Live: Dear Landlord with House Boat and Mikey Erg @ The Knitting Factory 5.12.11

Looking at the fake poster to the left for this show, one might surmise that we had a contender for the show of the year for JS-NYC. I enjoy all off the parties, but it was really the mid-card that had me excited. It had been well over a year since the Unlovables had played out and The Sainte Catherines have a hell of a new record. Putting them on a bill where I could start thing off with the tail end of a House Boat set seemed like a fine recipe for an evening in Brooklyn. In what is becoming my new favorite irritation, the aforementioned two bands that I hadn't seen a million times before dropped off the bill just as soon as I bought the ticket. Don't get me wrong, it was only $8, but come on.

I considered bailing, but Mikey Erg jumped on the front of the bill, so I figure I'd make it an early evening and count my blessings. Mikey put in a good solo set, albeit one without the Cee-Lo cover that highlighted his solo show last week at Cake Shop. House Boat were up next. I always enjoy them a lot more than I expect to, but could deal with about 50% less drunk Grath per show. Suffice to say, he is no Paddy Costello. This show featured the recording, rather than ad hoc local, HB lineup with Zack and Mikey. It was good and hopefully now that Grath has a job, we'll get less talk and more rock in the future. As such, I hear there is a new House Boat record on the way, so we'll see how things transpire.

Dear Landlord came on at the wonderfully reasonable hour of 10 to a rambunctious crowd. I like me some DL, but was surprised to see the number of DL painted jackets and his and her t-shirt combos out at the show. Dream Homes has been out for a bit now and there is the new split with The Dopamines, but it still doesn't leave an epic amount of variety set-wise. I was more than pretty stoked to find that Zack and Brad have got the Copyrights half of the franchise knocking out Rivethead covers. That will get me to make the long walk down the block to ABC next month. All in all a good set, and I made it home by 11:15, so I will call this a win, despite the fact that I sure would have preferred to have seen The Unlovables and The Sainte Catherines on the damn bill.

R

Live: Ian Cheap Girls and Mikey Erg with Dave Hause @ Cake Shop 5.1.11

As regular readers may surmise, I was in this for Ian Graham of the exceedingly awesome Cheap Girls. Beyond that, I wasn't sure how the evening would present itself. Given the three parties and their usual go-to instruments, I thought we might have ourselves a little ad-hoc rock band with rotating singers, but I came in to a fourth dude doing a Rocky Votolato kind of thing with another dude on electric. As it was a school night, I wasn't all that enthused about the addition, but he was decent enough and Ian appeared soon after, knocking out twenty minutes of fucking great tunes that I have a not-great but decent recording of if anyone wants. E-mail me.

At this point I was pretty stoked. It was still early, so I figured I'd catch a couple Mikey Erg tunes and bail. Post-Ergs, I've grown so accustomed to seeing him play drums in almost every band that would allow him behind a kit that I forgot what a great songwriter he is. His half-hour set featured the cream of his namesake's output performed on solo electric, as well as a pretty aces run through your favorite Cee-Lo Green chestnut. Yannich is one talented dude, and perhaps one who has moved back to NJ? Off-hand banter seems to suggest as much. It's hard not to see him, but see him sing sometime soon, if you can. I got a recording of that set, if you are of a mind, so holler if you'd like a link. I didn't stay for Hause, nor did it seem a lot of others, but I did see Franz on the way out and still made it home early with embarassingly rudimentary recordings in tow. If you missed this and are going to find yourself in the Northern climes this summer, Mikey and Dave Hause are doing a Canadian spin later on this year with Tony Sly, so keep an eye out.

R

Noise By Numbers - Yeah, Whatever...

Hey, Danny Vapid is back. They sure do have a work ethic in the Midwest. I believe that Danny is still a member of Screeching Weasel, The Methadones and the Riverdales when those franchises are active, yet he still has time to team up with Neil Hennessy (the only man who can lay claim to anything close to Mikey Erg's claim to the punk rock polygamy crown) to come up with his best project since Sludgeworth. There are touchstones from all the aforementioned projects, as well as a little Alkaline Trio and Raygun for good measure (and perhaps Union compliance). Props are due to Eric for hipping me to this. Pick up Yeah, Whatever cheap here from your friends at Asian Man Records. Keep tabs on when and if they are going to make it out of the Midwest here. Hennessy jockers should be aware that he only played on the record and, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't play with them live.

R

Psyched To Die demo | R.I.P: The Ergs!

Brian posted on PopPunkBored that there was yet another Mikey Erg affiliated project afoot, this one called Psyched To Die. The band is sort of a Monsters Of NJ Pop-Punk franchise, with Jay Insult from Hunchback and Brian from For Science rounding out the recording line-up here. The P.T.D. Myspace notates the enigmatic (Felix?) Frump in the line-up on second guitar, as well. There are four songs on the demo. It's available on cd-r and and cassette for all you old schoolers and finds Jay and Mike splitting vocal duties, sometimes even in the same song. It's raw, but well-recorded (at Asbury Lanes, oddly enough). While they are a new band, P.T.D. have old school tendencies deeper than their name (a Deep Wound homage). They come off a little Flag-gy, with shouted vocals and pounding drums that will no doubt have the kids circle pitting all around New Jersey. With recent changes in The Ergs! world, I wonder if this may become a full-time proposition.

As I was accessing the Interwebs to get my journalistic ducks in a row about P.T.D., I came upon the first of many postings regarding The Ergs! formally announcing their break-up. There had been rumblings for a while, all of which were quickly dispelled, so I figured that given the huge amount of shows they had been playing it was all internet shit-talking. Evidently this is not so. It appears that Jeff is leaving the band. Check out the link HERE to get the word straight from the horse's mouth. They are still playing a bunch of shows before their demise, including the Dillinger Four record release party in Brooklyn on 10/14, before wrapping things up in the middle of November in their home state of New Jersey.  It appears there will be a final 7" release, as well. In the interim, get the DirtNap comp of odds and sods called Hindsight Is 20/20. It's allegedly to be released on Dirtnap, but I can't find any notice on their site. I'll keep you posted. 

R

Psyched To Die diespace

The Ergs! Myspace

The Ergs! webpage