Last week co-KLYAMER Glen saw the man man Ty Segall at Death By Audio; one of the final shows held at the Brooklyn venue before it closes its doors forever. I myself never had the pleasure of attending one of their shows, but at least I can live vicariously through this video of the one and only SKIMASK tearing shit up at DBA a few weeks ago. Shot by Sixdust NYC Music.
Tag Archives: Brooklyn
New Single From The Gabba Ghouls!
Connecticut’s actually the whole world’s superstar garage punk Italio-American Halloween theme band The Gabba Ghouls are back – of course, it’s Halloween in a few short days – this time with a new single I Want Your Blood / Rot in Candy.
Featuring members of rock n roll slingers Jacques Le Coque, The Gabba Ghouls released their self-titled debut album a year ago. No doubt you can head to their Bandcamp and play it. Recommended as background music for Halloween parties, passing out the candy to trick-or-treaters, and spaghetti.
HOLD ON though – if you happen to be in New York on Thursday (October 30) and Halloween (October 3rd…31st dumby), The Gabba Ghouls are playing at Don Pedro’s in Brooklyn.
Get at their FB: https://www.facebook.com/TheGabbaGhouls?ref=br_tf
Review: Robot Death Kites @ Neverland (7/11/14)
“You’d like us if you were in Junior High.” These words appear on Robot Death Kites’ bandcamp page. I’m thinking… yeah, I would totally dig these dudes if I heard them in Junior High. Their music is extremely angst fueled and like so many of my peers I was pissed off all the time. Bullies, asshole teachers, gym class, math I dunno you get my point. Times sucked and I used music as an outlet to get through all that hideous shit. Robot Death Kites sing about bigger bullies and assholes. Evil corporations, sycophant yuppies, and Starbucks fiends. Depraved souls.
These fellers hail from Brooklyn, New York and I first heard of em’ two years ago when I too was roaming the street of Brooklyn, hungry. Seriously though, that wasn’t just a cute metaphorical phrasing. I actually was hungry, I hadn’t eaten in hours and it was around dinnertime; I was in town for a Nobunny show.
So waltzing down some lonely street in Brooklyn I bumped into a man in a chicken suit wearing boxing gloves. He led me to an odd, little restaurant known as Mama Joy’s. Long story short, the chicken turned out to be Dylan aka Snuggles. We bonded over tales of Gay Gardens shows and mutual tastes in music. He revealed himself as the bassist for this here band Rainbow Dream Kittens better known as the mighty ROBOT DEATH KITES.
Now, that brings us to the present day. Robot Death Kites are back in Boston and they’ve brought a tape with them – Yuppie Nightmare – their latest and greatest effort. The recordings are crisp and cool. You may catch yourself dancing along to the music at home alone, giving your junk the old plunk, the old one, two tug. Smash a few holes in the wall, empty another case of PBR. But, that’s not as fun as seeing these ruffians in the flesh dangling in front of you and more than likely resting their sweaty skin on top of your wee body.
Before the set begins vocals guy Otis aka Sunshine runs outside to rally the troops and round up as many men, women, and children as he can. About twenty or less bodies are present before Otis, Jon aka Artichoke (guitar), and Vinny aka Booboo (drums) rip through their set.
Robot Death Kite is pure spectacle. Otis is dressed in his mum’s Sunday best, a real top notch black number (he eventually slimes down to his skivvies), holding a red telephone as his microphone. Dylan’s face is covered in a set of fine pantyhose. Scrumptious. Don’t be misconstrued now. These guys have the guns to back up the glamour and they fire off a string of skull cracking tunes that gets the small, but enthusiastic crowd all riled up and ready to blow off some steam.
These miscreants really do put on a fun show. Their songs are angry and angst ridden, but the performance is anything but; if anything it’s an excuse to go ballistic, like you needed one, right? It’s Atlantic Thrills meets Guerilla Toss meets Rage Against The Machine if they were a basement band. Speaking of which, a basement is the perfect place to see Robot Death Kites, I can’t imagine it any other way. There’s just something about knocking back two PBRs and clutching your third in the midst of a mosh pit, whilst a convulsing Dylan Death Kite leans back and shreds his guitar in the middle of the pit on the cold basement floor.
Definitely a must see. We’ll have to get these fine, upstanding gentlemen back in Boston again sometime soon. It’s a pleasure to finally meet some of you dudes and bring home a few bruises in the process. Fuck it, you don’t want to leave this world without any scars.
LISTEN UP: http://robotdeathkites.bandcamp.com/
Does anyone have any videos from this enchanted evening? I’d love to see them. Give the dumbasses that didn’t attend a chance to see what they missed out on. Ahh well, here’s a vid from Boston Hassle of the band’s set at Gay Gardens (RIP) the last time they were here. Enjoy.
Robot Death Kites @ The Flat (6/14/14)
Video shot by Sixdust NYC Music
Watch this video of Brooklyn’s Robot Death Kites going nuts at their Yuppie Nightmare EP release show at The Flat. I can’t think of a better way to spend the next half hour.
Give the EP a listen here: http://robotdeathkites.bandcamp.com/
Music Vid: Robot Death Kites – “No Thanks”/ New EP
After a long, tiring, mind numbing work week I could use a band like Robot Death Kites. Fast, heavy, sludgy PUNK. Blistering anti-establishment that will knock fat corporate ogres flat on their fat fucking asses. Above is the band’s new music video for “No Thanks,” a song from their upcoming EP Yuppie Nightmare, which you can pre order here: http://robotdeathkites.bandcamp.com/
The EP release show is at Shea Stadium (Brooklyn, NY) on Saturday, June 7th. Sleep tight.
Concert Review: Nobunny, Bad Sports, Xray Eyeballs, Liquor Store @ Living Bread (9/21/12)
Artists: Nobunny, Bad Sports, Xray Eyeballs, Liquor Store
Date: Friday, September 21, 2012
Venue: The Living Bread Deli (Brooklyn, NY)
Comments:
Preliminary Activities: We wandered the desert for forty years and somehow we wound up in Brooklyn, destined to see Nobunny. “There it is, the Living Bread Deli!” That’s right Glen my boy, we have arrived and we are hungry for some rock ‘n’ roll, well actually we are just plain hungry. Alas, the Living Bread will not open its doors for another two hours :( As foreigners, we wander some more, careening through the streets of Bushwick with our stomachs rumblin’ and tumblin’, fortunately stumblin’ upon Darrel the “Tour Guide,” as he is known to no one. “Darrel, my main man, where is a good place to sit down and eat and grab a few drinks?” Darell looks at us as if we have five heads, and proceed to exchange our heads, playing a game of musical decapitation. According to Darrel, you can either eat at one of the delis or drink at the bar, but you can’t do both. You can, however, bring your grub into the bar and chow down while you drink. In fact, Darrel’s next mission in life at this moment was that very act itself. Deeming this as suitable behavior, we follow in Darrel’s footsteps, but the menu is not to our liking. We are nomads once again, starving nomads. Walking down the street, I notice a big ass chicken wearing boxing gloves, and I point this out to Glen and Papa KLYAM. When we reach the chicken, a young woman standing next to him asks us if we would like to witness a chicken death match. Sure, why not? As long as we can sit down and eat, and we do! More importantly, the man behind the mask is Dylan, bassist for Robot Death Kites- a band I have never heard until now- catch them if you can son- a band that has shared a bill with the likes of Boston behemoths Guerilla Toss. We discuss both the Boston and Brooklyn music scenes and both Glen and I can say it is of great pleasure to have made your acquaintance Dylan. Rock on brother! Alright, let’s get to the show….
Act I: Liquor Store– Since the Living Bread is a deli, it is a small space, and tonight the place is packed. Liquor Store kicks off the show and they do it with incredible finesse. They blast away with loud, roaring guitars. I dig how they epically strum their guitars with almost this windmill like force a la Pete Townshend. Similarly, I find some classic rock elements in their sound, but it does not seem generic in any way. This is my first time seeing these Jersey boys, but Glen saw them a couple of months ago at the Great Scott opening for Natural Child. Lucky bastard. But, now I too have experienced Liquor Store, YEAH BUDDY!!!
Act II: Xray Eyeballs– Last time KLYAM ventured out to New York we caught Xray Eyeballs opening for Black Lips and Davila 666 at last year’s Hell At the Hall Halloween show. Good times! Once again, Xray Eyeballs are one of the more visually memorable bands I have come across. Tonight their stage show features various bright lights, giving their psych garage sound some extra flavor. Alas, I miss some of their set because there is one helluva line for the bathroom! Fortunately, whilst waiting in this monstrosity of a line, I bump into “teacher’s pet” the drummer for Hector’s Pets, a Brooklyn band I saw open for King Khan & The Shrines at the Brighton Music Hall a couple months back. It is awesome to see you again dude! Anyway, check out Xray Eyeballs, if you have not yet. http://xrayeyeballs.bandcamp.com/
Set List:
Dejaw
Die Little Love
My Strange
Sundae
Gator
Derailed
NY Strip
Four
Crystal
Pill Riders
Act III: Bad Sports – Bad Sports is a name I have seen pop up every now and then, but I honestly have never sat down and listened to their music, so I came into this performance with an open mind, curious to see what will happen next. Bad Sports certainly earned their privilege to be on a tour with Nobunny. These guys don’t fuck around, they create chaotic noises in the midst of power pop. The crowd seems to get more pumped up during Bad Sports’ set with few outbursts here and there. Safe to say, Bad Sports will be kicking it for a while as they have for the past few years. http://badsports.bandcamp.com/
Act IV: NOBUNNY!!! -Nobunny=rock’n’roll. It’s as simple as that. Surely, Nobunny is not rock ‘n’ roll unto himself, but he represents what is amazing about all great rock ‘n’ roll: building a connection between the performer and the fan and everyone having fun together. On this tour, Bad Sports serve as Nobunny’s backing band, and I must admit I miss the Nobunny regulars but at the same time, Bad Sports are fantastic, providing the bunnyman with a killer sound. Tonight the name Nobunny is to be taken literally, for our hero in disguise is seriously not wearing his typical bunny mask. Instead, he is decked out in a black tape robber’s mask with some branches at the top. Well this transformation from bunny to branchman must have done the trick because No No is on top of his game more than ever (5th KLYAM show), moving and shaking like a maniac, as if he doesn’t have even two seconds to spare. As soon as the band hits the stage, our hero and gang burst right into “Hippy Witch” and as soon as that ends they immediately thrash right through to “Mess Me Up,” sending all the horny bunnies in the room into a frenzy. This set features so many classics: “I Am A Girlfriend,” “Chuck Berry Holiday,” “Boneyard,” “It’s True,” “Tina Goes To Work,” (which I have never heard live before) “Blow Dumb,” “Live It Up,” “Motorhead With Me,” and there’s even a brief rendition of the Sex Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant,” putting a strong emphasis on the CUNT! My favorite moment is without a doubt “I Can’t Wait” (a Sneaky Pinks cover). Nobunny says “this is an all ages show” before kicking into the classic tune, with everyone screaming “EIGHTEEN YEARS IS A LONG LONG TIME!” That’s the greatest thing about Nobunny, it’s an interactive event, as all great shows should be. But, Nobunny has it down pat, he’s a quality performer, in many ways unlike anyone else in the game today. As I said earlier, the greatest aspect of Nobunny live is how he communicates with his audience. He is just as much apart of this show as you are, a Nobunny show relies heavily on how much energy the audience gives, it’s back and forth. It’s terrific to see kids bashing around and shouting out all the words to their favorite Nobunny tunes, and Nobunny knows this, so he holds out the microphone at the most opportune moments, allowing fans to join in. Naturally, this is commonplace in rock, but with Nobunny it’s a recurrent feature amongst other bunny antics that amount to pure entertainment making everyone feel included in the show. Nobunny is part punk, part bubblegum- sweet, sweet, sugary fucking bubble gum pop, part dirty, grimy garage rock, and simply part circus, pro wrestling actually. The set closes oddly enough with Love Visions opener, “Nobunny Loves You,” which simply makes you want more and more! Final thoughts? Nobunny is one of the best live shows around; him and his band put their balls into it and transcend conventional, boring rock band behavior. If your just sitting at home listening to the records alone, playing with your dong, then you are not getting the full experience! Why would you do such a thing to yourself?! In short, GO SEE NOBUNNY!
Concert Review: Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, K-Holes @ The Well (9/22/12)
Bands: Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, K-Holes
Date: September 22, 2012
Venue: The Well (Brooklyn, New York)
Comments: Heading far away from Beantown to see show isn’t a frequent occurrence for us at KLYAM, but when we do, it always ends up being a fun time. When I first saw in June that Ty and Thee Oh Sees were playing in Brooklyn, but not in Boston (or Portland or Providence), it was a no-brainer to make the voyage. Not to mention that Nobunny shortly thereafter announced a date in Brooklyn for the night before. So yeah, what a nice weekend.
Act I – K-Holes – By the time the K-Holes hit the stage, The Well had filled right up. I could tell the crowd didn’t want to miss any of the action, and why would they? K-Holes are what I call mainstays as openers for some of the rock ‘n roll underground’s bigger bands. I’ve seen them open for Black Lips twice in New York and once for King Khan and the Shrines in Boston. They’ve certainly built up a reputation as a band that brings all they’ve got to the stage. On this night, the stage is quite large for them (“I feel like I’m at the Emmys” singer/guitarist Jack Hines informs us), but this of course doesn’t change their performance. They plow right through several dark, saxophone crazed songs, which to me sound even better than in the past. Also, I’ve never seen a band with their set-up (saxophone, vocalist/tambourine, guitar, bass, a drum kit with three floor toms). They are interesting. I enjoyed closer “Rats,” off their most recent LP Dismania [Hardly Art], the most. It’s a full steam ahead ass-kicker, fitting in perfectly with what’s to come.
Act II – Thee Oh Sees – Finally! It took me three years (approximately) to see these guys and finally I can say it…I saw them. Seeing a lot of live footage on YouTube and hearing people rave incessantly about the live shows – not to mention my very many listens to the records – all of this is awesome, but you’ve got to be there. So I was there along with about a thousand others and we witnessed the same thing. A band that truly has it together and quite easily engages the audience’s attention to something that makes blue shirted security guards want to join in on the fun. Thee Oh Sees got it started with “The Dream,” which is an insane tune, but there’s so much more build-up in the live setting that it is really hard to describe to be honest. After that we were blessed with “Lupine Dominus,” a stand-out off just released Putrifiers II. Then came that song that sounds like “Have Love Will Travel” — oh yes — “Tidal Wave,” which is just as cool as it sounds. They also got in “Carrion Crawler/The Dream,” the wild and quintessential sing-along “I Was Denied,” the superbly lengthy a-a-a-a-a-ah-ah-ha-ha-ha-a-a-a-a of “Contraption/Soul Desert,” and some others which I can’t quite remember right now. Either way, this was one performance that I will surely remember and I can not wait to see them again. It would be cool to catch them in a littler place, but they are at the point where they’ve got a pretty sizable and energetic fan base so I’m not sure what’s to come. No one does.
Act III – Ty Segall – Ty (and band) – if you read this site, you know there is a whole bunch o’ coverage, so disregard the obvious – are near the top of the charts as far as the kind of music I really love. It’s not even one sound – it’s more of the experience and variety of selections that gets me pumped. Whether it is the cuts from Slaughterhouse that they opened with, a throwback classic like “Standing at the Station,” or the many Melted jams “Imaginary Person,” “Finger,” “My Sunshine,” “Caesar,” “Girlfriend,” the current Ty set is all over the place categorically, but it’s all marked by an unbeatable combination of loudness, fuzz, and pop. It is no wonder why more and more people are being turned onto Ty and his band. And they’ll continue to be. The heavy rains that came during “Finger” seemed to coincide with the intensity of the song and they never really stopped. I was pleasantly surprised by “My Head Explodes,” my favorite from Goodbye Bread, which the band hasn’t really played too often. You could say more surprises came with a little “Sweet Home Alabama” and an encore of The Doors “The End”. It should be said that the first couple of rows represented a danger zone for crowd surfers. There was one fan who took a particularly gruesome fall near the stage that drew the concern of Ty, who requested medical attention for the man. We all hope he is okay. Ty shows shouldn’t be dangerous and apart from that incident, everything went pretty smoothly. There were also several photographers and a cameraman on hand – and they were having just as great of a time as the crowd. It was a cool sight! Back to the songs. Closer “Wave Goodbye” and oldie “Skin” bear mentioning along with the finale of all finales, “The Drag”. Hope to see these guys soon in Boston, but you know, if New York is the only option, New York is the only option. That’s easy.
Concert Reviews: Paul Weller @ Apollo/ Black Lips @ The Shank
Bands: Erland & The Carnival, Paul Weller
Venue: Apollo Theater
Date: November 6, 2010
Act One – Erland & The Carnival – A very respectable UK folk/post-punk revivalist group. As Erland said, they were simply warming up the stage for Weller. With that said, their set was quite modest in length — not more than thirty minutes — but very effective. They reminded me of a more eclectic/James Bond theme music version of Editors. When they jammed, they jammed. I found myself recognizing a number of their tunes from the video of the gig they posted on their MySpace page.
Act Two – Paul Weller – Over the past several months, I’ve gained much more appreciation for the Modfather. It was a quite a treat to see him perform last night at the historic Apollo Theater. Weller has quite a catalog to choose from in selecting his night’s set-list. Last night, he incorporated a bunch of tunes from 2010’s Wake up the Nation. What made up the rest was a fine variety of relatively recent material, a little bit older stuff, and classic Jam and Style Council tunes. The sound was excellent. The aid of two keyboardists/effects performers and an extra rhythm guy contributed greatly to Weller’s backing. What I love about Weller is when he really rocks out. The drum solo in “One Bright Star” and the pure magic of “All I Wanna Do” were just some of the many highlights. Weller gave off the impression at the end of his second encore that the near sold-out crowd would be back to hear him for a second time in a row the next night. Those people are in for a double dose treat.
Set-List
1. “Aim High”
2. “Into Tomorrow”
3. “7 to 3 is the Striker’s Name”
4. “Pretty Green”
5. “From the Floorboards Up”
6. All I Wanna Do (Is Be With You)”
7. “Sea Spray
8. “Paper Chase”
9. ??
10. “No Tears to Cry”
11. “Shout To The Top”
12. “Trees
13. “How Sweet It Is”
14. “One Bright Star”
15. “Andromeda”
16. “Fast Car Slow Traffic”
17. “Start!”
18. “Echoes on the Sun”
19. “Wild Wood
——Encore One——
20. “Broken Stones”
21. “Pieces of a Dream”
22. “Wake up the Nation”
23. “Art School”
24. “Come On, Let’s Go”
—-Encore Two—-
25. “The Changingman”
26. “Porcelain Gods”
—————————————————–
Bands: Fergus & Geronimo, K-Holes, Cerebral Ballzy, Black Lips
Venue: The Shank
Date: November 6, 2010
Comments on the Venue: Where do I even begin? I just want to clear something up, first. Hipsters, individually, are not necessary bad people. Talking to a few of them and sort of mocking them (“Are shows in a big warehouse the new thing?”), I realized there are some good apples in the bunch. Not so much for the case for the hoi polloi of Williamsburg hipsters. Damn, these people suck so much! As Rich said, they are people with a lot of money, but love to act like they don’t have any. These hipsters wait in long lines for port-a-potties and $4 beer. Making loads of money off of the cheapest brands of beer is suddenly relevant. These people have no respect for the bands and care solely about themselves. Shocker! The venue itself was the complete opposite of the Apollo. I didn’t expect some first-rate DIY “soundspace”, but…this?! Every process after the most basic (checking IDs, buying tickets) was actually pretty laughable. There are shit-loads of people just standing around, smoking whatever they feel like. In front of the stage are hipsters yelling at each other and pushing each other. The stage itself is pretty legit, but the sound system is quite awful.
Act One, Two, and Three – I wasn’t really paying attention much to any of these bands. Fergus & Geronimo sounded really good. I caught the tail end of their set. K-Holes were the same K-Holes I saw in July and August. Cerebral Ballzy sounded not so good, but I couldn’t really hear them all that well from where I was standing.
Act Four – Black Lips – After avoiding the pit area for a while, I made up my mind. I was going to stand in front like I usually do. The moment Black Lips come on, they sound-check jammed to something that sounded like “Stone Cold.” A soft rocker to test out the waters. This was all well and good. They then got the night going with “MIA,” the frantic opener from excellent live album Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo. After that was a new song. After that was “Make It,” “O Katrina,” and another new song. “Make It” and “Katrina” were both listenable and very well played. This was a good thing. It was very down-hill from here. A bunch of idiots stormed the stage after like five minutes and, like on the boat cruise, all the amps became unplugged. Jared’s microphone also fell from its stand multiple times. Some asshole started talking into it all the while Jared thought it was still there. The Lips ad-libbed, while the sound “crew” was trying to fix things, a cover of Elvis’ “He Touched Me.” Parts of “Dirty Hands,” “Ain’t No Deal,” and “Fairy Stories” were played. Keep in mind “parts.” Nothing was complete about the Lips set. I blame it on the “fans”…these self-righteous douche-bags who wanted all the attention. At least the Lips got paid $10,000 to play this shit-show. The second to last song was “Sea of Blasphemy,” which almost was a valiant attempt for them to restart their set…except it was the second-to-last sosng. You know shit has gone wrong when I think “Bad Kids” is “Ghetto Cross” for a complete minute. Damn, son.
Grade: D+
No Age To Play NYC Pool Party!
The Pool Parties held on the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn are back again this summer! No Age and The Strange Boys are just about the only names that stick out to me. I tried to catch No Age at one of their Williamsburg shows last year except it poured. It poured hard. Figuring it got canceled (which I think it did), we ditched Brooklyn. No Age is set to play on July 25, but August 1 would have been much better, ‘yo. That’s because I might be going on the Black Lips NYC cruise on the 2nd. I would have been in town. There’s a shot the Lips could play that August 1 date. The bands haven’t been announced yet.
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 