Live: Iron Chic with Bridge & Tunnel and Treasure Fleet at St. Vitus 9.28.12

Anyone who has subjected themselves to JS-NYC for any length of time is aware of the props given to Bridge and Tunnel and Iron Chic, so its no surprise that I ponied up early for this show. The presence of Treasure Fleet upped the ante a bit initially, mostly given the presence of half of Chicago's mighty Arrivals in their ranks. When I dug a little deeper and found that the music was allegedly an homage to Syd Barrett-esque psychedelia, I was considerably less excited. Along with crab-core, most modern pop and now dubstep, apparently, the genre is normally relegated immediately to the ear-rape category and never acknowledged.

I showed up early at St. Vitus to insure maximum B&T and found that the order had shifted (always not a JS-NYC favorite) and that Treasure Fleet were batting second, an eventuality that would have allowed for the time-honored JS-NYC 'check the last three songs' modus operandi had someone bothered to advertise properly.

Beyond that evergreen, I was also pretty distressed to find that Isaac persisted in wearing the ridiculous Randy Of The Redwoods getup he had been sporting in the promo pics I'd seen around. Truth be told, a decent amount of the stuff wasn't totally terrible in a T-Rex sort of way, but the stuff that was bad was decidedly so. Drummer was definitely the MVP of the proceedings and deserves kudos for beating the living hell out of the kit for the duration. All the best, but don't think I'm going to call Treasure Fleet back.

Bridge and Tunnel are a great band. They've been a little off the grid since they got back from their Summer Euro junket (I think?)  but sounded pretty polished. Again, drummer props are to be afforded. That Schramm is a beast. Rest of the band isn't too shabby either. Definitely one of NYC's best bands. Do yourself a favor and see them if you haven't already. Iron Chic are another great band, but the jerk-off factor in their fanbase has gone off the meter in the last couple years. The volume of bad stage diving and absence of the nice skinheads from back in the day that would step on your neck and remind you of show etiquette has made my last handful of IC shows pretty wearisome. It's a shame, as their sets have been stretching almost to the half hour mark in recent years. This one was the same set they've been playing for a while, save for a pretty ok new track. Not exactly tight, or sober, but a pretty damn good time. Here's hoping we see this show reprised with Swearin' in the TF slot sometime very soon.

R

Free Don Giovanni sampler

If you like free stuff. Let me clarify, good free stuff, I'd pop on over to the Don Giovanni web presence and snatch this up pronto. It would be worth the bandwidth just for the Measure (SA) and Ergs! songs, so just go here and get this already. They are doing a label showcase next month at Bowery, with most of the above and forgetters, to boot. Check here for details.

R

Live: Off With Their Heads, Shellshag, Detournement, The Measure (SA), Go Sell Drugs at Death By Audio 12.3.8

I was hedging on going to this show. It's cold and Off With Their Heads have really been phoning it in as of late, plus the order of the lineup had changed like three times since the show had been posted, but I figured I'd see The Measure and check out why the kids were making so big of a deal about Detournement, then make an early evening of it.

So I arrived at Death By Audio to what I thought was Detournement, but was yet another x-factor: the unnannounced band that was Go Sell Drugs. Evidently one of the dudes from I-Farm is in the fold. Either way, they were pretty decent. Sort of a Dischord vibe (with at least two haircuts to match). Thrashy guitar, pummelling drums, picked Rickenbacker bass. I'd like to see them with Psyched To Die. They didn't play that long, but did give away free copies of their record American Handjob. Maybe next time they will actually get listed on the bill.

The Measure (SA) were up next. They are definitely a decent band. I still contend that the silly overly tattooed guy who can't stop jumping should be excised from the franchise with the quickness.I'd also like to know why he didn't make eye contact with anybody else in the band for the entire set, but save for that quibbling it was a pretty good set. They've got a new singles comp you probably have heard about. Pick it up here. Now, let's get cracking on that line-up change, willya.

Detournement batted third, playing their first show in Brooklyn and maybe their sixth or seventh overall. As the name may belie, there's a heavy ex-member contingent in the band, with dudes from Lifetime, Bigwig, The Ratchets and a million other bands. I guess the most shocking eventuality is that Mikey Erg isn't in the fold. Zak Kaplan fronts the band, sadly in a frontman only capacity. Not that they two guitarists they already have are bad, I am aggressively against the 'singer who just sings' phenomenon. Unless he is edge and drives the van, or David Lee Roth, there is no reason for that to happen. I didn't find anything especially remarkable about their set, but I'd like to hear the recorded stuff. And see Zak with a guitar on.

I didn't see any sign of the Shellshag kids and hoped that maybe OWTH would be going on next, but I was sadly denied. Shellshag are decent and definitely OG, but I wasn't in the mood. Off With Their Heads definitely seem to be in it for the cash recently. They've been on tour for the last five or six months pretty relentlessly and the enthusiasm level seems to drop with every show, at least on Ryan's part. I hear they played a short set, to boot, so I'm glad I bailed. Here's hoping that the shows with Dear Landlord (that start tonight in Philly) give them a kick in the ass. I'm not looking to travel down Charm City way to be bored.

R