Live: Insubordination Fest - day two

Day two (or three, if you count the Thursday pre-show) is always the marathon day at Insubordination Fest. Things start early and go late. It's at these junctures where one finds how one can handle the permissive PBR promotions Sonar always drums up for the affair. Having unwisely opted for much wine with Keith the night before, I was more than a little bit damaged by the time I started the day.

Having missed the mighty Banner Pilot the night before, there was no way I was going to catch an o-fer and miss Gateway District. BP mastermind Nate Ganglehoff also tenures in the band, along with Half-Pint from Rivethead/Dear Landlord, Maren from the Soviettes and Carrie from The Salteens. Things were a little shaky, but I thought they were pretty great, even if they played in front of a half-filled room. I haven't had a chance to listen to their new full-length on It's Alive, but it sounds like it's worth checking out. Review soon!

Lemuria were up next. It was the last date of their tour, but the kids hardly mailed it in. Only a twenty minute set, but a damn good one. I didn't get a chance to speak to them to see what the next move is for the crew, as the last record's been out for a bit, but I trust there will be new material soon. I caught the end of the Full Of Fancy set after they wrapped. They are a nice match with the Lemuria. I like those kids more and more. The ladies can sing and the band is tight. I need to get me that record soon.

More Dear Landlord was next. Those guys are so great. Buy the DL records as well as all their other/previous bands records immediately. Sell a Vampire Weekend record or something. They played pretty much all their songs, and had Carrie from Gateway District come out and sing the cover from Dream Homes to sweeten the pot further. So good. The gents are real busy, so go out of your way and see them as soon/much as possible while you can.

I killed time before The Measure (SA) set by catching part of Wimpy from The Queers solo set. He was backed by The Secretions, but that wasn't enough to sway me into listening to more than a song or two. Guess I'm not a Queers fan. So sue me. The Measure were good, though. The guitar player that needs to get canned was still pretty annoying, and evidently drunk and/or on pills, but the rest of the band stepped up nicely. At one point, Drunk stupid tattoo guy mentioned off-handedly that the band wouldn't be playing much while Lauren dealt with some personal issues. Here's hoping that they are handled swiftly and healthily and perhaps revolve around some staffing changes in the Measure (SA) franchise.

Had some time to kill after, so I grabbed an iced coffee and an issue of Go Metric! and relaxed a bit before catching The Arrivals. I hadn't ever intentionally seen The Arrivals and was damn anxious to rectify the situation. Met some lovely female Fastbacks fans beforehand and chatted while the gents set up, then proceeded to lose my shit for the duration of their far-too-short set. The sheer barrage of hits, combined with the knee-weakeningly lovely Hallie Unlovable dancing next to me, made for the set of IF for this guy. I hear that there may be some East Coast shows toward the end of the summer, which makes this shut-in way happy. Great songs, great people. Buy them drinks.

I caught a bit of The Adorkables afterward, but opted for a drink and some sun before local heroes Dead Mechanical took the stage. No lineup changes since the last time I saw them, which is somewhat notable. The newest 12" on Toxic Pop is still getting shine. If you like the first couple of Jawbreaker records, the gents are well worth checking out. They seemed to get a local of local and out-of-town love. Here's hoping they get back up to NYC real soon. I saw a bit of The Parasites beforehand. They sounded decent, but I think I prefer Dave backed by Ergs.

Got back to the main room to see the last couple minutes of The Methadones levelling the room with their pop-punk chestnuts. If you liked Danny's tenure in the Screeching Weasel, you would do well to snap their stuff up post-haste. If you're unfamiliar, you could do a lot worse to start than the split EP with The Copyrights. Toys That Kill were up next, and awesome. They are another band I never had seen live. I had hoped that I wouldn't be as disappointed as I was with Underground Railroad To Candyland and luckily I wasn't. Good, fast, hooky punk rock that had all the old heads in the crowd way happy. I though TTK were no longer a band, but if you can see them in this day and age, I assure you that you should.

TTK were the last band of Insubordination Fest for this asshole, as there was a pretty big void in stuff I wanted to hear and it was easily three hours before Dillinger were going on, so I bailed to be fresh for rehearsal next day. I'm sure D4 were great, but I've seen a lot of them. Even with my not seeing any of the headliners and missing Banner Pilot, Insubordination Fest 2009 was a great time. I can't see not going again next year.

R

Live: Insubordination Fest - day one

With SXSW having become Bonnaroo for douchebags and the economy being in the proverbial shitter, I've been left scrambling when it comes to economical festival opportunities. Luckily, Baltimore is close and I've got places to stay, so Insubordination Fest has been an easy go-to. There are worse ways to spend a couple days than taking in a truckload of the finest pop-punk franchises the genre has to offer. Dillinger 4 and The Dead Milkmen each headlined one of the nights, and the addition of Banner Pilot and The Arrivals made this junket that much more essential to attend.

So once the schedule was released, it came to light that the mighty Banner Pilot would be playing at 5 goddamn 50 in the afternoon on Friday. All well and good, save for the fact I was due to get into town later than that and that the set was only going to be twenty minutes. I opted for an earlier bus to buy myself more time, but by the time I posted up to get into Sonar, I could hear the BP kids finishing their last tune. A profound bummer, and furthermore, fuck I-95 traffic.

Wristband finally acquired, I strolled into the Sonar punk rock multi-plex and staked out some real estate for The Unlovables. As often happens, they were pretty great. It was another short and early set, but Hallie and the boys brought it, as per usual. No Archers Of Loaf cover in the set this time around, but I seem to remember a new track. Either way, pretty great. We need more live shows from the kids, although with Mikey Erg playing in a hundred bands currently, I'm not sure how they are going to handle these things. I'll keep you posted.

This year, there were as many as three stages going at any given time at Sonar. Next on the docket was a trip to the second stage to see California's The Secretions. They were definitely the most mohawk/dyed/vests with band colors of the bands over the weekend. Very California. They also backed up Wimpy from The Queers for his set later on in the Fest. Nice guys, and while not my favorite set of the Fest, they definitely seem worth checking out further.

Next up on the second stage was Ohio's The Dopamines, featuring Mikey Erg on guitar and marking Mike's third set of the weekend. Note that of the first nine bands that played, he played in three of them, a trend that was more the norm than the exception for the duration. I had never seen The Dopamines before, and frankly thought they were from NJ, but either way they were funny as hell in the D4 end of things and had some great tunes in the Midwestern punk tradition. I definitely need to get their records quick. Lots of beer was thrown, and there was a brief stage invasion by someone who was hell-bent on peeing on the band, but the set was pretty tight and the songs were really great. I'd love to see those guys at a basement show. I went back afterward and caught the end of the Underground Railroad To Candyland set, garnering my first disappointment of the evening. I wasn't familiar with their songs before, but they get a lot of Razorcake love, so I was excited to check them out. Sadly, I was less than impressed. Better luck next time.

The Copyrights were up next in the main room. I opted to make them my last band of the evening so I could attend to some hospitality issues, but they made for a more than adequate capper. Lots of hits and sing-a-longs, as well as a frisky crowd. Why people still care about Green Day when bands this good are around is beyond me, but I'm going to enjoy The Copyrights as much as I can while they are still playing the small rooms.

The Dead Milkmen and Boris The Sprinkler had both gotten line-ups back together to close the night, but both of those bands are enough of a toss-up that I opted for a free dinner and couple bottles of wine. With all respect to Norb, I think I made the right choice.

DAY ONE tally:
bands seen: 5
Mike Erg presence: 5 bands

Stay tuned for Day Two coverage tomorrow!

Dear Landlord - Dream Homes

Not since the release of the Shorebirds record last year has there been rejoicing on a level comparable to the elation shown at JS-NYC HQ with the arrival of the Dear Landlord full-length. Comprised of half of the dear departed Twin Cities punk stalwarts Rivethead, along with a couple of Copyrights, Dear Landlord are one of the few bands that is just as good as their predecessors.

Above and beyond their previous bands, you can discern the Screeching Weasel influence pretty easily. No slow songs, no ballads and one cover. All pretty bad-ass. They have re-recorded Three To The Beach in a not altogether displeasing manner, but from where I'm sitting, it's better on the split with Chinese Telephones. Quibbling aside, Dream Homes is out today via the lovable Floridians of No Idea Records. If you don't already have it, you may purchase via this handy link.

R

Cory Branan and Jon Snodgrass split cd

Before I get off track, let me first say that this Cory Branan/Jon Snodgrass split record is something you should pickup immediately. Both Cory and Jon are great guys and ridiculously talented singer / songwriters and Virgil and the rest of the kids at Suburban Home should be lauded heavily for all the ridiculously great records they release on the regular.

That said, what the fuck is the deal with all this animal iconography lately?!!? I'm all for totems and/or spirit animals and thought those shirts were pretty funny last century when I used to tour, but really kids? Do we need a fucking ironic eagle or cobra on the cover? I would argue no. Vociferously.

Were Snodgrass and Branan not to be the artists on this little slab of delight, I would rain bile on it ad infinitum. Wonderfully, the songs more than make up for the exceedingly ridiculous artwork. There are a couple covers and three originals from each of the gents. I'd say Branan edges out Snodgrass by a hair, but it's damn close. I think it's really only the fact that Jon dropped a solo record recently that gives him the edge. All the songs are pretty top-notch, with Branan's Yeah, So what! topping the list. That boy is trouble, personally and professionally. I wouldn't introduce him to my girlfriend, but I'd travel a real long distance to see him (or Jon) play live.

Bizarrely, this is only available on vinyl and cassette. I guess wax cylinders were unavailable, but I would venture that there must be some digital approximation of this stuff to be had. Pick up the record here and find Snodgrass and Branan through the highlighted links.

R

Live: Patterson Hood and the Screwtopians with Will Johnson at Bowery Ballroom 6.24.9

The new Patterson Hood record Murdering Oscar and other love songs had been inching ever closer to the top of the pile before Traci at Thirty Tigers got in touch about seeing the show at Bowery. His first solo record Killers and Stars, dropped almost five years ago now, but Patterson always has a million songs in various stages of completion. Many of them have been recorded for the new record, but there are easily an equal number still gestating.

The Screwtopians are Patterson's solo band, featuring Neff and EZB from Drive By Truckers, Scott Danborn and Will Johnson from Centro-matic, with Mr. Dave Barbe filling out the line-up on bass. Look at that band and then tell me how the hell this show didn't sell better. I know I'm broke, but the economy can't be so bad that this show should have been so sparsely attended. The ignorance of New Yorkers never fails to astound me. Will opened up the evening with a short solo set, featuring a pretty great Husker cover, Danborn for a tune or two, and a tune with the Screwtopians to close the set. Will deserves to be very famous, very soon. We should all do everything we can to make that the case.

I had hoped for a seamless set, especially with The Screwtopians coming out for Will's last song, but it was not to be. They were out soon enough, working through some sound problems, but still pretty much killing it. You would do well to pick up a copy of the new record stat. It's got recorded versions of Heavy and Hanging and Back Of A Bible and some other newer fare. Even though I haven't reviewed it formally, you would be wise to buy it immediately via this handy link. Check out the tourdates here and get your friends to go see those Screwtopians. The show is far too good to be passed over in favor of the next spate of DBT shows.

R

Live: The Copyrights, The Unlovables, Dear Landlord & House Boat @ Fontana's 6.22.9

I had been saying for a couple weeks now that this show was the NYC show of the year (thus far) and now that it's done, you'd be hard-pressed to get me to say otherwise.

I showed up at Fontana's a couple songs into the House Boat set. Wonderfully enough, the listing of the bands was woefully inaccurate, listing The Copyrights as going on first, an eventuality that was rapidly rushing me towards apoplexy. I was pleased to find that someone was just an idiot. House Boat features the ubiquitous Mikey Erg on drums, along with Grath and Ace from the The Steinways. Zack Rivethead fills out the lineup on guitars and vocals. It's better on paper, at least at this juncture, but it was only their second show. Don't get me wrong, it was real good, but I think I'd like it a lot more with more time to marinate on the songs. There's evidently a record coming soon, recorded at Sonic Iguana with Luke from The Copyrights. Somebody would do well to hook a brother up. Hint, Hint.

Next up was Dear Landlord, who are simply awesome. Featuring half of The Copyrights and half of Rivethead (R.I.P), they have finally gotten around to recording a full-length that's coming out this Tuesday on No Idea. It is staggeringly awesome. Pick it up immediately. We got most, if not all of their canon and the room got real frisky real quick. Every song is a slice of some post-Weasel pop punk goodness that should be played as much as possible. See them live, buy their records, name your children and bands after them.

The Unlovables made one of their increasingly frequent live appearances next. They had a couple of new songs and sounded pretty great. Hallie has not gotten any less lovely, I will tell you, and the older songs still hold up nicely. The local kids were out in force and loving said Unlovables (aided and abetted by liberal amounts of Rolling Rock). They are an awesome time live and the Archers Of Loaf cover doesn't hurt one damn bit. Here's hoping we get some new stuff out quick, and some more live shows soon.

The Copyrights closed the evening in righteous fashion, churning out banger after banger that would make lesser bands hang it up stat. The well-lubricated crowd was chomping at the bit to see the Kings of Carbondale and the gents did not disappoint. If there is a better punk sing-a-long than Cashiers, I have yet to hear it. Luke didn't make it on this trip and Ronnie from The Arrivals has stepped into the breach to savage the drum kit, but that was the only thing close to disappointing. For the record, Ronnie was awesome, as was everything about their set.
How four of the best punk bands in America could play for $8 and not sell out is beyond me. I heard the next night in Brooklyn had a lot more bodies in the room, but there is no reason why a show this good shouldn't have been better attended. You punks need to get off your lazy asses.

R

Off To Insubordination Fest

Ok, kids:

Time for me to hop a freight off to Baltimore and get me a piece of that Insubordination Fest. Talk to you soon. Here's a link.

R