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"Brand New Key" singer Melanie (above circa 1971, below circa 2006) performs at The Record Collector in Bordentown on Wednesday, Oct. 20, and Thursday, Oct. 21. Over the years, she's established herself as one of the most memorable folk singers of the early 1970s.
“The Exodus of Autonomy” is this North Carolina metal-scene screamer’s Victory Record debut. The record, and its thrash mechanicals “hints at what other bands do,” guitarist Steven Funderbunk says without mentioning any names but winking at his ground’s morbid sound relations with roster-mates Darkest Hour and Between The Buried and Me. “It’s our own interpretation of this certain type of metal,” he said. It’s brutish and unforgiving with whirl-winning guitars - and makes for a sickly-satisfying companion to your Halloween circle-pitting. The furious five headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) this afternoon. Show starts at 4. Antagonist, Hadean Reign, Unhallowed, In Wake Of the Plague and A Call To Arms round out the bill. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.
The blind jazz pianist, Hurricane Katrina survivor and – get this – superstar photographer - headlines The Trenton War Memorial (1 Memorial Dr., Trenton) tonight. An eight-time W.C. Handy Best Instrumentalist for Piano award nominee, “the pride of New Orleans” according to Dr. John, “and a visionistical down home cat,” Butler told The Trentonian in 2008 that the flood was so catastrophic the black keys off his 1925 Mason & Hamlin piano became unglued from the white ones. He still stayed positive that his town would recover and has returned to star in local pubs since the massive storm. “Man, for days and weeks there were episodes where I’d just cry,” he told On The Beat, the flood still fresh in his mind. “(But) with devastation there’s always something on the horizon or something greater.” He might have been talking about a Super Bowl win for the Saints. Maybe? Show starts at 7. Tickets cost $25. All-ages.
The “Siberian Surf Rock” foursome get Chris Isaak slinky with “Night Butterfly” – the California band’s most spun track off their MySpace page. The band just completed their second Russia tour last month and is now on a two-month Fall tour, which hits up The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tonight. Show starts at 7:30. Kingabilly opens. Tickets cost $22 in advance, $25 at the door. All-ages.
PHOTO BY/SCOTT FROST
Modern rock radio - which has been more than just listenable this days – just aren’t giving the “After Hours” guys a break. “Barbara” – the New York band’s fourth album – features the shimmering pop goodness and catchy tunage 104.5 has more than enough space to squeeze in-between regular spins of MGMT, Muse and Phoenix if they just cut the overdose of Foo Fighters rotations in half and drop U2 altogether. Or take We Are Scientists’ own advise from “Rules Don’t Stop”: “Although it may seem unconventional sometimes/indiscretion is worth a try/if you just play along I promise we’ll be fine.” A great live band, too, the trio, whose youthful musical jump lines up with bands like Franz Ferdinand, slide into The Wonder Bar (1213 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) tonight. Show starts at 7. The Static Jacks and Rewards open. Tickets cost $13 in advance, $15 at the door. 18-plus.
The Long Beach surf-rockers describe their music as “beach goth.” It sounds like Ricky Nelson pop-ti-fying Luna for a slow ride over the cliffs of the North Coast Highway. The band headline Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tonight. Show starts at 8. The Amboys and TV Tramp open. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
The Trenton band – featuring singers See Wise and Ja-Tun Thomas – consists of a full rhythm section and sax player, and when they get down, they blend up top 40, swing, soul, Latin, pop, funk, R&B and reggae so that everyone gets up and dances. The eight-piece plays The Trenton Marriott (1 W. Lafayette St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
Candye Kane
The brazen, busty, bi-sexual blues singer - who for a time trademarked her natural H-cups on the covers of “Hustler,” “Juggs,” “Floppers” and on X-Rated greeting cards – models her seductive country gospel on the works of Etta James and Bessie Smith. A larger-than-life figure and Cancer survivor, Kane is retired from porn, and instead has become a prime-time player in the Gay pride community and at blues festivals around the world. She played for the President of Italy at the French Embassy in Rome and at the Cannes Film Festival. And in her native San Diego, the memoirs of her turbulent life were transformed into a popular stage play, “The Toughest Girl Alive.” Kane headlines The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7:30. Show starts at 8. Tickets cost $17.50 in advance, $20 at the door. All-ages.
Jason Beebout was one of those rare singers from the late ’90s underground punk scene who just couldn’t write a tune that didn’t fire a pulse right into your soul. Hardly the most popular band to leap from the Berkley scene, Samiam were everything you needed from a band of that era: tight musicianship, edge, addictive melodies and passionate lyrics conjured so tightly they can be recited right back into Beebout’s face at live shows. Their later records were more hardcore based, but the songs remained harmonious and gut-wrench-ly powerful compared to the lame-ass pop punk that swarmed the Warped Tour scene after Samiam and into the millennium. They’ve just started touring again after a sad break-up in the late ’90s – landing in The Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) tomorrow night. Show starts at 8. The Casting Out (ex-Boy Sets Fire), Communication Redlight and Let Me Run round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. 21-plus.
The New Brunswick ska-core killjoys say goodbye to guitarist Matty Glock with a party at Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. Show starts at 8. Miland and the Sour Goat open. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
TASK’s SHARE Project Poets and FunkTASKtics
The Soup Kitchen singers crown Mercer County’s Cultural and Heritage Commission’s Eyes on Mercer Weekend with a free show at Artworks (19 Everett Alley, Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts at 1. All-ages.
Electro dream pop a la Zero 7 and jammy melodic rock with piano-jazz coloring has these North Carolina natives reaching out to Muse and Snow Patrol for potential tour slots. It’s not the typical rage-rock you get from Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon shows. It’ll be soothing, actually, and a little tranquil, too. Show starts at noon. Devolver, After Chidori, Meet/Pause, In Musth, The Gurchick Tree, Amongst The Brave, No Such Noise! and Ruins of Akora play, too. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
The Trenton alt-rocker released a 12-song debut LP “Sudden Instant Dance Syndrome” in March. Need to hear it in its entirety. Snippets we’ve heard reveal a post-grunge, Seattle-now sound, with the instrumentations reminding us of darker Minus The Bear with dashes of early At The Drive-In, Jawbox and A Perfect Circle. The four piece headline The Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) Saturday night. Show starts at 10. (Damn) This Desert Air and Communication Redlight open. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Trenton blues-rock legends roll-out two sets at The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.
The British-born singer has been stalking us on Facebook. Wants On The Beat to mention how he’s “trying to bring back the peaceful messages and meaning to music, like John Lennon did.” Mentioned his “improvised, unusual and memorable performances” are always “humorous,” free and in family environments like the Beanwood Coffee (222 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) where he encourages children to attend on Saturday night because they’ll “love it,” Elipsus said. He sings like Ryan Adams with “American Idol” aspirations and makes his own videos – where he uses images of “Twilight” vamp teens and Rachel McAdams make-out scenes to suck in the listener. Show starts at 7. All-ages.
Buck County’s top tour draw have done a great job recycling a lot of their influences – “White Pony”-era Deftones, Sunny Day Real Estate, Glassjaw and Mars Volta - into an aggressive-rock hybrid that appeals to alt-rock, punk, emo and hardcore fans alike. And with wordsmith Anthony Green overlapping that edgy landscape with the type of poetic calmness and ease that keeps our web-investigating teens forever searching for spiritual meaning within his lyrics, and recent success on mainstream radio, don’t be surprised if Circa Survive spits out those same influences to future garage bands looking for a bit of class to their rough beginnings for decades to come. Another super live band, the guys – which feature Neshaminy High and Hamilton High alums – headline The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Saturday night. Show starts at 7:30. Codeseven and Animals As Leaders open. Tickets cost $17.50 in advance, $20 at the door. All-ages.
The Japanese electro duo’s like an Anime rendition of 3OH3!, but with the bad rap replaced by battery-charged dance rock with a Stereo MCs flavor. The Wonder Bar (1213 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Saturday night. Show starts at 6. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $20 at the door. 16-plus.
Produced by Josh Wilbur and Lamb Of God’s Chris Adler, “Haunt What’s Life” - this Lancaster nu metaler’s debut – has the same crushing instrumentation at Lamb Of God, but with melodic sways in the choruses that have this Linkin Park feeling. A pretty brutal banger nonetheless, it’ll be the featured attraction of the “Over The Limit” tour slamming into Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Sunday afternoon. Show starts at 2. Texas In July, Where the Ocean Meets The Sky, The World Ends With You, A Tragedy Foreseen, Morgan’s Accident, Through The Flood, Years After Life, Deception Theory, Embracing Disaster and We Were Once Heroes round out the bill. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $14 at the door. All-ages.
Even with a tour with Despised Icon now in the distance, the B-More death grinders are back on their death roll – spinning their own brand of chaos-conjured slam-core onto Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Monday afternoon. Show starts at 4. Sus Domesticus, Legionary, Korotory and Pound For Pound play, too. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.
The grunge-punks – think Shellac mixed with The Melvins and Pats!e - open for Local Demise at The Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) Tuesday night. Show starts at 10. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
Time-machine me back to 1971 and I’d be all about getting my brand new key into this singer’s “new pair of roller skates.” She was a cute little thang back when “Brand New Key” was tearing up pop radio and reaching the top of the Billboard charts. Hmmm … Maybe it’s that the song got Roller Girl in the mood to test out Marky Mark’s bloated member, in that tantalizing scene from “Boogie Nights,” that brings on the erotic sweats? Man, that song’s sexy! Melanie, now 63, has become a folk icon since going gold with “Brand New Key,” with a recent press quotes out of England stating it’s “hard to disagree that Melanie has earned her place alongside Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell and Marianne Faithful in the pantheon of iconic female singers.” In a rare, up-close and personal showcase for Trenton-area folk fans, Melanie is slated to headline two shows at The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) this Wednesday and next Thursday night. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $30. All-ages. Wednesday’s show was added after tickets to next Thursday’s show nearly sold out. Only general admission spots left for the Oct. 21 show.
Fitting smack dap in the center of that indie rock spectrum popular among underground bands these days that runs from country folk to Whisky-bred punk comes “Rebellion” (Paper + Plastick) – the road-tested new offering from these Richmond rockers. The record shows off the band’s Social Distortion influences – especially in the real-to-life lyrics of singer Brett Adams – and sounds like Gaslight Anthem and Let Me Run mixed with Good Riddance and Avail. Good stuff. Their “Dive Bars & Burritos Fall Tour” crashes into Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) Wednesday night. Show starts at 8. Red City Radio and Trenton’s The Great Explainer play, too. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
Scott Frost’s On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian and at www.trentonian.com every Thursday. If your band is playing around town, email the On the Beat web line at djscott111@aol.com.
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