Free Show: 1/26 Miniboone, Ava Luna, Miracles of Modern Science in Brooklyn

Check out a clip of MiniBoone performing "The Other Summer," "Fight Song" and "Rosalina Must Dance Alone" at Serious Business Studios in New York City. In two weeks, the band plays a FREE show at Brooklyn Bowl!

January 26th @ Brooklyn Bowl, Williamsburg, BK
--> MiniBoone
--> Ava Luna
--> Miracles of Modern Science
FREE, 21+, doors at 6PM, show at 8PM

FB event at http://facebook.com/event.php?eid=145695765486080

Interview with Miniboone

DOWNLOAD: Miniboone- The Other Summer

Miniboone is a breathe of fresh air, musically speaking. 3 of the 5 members play both keyboard and guitar, plus sing. Their music is bursting  rock/ indie-pop, recommended for fans of Pavement, Q and Not U, Jukebox the Ghost, and Bruce Springsteen. Their songs are frantic, one minute exploding with energy, the next calming down, yet not awkwardly. The harmonies are insanely good.

They just released a new free single, which you can grab above, and are gearing up for a 7'' release on Drug Front Records. The 5-piece Brooklyn band will perform six showcases at this year's CMJ Music Marathon. The band's live show is energetic and it's great to watch the members play. We spoke with guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist James Keary about the band's 6-minute song, playing 3 shows in one night, good sandwiches spots, and accidentally playing with an unplugged guitar.

Miniboone released a new single this week called "The Other Summer." It's 6 minute long. It seems like the band's longest song. Tell me about it.

James Keary: That's probably right. It's very long. It's definitely one of our most ambitious songs to date, which I think is fun because there's just a lot to it. When we were working on it originally, it started as a song that Craig and Doug worked on together and it was still pretty long--about 4 minutes. Then we turned it  into this really amazingly epic pop tune throughout practice. It evolved into this powerhouse of a song and we all just really liked. We've been playing it for 4 or 5 months so we're really psyched to get it out there.

It's hard to wrap my head around it. The harmonies are insane. Where is this song going to be on? A new release?

JK: Right now we have that song and another song that we're going to release soon as a 7-inch single. They're recorded already. Either November or December it'll come out. After that we're looking to release possibly another single but really we have our sights set on a full-length.

What three words would you use to describe Miniboone?

JK: Fun. Energetic. (long pause) Insane, no Justin Timberlake.

Three-day Rock 'n Roll Birthday Blowout @ Trash Bar in Brooklyn

Producer, Drug Front Records owner, and all around cool guy Dean Rispler is hosting a 3-Day Rock-n-Roll Birthday Blowout! Celebrating 40 years of despair, disappointment and the utterly ridiculous.

October 14th - 16th
Trash Bar
256 Grand St. btw Havemeyer and Roebling
in beautifully gentrified Williamsburg
$10 per night. Doors open at 8pm with free PBR and well drinks 8pm-9pm with admission. 21+.

Thursday, October 14th
dälek w/DJ Motiv (first NYC show in over a year!)
Born Loose (feat. Larry fr. The Candy Snatchers)
The Brought Low
The Naked Heroes
MiniBoone
The Walk Ons
The Staggs
Owen McCarthy fr. Submarine Bells (solo set)

Friday, October 15th
The Candy Snatchers (only NYC area reunion show!)
Two Man Advantage
Big Bobby & The Nightcaps
Beer & Cable
The Heart Punchers
Concrete Cross
Foster Care
Runny

Saturday, October 16th
Dash Rip Rock (26th Anniversary Show!)
The Bamboo Kids
Heap
Mighty Fine
The Mess Around
Edison Rocket Train

Live Review: MiniBoone / Ava Luna / Ball of Flame Shoot Fire @ Cake Shop 4-6-10

MiniBoone @ Cake Shop

Cake Shop hosted a night featuring three of the L Magazine's Top 8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear. The night started off with the peculiarly interesting Ball of Flames Shoot Fire. It wasn't just their name that was so, but the music, too. They sounded like an experimental indie rock bands employing accordion, electronic samples, saxophone, and keys. The music had a slow sounding vibe but picked up at times. They reminded me of Sunset Rubdown, Man Man, and LIARS. The performance lacked a liveliness that I'm used to seeing with these type of bands. Someone told me they had a Pink Floyd vibe.

Video: MiniBoone "Cool Kids Cut Out of the Heart Itself"

 

MiniBoone have posted their first music video for the rockin'  "Cool Kids Cut Out of the Heart Itself" from their EP Big Changes, released in January 2010. The song was directed by MiniBoone and Jesse Garrison. See the video and also check out our review of the EP here. 

The band is featured in L Magazine's "8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear," along with Ava Luna, Twin Sister, Asa Ransom, and others. Check out the post here. The band performs with Ava Luna at the Cake Shop on April 6. It's sure to be a smashin' time.

Live Review: MiniBoone, The Bamboo Kids, Naked Heroes + others @ Trash Bar 2-19-10

 

Rock 'n roll was in full force at Trash Bar on Friday night. Six bands performed from 8:15pm-1:15am. For $7 fans were treated to music, plus a one hour open bar. MiniBoone, The Bamboo Kids, and The Naked Heroes were on the stacked bill along with Sorceress, The Rats, and The Ghost Tongue. Whoever said good rock 'n roll isn't cheap, hasn't been to one of these shows. I was quite impressed with the sound quality at this place. The space was small, but comfortable and had couches and areas to sit at. The sense of community surrounding the place was great, too. Bands were watching other bands, people seemed to be interacting with one another, and overall there was a very warm vibe in the room. This made for a great night to watch bands.

The thing with rock n roll is it has to be fun. The rowdy nature of the music warrants a great live performance. It's a bummer to see a band simply stand on stage and just playing their instruments. Bands need to put on a good show to make me want to them again. MiniBoone had that sort of impromptu nature a band should have live. The guitarist switched from guitar to keys to drums and also sang and that's only one instance with one musician. The keyboardist also switched to drums and the other guitarist switched to keys. It was fun to watch. You could tell the musicians were really into playing. The three-part harmonies were great. It was great hearing "Summer Jam," "Rosaline Must Dance Alone," and "Funny Money" live. They also threw in a nicely done cover of James Brown "Living in America." Bravo to these guys for knowing how to put on a show.

CD Review: MiniBoone brings jammy indie-rock on Big Changes

MiniBoone, Big Changes
Brooklyn, NY
Drug Front Records

For fans of: Pavement, Wolf Parade, Q and Not U, and Jukebox the Ghost

Band's should always put their best song first. MiniBoone gets it right with "Summer Jam" from their upcoming 6-song EP called Big Changes. "Tell me why I feel the way I do" goes the song. It continues, "I get chills..." Well, I did. The songs that followed, though, could easily be their best to. But to call something best, is to keep it exclusive. So for this 5-piece it's more, every song rocks. While MiniBoone isn't doing anything inventive, they do add to an ever-growing indie-rock sound that's becoming all the rage in Brooklyn. What's interesting is that three of the members play both guitar and keys, as well as sing. I wonder if they switch off on instruments during their live set.

MiniBoone's songs are jammy, fun, and make you shake you head, clap your hands, and whatever other movements you enjoy doing when you dance. The opening song “Summer Jam,” is a feel good one for all occasions. Craig sings with such passion, “and all this stuff is love,” repeating the line more times than I can count. The line ends the song, then goes nicely into “Cool Kids Cut Out of the Heart Itself.” There's also some auxiliary percussion and what sounds like a xylophone that can be heard throughout the E.P. "Rosaline Must Dance Alone" is about a 22-year old finding love. The song is really sweet and lovely. Finally it's “Funny Money” which finds Craig nearly screaming “don't look down” with a conviction in his voice, while another vocalist sings behind him all while a pair of sick, sounding guitars play. I love that you can hear all the instruments on this release and that no one instrument is more overbearing than another. Listen to some jams for yourself here.

MiniBoone is Craig Barnes, James Keary, and Doug Schrashun
on guitar, keyboard, and vocals; Sam Rich on bass and Taylor Gabriels on drums.

Big Changes will be released on Jan. 26 through Drug Front Records for $6. The band's record release show is Feb. 3 at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

Big Changes
Tracklisting:
01. Summer Jam
02. Cool Kids Cut Out of the Heart Itself
03. Devil in Your Eyes
04. Rosalina Must Dance Alone
05. I Need
06. Funny Money

Press Photo Credit: Marielle Solan
Album Art Credit: Greatmiddlewest