10 Rad Bands We Met on Tour!
I play in this scrappy psych/punk /garage band Devil Eyes with my wife and one of my best friends. It’s fun as hell and we’ve been touring quite a bit over the last year. We play lofts, basements, galleries even the occasional bar! Along the way we meet some fantastic bands. This time out pretty much ALL the bands we shared the mic with were stellar, but I have to limit my list to 10.. I would put them all on here if I had the space! Enjoy, and try to get out to check out what’s happening in the underground! There’s great stuff happening in the basement down the street from you and you might not even know about it.. so here’s to all the great DIY venues and the exciting bands that tour through them. Long live rock n roll!
The Skullz (Toms River, New Jersey)
On our one day off, we decided to go to the Jersey Shore. Having never seen the actual tv show (looks terrible!), we accidentally ended up at The Beachcomber bar in Seaside Heights. As we were eating our softshell crabwiches, we saw all these little kids loading in gear. A mini rock show by minis! We came back later to check out “Jam Camp” a little festival put on by and for the local schoolkids who learn how to rock and put on the yearly show for their families and locals. All the bands were great, but one really stood out: The Skullz . Brothers Chris and Pete (9 and 13 years old respectively) blew the whole bar away with their covers of the Ramones and the Kinks . Chris, the main singer and guitar player has some chops! Finger tapping solos on a guitar bigger than him and a gnarly rock voice like a mini Lemmy . They were actually good and transcended their inherent cuteness with real stage skill and tight playing!
What Cheer? Brigade (Providence, RI)
What Cheer? Brigade is a 19 piece brass band that refers to themselves as “Luddite Hardcore”, as it’s frenetic, loud music that needs no amplification. Blending Balkan, bollywood, NOLA second line, samba and the kitchen sink, they are crazy enough. They do covers of Iron Maiden and Slayer ‘s “Raining Blood”.. what else do you need? You haven’t seen anything till you’ve seen a 19 piece band do Slayer! We played with them at a fundraiser in Providence and as usual the crowd was fantastic (PVD music fans are the best I’ve ever seen!), and we saw the WC?B whip the already unruly capacity crowd at the Homestead into a complete frenzy. They are peak blissful madness and everyone should feel the Cheer if you have the chance!
Bad Cop (Nashville, TN)
I’ve already extolled the virtues of this awesome band from Nashville, but having seen them play live so much on the road I have to put them in here as one of the best live rock bands out there today. There are so many adjectives one could reach for, I’m going to choose “intense” right now.. there is seething urgency and a ring of danger mixed with unbridled joy in everything they do. In a music world filled with empty egos, true believers are rare. Bad Cop puts truth and passion in front of every expertly played/sung lick.. plus the songs are catchy as shit. Watch them explode!
The Back C.C.‘s (Brooklyn, NY)
Oh man, what can I say? I haven’t danced like a fool in such a long time, but our show in Brooklyn with The Back C.C.‘s set my ass on fire. Firmly plonked in the tradition of garage punk bands worshipping at the Sonics feet, the Back CC’s ramp it up a notch and have 1000x the energy of most fashioncore garage bands.
Loup Garou (Lowell, MASS.)
Really good noise is hard to do. There has to be equal parts joy, adventure and compositional ability to craft something that’s not just palatable live, but pleasurable. Lowell’s Loup Garou are a deft, joyous mass of improvisationally organized cacophany and circuit squishing sound texture. The brainchild of Walter Wright and Setheyney Pen , the version I say at the 199 Gallery in Lowell featured my wife and Devil Eyes bassiste Emily Jayne sitting in on drums alongside local noisenik Michael Dailey on guitar. It was a totally joyful clattering of noise and swooping circuitry and yelping howls. In my opinion, there are far to many “serious/frowny” types involved in the noise scene, so I’m always happy to see a band especially one with such a skill for improv having so much fun doing what they do!
Thomas Francis Takes His Chances (Jersey City, NJ)
After a valiant attempt to set up a guerilla show in the local skate park (generator crapped out and the cops came), our show with TFTHC ended up at a local Jersey City bar called the Lamp Post. Things gew more and more chaotic and when Thomas Francis finally filled up the wee back area “stage” with their keyboards, trumpets and assorted gear, the crowd was in a frenzy and ready for the assault. Thomas Francis Takes His Chances are part of the new wave of “un-core” bands, that have so many and diverse influences that you just have to stop trying to place them and just enjoy yourself! They are mad, crazy, ready to fly apart in drunken clatter of random instruments and the poetry of the instant.. but they hold it all together and transcend. I would love to see these guys hook up with a kindred band from Shreveport, LA the Electric Dollhouse Groovebuggy , just to watch them sparks fly!
The Extraordinaires (Philadelphia, PA)
I’m not sure how to describe The Extraordinaires , but I’ll say this: it’s an appropriate band name. They turn their amps into monsters, guitars into swordfish and audiences into gleeful, gape jawed fans instantly. Its refreshing to see such ace musicianship being put to extreme creativity, they have some wicked concepts at work.. we luckily obtained a precious and gorgeous copy of their Book/CD Electric and Benevolent , which I’ll be reviewing at a later date. The Extraordinaires are on tour through the US until November, GO SEE THEM!
Band Name (Philadelphia, PA)
With anthemic, stokeworthy tunes at the ready, Band Name is one of the more fun bands we know out of Philly, a city already stinking with good bands. It was one of those cases where I bought the merch before actually hearing the band so BOY was I happy when they actually slayed!
Bovachevo (Boston, Mass)
We played our last set of the tour at a rad basement show in Allston called Problem House.. all the bands that night were stellar ( DEAFBABE , Ski Mask and Bone Zone ), I think my favorite set came from Bovachevo , a massive assault of grind, scream, noise, and full on punk rawk that just envelops you. They are seriously accomplished musicians and sporting a giant 70’s drum kit that looks like it was designed by Roger Dean doesn’t hurt either!
Thee Lexington Arrows (Baltimore, MD)
Man, thank god for bands like Thee Lexington Arrows keeping things straight (or crooked) up rock n roll. You got some Sonics , some Headcoats , some Link Wray , some Dirtbombs … they keep in nice and harsh sounding and deftly avoid falling into the overdone Detroit Cobras soul garage thing so many bands of this ilk are doing. Gnarly RNR from the mean streets of Baltimore!
