxes party that Real Estate was also on. The Vancouver garage rock duo, Japandroids would be performing. They played a great mix of songs off Post-Nothing including "Heart Sweats," "Crazy/Forever," and "Young Hearts Spark Fire." It was a fun night. I also grabbed of Dave's drum sticks that landed close to the stage. See below for more pics with Red Collar, Look Mexico, Bridge & Tunnel, JEFF the brotherhood, Bodega Girls, Mumford & Sons, and Japandroids.
The following are photos from the April 18, 2009 Meat Town USA show for Screaming Females cd release show. I wasn't able to get photos of Screaming Females because I was in the crowd at that point, but I got the rest of the bands. Itwas a rockin' night that kicked off with some hardcore, then made its way to some awesome rock n' roll in the name of Bad Blood, Stupid Party, Jeff: the Brotherhood, and Screaming Females.
