There were a few more bands I wanted to talk about briefly that appeared in Brooklyn that weekend. One was Libertines a band from the 80's from Cincinnati. Without the Big Takeover I probably would have never heard of them. They had been defunct for many years and only recently have reunited. This was their first ever New York appearance. I thought that they were pretty good, but I wasn't knocked out like I was with the other bands. They were selling a compilation cd of their works for $5 at the merch desk, so I picked it up. Well worth purchase. I'm listening to it right now & liking a lot. They sound like a revved up REM maybe a little like the Montreal Punk band, the Nils. The singer had what I would deem a very Lunderganesque quality to him which is high praise indeed. Before you go checking Webster's, its not there..... yet. He is a friend who I was in a band with at college who went on to be in the Golfpunk band The Divots. He also brought to life my idea of covering the Welcome Christmas (Bahoo Doray) song from How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon in a loud fast manner. And brilliantly. Besides being a real hockey player/coach. Anyway, for personal reasons I had to like these guys, & now that I'm hearing the songs, I think not being familiar with their set list was the main reason I was a little unimpressed.
Another band I wanted to mention was Sleepover Disaster. This was their first New York appearance and they are a band from Fresno that are part of the shoegazer movement, bands influenced by Sonic Youth, Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine. I thought that they were a really terrific sounding three piece,sonically intense, but with ferocity more like punk rock. For the most part I found them really good, interesting, but at certain times they would break into these amazing instrumental passages that were completely off the charts. These huge almost dubby loops over squalling beautiful feedback--I kept having these images in my head of Godzilla crunching cars & buildings in Tokyo during these moments. Again there was not that much interest from the crowd to begin with, so I made sure I made my way up toward the front, because I like supporting bands, and I've discovered bands that I really like quite accidentally, so it always pays to keep your ears open. I probably will go into a lot more detail about that in future posts. I think anyone at this fest who gave these guys a chance was well rewarded as was I.
30 years is a long time for a music magazine. A lot of magazines that I liked have bit the dust, or became crappy, for a variety of reasons. And Jack is somebody who keeps it real and in a lot of ways the magazine has stayed the same, adhered to its principles. It has expanded on these principles, and no doubt the musical palette has expanded over the years, but I don't think the basic product has been altered, which comes from a search for good innovative passionate music. I hope they have a festival every year even for only one night, and a few bands. I think if anybody could get a revived original lineup of the Saints over here, it would be Jack. Ed Kuepper & Chris Bailey reunited in Australia on stage a while back, but wouldn't that be a great thing to see over here!!. For those who don't know, the Saints were one of the greatest punk bands ever, who were around in some form even before the Ramones, and put out threes lps before they split up. Hated in their own country at the start as punk was despised then , hated when they came to England because they didn't look like cookie cutter punks (long hair). Judge them for their music. A great disc to pick up is the Wild About You 2 cd set on Raven Records, which compiles this original incarnation of the band. Unfortunately seems to be out of print. Or pick up the box set, or at the very least their first album "Stranded". If you like the Ramones, Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Damned, this is essential music.
At the very least subscribe to the Big Takeover-- 4 huge issues for 20 bucks American. The best Music Magazine for Punk/Alternative/etc. you can find. I guarantee you will discover at least one new favorite band if you buy an issue.
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