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

Mike Hale - Lives Like Mine

You may (or should) remember Mike Hale from his time fronting the mighty Gainesville punk rock triple threat that is/was Gunmoll. They were sort of a Gainesville Jawbreaker and were no strangers to bringing the noise to a basement or house show. They broke up sort of acrimoniously a couple years ago. In the interim, Hale has moved out to California and formed a new band called In The Red that have a record called Volume 2 out courtesy of the good folk of Suburban Home. You can get it here. Look for a review soon on JS-NYC.

In The Red are still a band, but Hale has decided to quit his job and give up his lease to become a full-time musician. It ambitious, especially in this day and age, but he's got a decent record to springboard with.  Lives Like Mine is all Hale, with spartan guitar and/or piano backing. It's nice, if not especially engaging for me personally. Hale has a nice voice and the songs are all better than the average stuff you'll hear. Forgive me, but Austin Lucas has raised the bar improbably high for me as it concerns solo fare in this day and age. It's definitely worth checking out and, as luck would have it, Suburban Home and Vinyl Collective are giving away Lives Like Mine away for free here, so check it out yourself and spread the gospel, if you see fit. Hale has a running series of posts from the road at punknews.org that you can keep up on here. His social networking engine can be found here, if you do that sort of thing.

R

Git Some - Cosmic Rock

Git Some hail from Denver, Colorado and may be on your radar as the band that half of Planes Mistaken For Stars morphed into after their demise. Not that you could tell by looking at that hippie-ass cover or anything. It's been a while since I saw a Planes show, but historically, if anyone was long-haired and naked there you can bet that it would be a drunk dude. Maybe things have changed, or it's just a West Coast thing, but Git Some are more hate-edge than Haight Ashbury.

Think Black Flag. Git Some are slower than you'd expect, but it's still pretty spirited. I can see them in a sweaty basement or UK squat pretty easily, although it's still catchy enough that you don't have to have a facial tattoo or hop a freight to like them. They have a drummer who pounds the hell out of the kit and a three other guys that rage at least as hard. It might also help to smoke a ton of weed beforehand, just so you're all on the same page. Git Some do commit the transgression of having a singer who just sings, which personally I find troubling. Luke is from the Rollins/Yow school of frontmen, which is a step in the right direction, but I'm going to reserve judgment until they make it to this side of the country.

That doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon, as the gents leave for two months of EU/UK touring in the next day or so. Playing every day, too. No rest for the weedy, or weary, at least. Git Some have a split with In The Red (Mike from Gunmoll) on 1-2-3-4 Go (with Cristy Road artwork) that you can get here. The full-length is also available from our counting friends. Link for Cosmic Rock is here. Buy them shits.

R