Live: Austin Lucas @ Bar Nine 6.9.10 late

There's an interesting phenomenon going on in music, where the youth of today are maintaining footholds in genres that were once considered far too disparate to attract the same fanbase, much less artists. Hank III comes quickest to mind, with his Damn Band/Assjack incarnations, but Austin Lucas deserves an equal amount of notoriety. His father Bob Lucas is a player of some renown in the bluegrass scene, and while Austin most often performs acoustically, he performs semi-regularly with Czech Republic/Oregon grind franchise Guided Cradle. No one with working ears would confuse the two, but the level of quality exuded in both units is conspicuous.

Austin has been performing these dates with the vocal help of Christina Wagner and multi-instrumentalist Brad Garrett. They were not the first acoustic franchise visit to Bar Nine, nor even the first acoustic act to play Bar Nine that night, but feedback proved to be a big issue for the early part of the set, prompting the trio to unplug and decamp to the floor after the first song. This was a good idea in theory, save for the fact that there was no PA and a decent size drinking (and talking) crowd, prompting a Jason Anderson-esque audience gather-around that was a little closer than I bargained for. No one else labored under such issues, save for a drunk dude who wanted to hear some Stones, and Austin was in his usual good voice, playing a couple new tunes along with a handful of old favorites and a cover of Give My Love To Rose. Wagner was a formidable vocal foil, with a decent voice and good range in addition to being somewhat easy on the eyes. I don't believe she has anything out, but she and Austin were selling a joint tour demo CD-R set to get label attention. She deserves it and I believe might be playing solo opening sets at some of the shows. Here's her Myspace. I'll get a review of the demos up in a bit. Austin has a new comp of his vinyl stuff out that you need called Collection on Suburban Home. You can get that here. While you're at it, stay up to date with all things Austin and Lucas here.

R

Live: Whiskey Trench at Bar Nine 12.6.9

So, would someone please explain to me me the logic in having a band come from Montreal to play that has a fairly limited draw, posting a time that they are going on, then having them go before the announced time, not because the place was packed and people were clamoring, but to two people and the bartender? I showed up at 10, again the posted start time, to see Whiskey Trench play five songs, one of which was a Jawbreaker cover. They sounded decent, but it was a severe bummer.

R

Live: Jon Snodgrass and Joey Cape with Mike Hale at Bar Nine 10.25.9

Whenever Mr. Jon Snodgrass comes to town, whether it be solo or with whatever incarnation of Drag The River he's out with, there is much rejoicing at the JS-NYC HQ. They don't come any nicer than Jon and his records, including his new Visitor's Band are always top-notch. The last couple times he's been through Joey Cape has been in tow, allowing the two to swap songs and maximize their drinking and/or smoking potential. The show on Friday in Brooklyn was a good one, despite it's short CMJ set time. Those in the know used that show to whet their appetites for this show and the free show at Maxwell's on Monday night.

Whoever owns Bar Nine must have some left coast punk or Suburban Home connections, as the only name artists that play there seem to fall in those demographics. Works for me. I don't get up towards the Kitchen of Hell all that much, but B9 may well change that.

I got there in time to catch the end of Mike Hale's set. I wasn't all that into his solo record but was really into Gunmoll. Hale has divested himself of worldly possesions and dedicated himself to touring full-time. He's got a diary going on at PunkNews you can check out here. Like I said, I wasn't really feeling the solo stuff, but this show swayed me a little more towards the positive end of things. He's no Austin Lucas, but seems to be heartfelt about his songs and their content. I'm interested to see how the time on the road impacts his next solo record. He'll be back at Bar Nine with Austin in December, so we'll see. In the meantime, you can check the record here at Suburban Home.

Joey and Jon were up next, much to the glee of the crew of obsessive Cape/Lagwagon crew that turns up at every one of the shows. One guy evidently flew from Germany for these shows, lending credence to the fact(s) that the dollar is pretty weak and I need to revisit the Cape canon. Josh Small isn't out playing incidental instruments like he had on previous tours, but the songs didn't suffer that much. Jon was fabulous as always, playing stuff off Visitor's Band and a couple new tunes, including a new drunk song he had written the night before about Spiderman and the Wolfman. Why he and/or Drag The River aren't huge is beyond me. Look for a DTR retrospective called Primer coming soon and as well as Chad's solo record Smile Sweet Face coming soon. The Yankees clinched the pennant in the middle of the proceedings, leading to an ocean of shots from the house as well as the rest of the band's booze rider being passed out to the crowd and asserting that Bar Nine is a hell of a place to see a show. Kudos to Jon, Joey and Mike for making it a great night. Peep all of the Suburban Home roster here and check all of them out if you're going to The Fest this weekend.

R

Live: CMJ showcase @ Europa featuring Teenage Bottlerocket, Cobra Skulls, Jon Snodgrass and Joey Cape, Banner Pilot and Higher Giant 10.25.9

Initially, the reason for the season for my attendance at this show was seeing Banner Pilot, who I adore. They have taken over the mantle from Two Cow Garage as the band that I travel long distances to either miss outright or play way too short sets. I had taken the L on the last two BP shows I tried to see, but even my shitty job did not make me miss the proceedings.

I got inside in time to catch the end of the Higher Giant set. Featuring Ernie Parada from a million awesome bands that started with Token Entry, they played a bunch of Queens accented punk rock not all that far from previous Parada franchises like Grey Area. They got a good response, despite their lead-off spot. Their new record is out courtesy of the good folk of The Black Numbers. Get it here.

Twin cities powerhouse Banner Pilot made their live debut for me next, playing a decent, but not fabulous show that leaned heavily on new stuff from their Fat debut Collapser. There were some sound issues, most of them seemingly precipitated by the front of house guy, but it was a decent set. I would have liked to hear more stuff from the first EP, but a good showing from the gents. I would have liked to have seen a longer set, but hopefully it won't be another four years til the next NYC show.

Jon Snodgrass and Joey Cape played next, reprising their increasingly frequent duo set for the first show of their most recent tour. While there was a small but vocal crew of Cape obsessives drinking their way to nirvana, I would say it was a Snodgrass room. Neither disappointed, but suffice to say I'm a Snodgrass proponent. Why he is not hugely famous I'm not sure, but I'm going to enjoy seeing him in the small rooms for as long as I can. You should see both of those jokers at Bar Nine tomorrow night, or for free at Maxwells on Monday. JS-NYC will be all up in those shows. You should be, too.

Cobra Skulls (from Reno) were up next. There has been a big buzz about them lately, so I got their records and found them to be pretty staggeringly underwhelming from where I was listening. I thought maybe the live show would sway me, but I literally took a nap after the first couple songs. Jack Terricloth was evidently out to see them, but unless you can have someone on that level to talk to during their set, I'd save your cash. Probably one of the most overrated things I've heard in a long while.

Luke was all about seeing Teenage Bottlerocket, as they hail from his hometown of Laramie, so I stuck around. I don't remember them rocking my world when they came through last time with the Copyrights and Unlovables, and I'm almost positive they were not good at the show at Knit with Chixdiggit, but they sure kicked my ass from note one to note last this time around. Wow-ee!! More hooks than a tackle box and a gang of song-along choruses that rival their aforementioned touring partners. It was a good move snapping up that guy from the Lillingtons. It fleshes out the sound a bit and while I would say that I prefer Ray's songs, Teenage Bottlerocket are a great fucking time. The Poison cover is a slippery slope, but it shouldn't keep you from snapping all their records up stat. They just dropped a new one called They Came From The Shadows on Fat that I haven't heard, but will soon be rectifying that situation. Look for a review soon but in the interim do whatever you need to to see Teenage Bottlerocket. Them boys kick some serious ass. Thanks to Luke for coming out, too!

R

Live: Drag The River with Joey Cape @ Bar Nine 5.16.9

I love me some Drag The River. I had heard the records before, but never really fell whole hog for the Kings Of Ft. Collins, Colorado until I got a copy of It's Crazy for Skyscraper, but once I heard that little chestnut, I stepped lively and picked up all their stuff. Better late tahn never, I guess. Drag The River are yet another of the fabulous bands on the Suburban Home roster, featuring Mr. Jon Snodgrass of Armchair Martian and Mr. Chad Price of All playing more twang oriented delights, often with JJ from The Nobodys and whoever can sit behind a drumkit for a couple rounds. The force is very strong within them.

Drag The River went on hiatus soon after It's Crazy, but the breakup didn't seem to take. The gents have been awful busy of late, releasing a gang of 7" and comp stuff (thoughtfully compiled by Suburban Home on the stellar Bad At Breaking Up) and touring a bit on the West Coast and in Europe. Jon has even taken the time to finally release a stellar solo record on Suburban Home called Visitor's Band that you should pick up immediately. Snodgrass teamed up recently with Lagwagon/Bad Astronaut singer Joey Cape to play a ton of solo shows and Chad came out for a week or so to play these East Coast dates as Drag The River. It's sad that Drag The River shows end up being this way on the East Coast, but it's not getting any cheaper to tour in a band that doesn't make any real money, so we East Coasters take what we can get.

The show was at Bar Nine, in the shockingly sanitized 2009 version of Hell's Kitchen. I hadn't been there before and had low expectations, but I've got to say that it's a pretty nice little space. Judging by the decor and the familiarity all the bands seemed to have with whoever he was, I get the impression that the owner is a former rocker. Joey Cape was a couple songs in by the time I rolled in. I always kinda liked Lagwagon and genuinely enjoyed Joey's solo record, but had really hoped to miss him and talk to girls at Heath's party. NY shows being NY shows, and the crowd being a drinking one meant that things were pushed back. They crowd was pretty drunk and vocal (as in singing along) which made things easier for Cape, who was alleged to be sick. The crowd wasn't huge, but they sure ate every song up, grabbing the mike at every opportunity to sing along. Chad Rex played an opening set before backing Joey on second guitar and/or mandolin. I couldn't tell you the names of any of the songs, but I was definitely in the minority.

Joey sounded great and went over big, but the big issue for me as:re the Cape set was that it wasn't Drag The River. Jon came over to say that he liked my shirt (R.I.P Split Lip Rayfield) and proved to be a hell of a nice guy. He begged off after a minute to play the last three songs with Joey. It seemed like they were trying for a seamless set, and as it was mostly acoustic guitars it would have been easy, but bar-time precluded such matters and Chad Price made it up after a couple of minutes. Chad's cut his hair, which lends him a slightly disconcerting bit of a Yosemite Sam vibe, but he and Snodgrass really sound great together. The gents had been drunker than usual the night before in Boston, with Jon blacking out on stage a half-hour before he left it, but they showed up in comparatively rude health and played a great set. I have yet to understand how, or perhaps moreso why, Sambuca was the tipple of choice for the gents, but it got us a bunch of favorites, including a new Snodgrass work in progress called Lawman that ended up being a running gag. No Calloused Heart #2 or any of my favorites from Bad At Breaking Up but all in all a hell of a great set. I wish I had recorded it.

I'm not sure when I'll see Drag The River again or when I'll make it up to Hell's Kitchen to rock again, but it was a hell of a good time. I wish I could have seen them last night in Hoboken. That was the last date on the radar for a bit, but keep track of Drag The River here. You can find Joey Cape in this corner of the interwebs.

R