STS9’s latest album, “Axe The Cable,” has one of the most relaxed feels of any album that I’ve ever listened to.
The album has a sort of soulful sound when you listen to it. It causes you to go back in time and think about all of the good things that happened to in your lifetime.
The smooth and urban-y dispatch of their new hit songs like “New Soma,” “The Following,” “Dem Be,” “Re Stereo,” and the other 16 songs on the album literally melted and brought my heart and soul back into the 1960s.
STS9 is making a lot of waves. The band has some very awesome vibes to it. I would classify them as “urban contemporary.” I share this feeling with my boss, Scott Frost. He also thinks the band has a soulful sound and smooth vibes, but also like the trance elements and explosive live show.
I would recommend this album to anyone who likes urban contemporary music with a smooth jazz feel.
Any way you put it, STS9 should stand for “Sounds Too Smooth Now.”
My pick of the album is Track 9, entitled “Lo Swaga”.
STS9 will be performing August 14 at the Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. For more information visit sts9.com.
Brian Fallon is an emotional guy. You can hear it in his lyrics. You can see it in his face when he's performing - like here, at the Great Plaza at Philadelphia's Penn's Landing. So On The Beat will play therapist and dissect facial expression by facial expression - for fun of course.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart perform at The Siren Music Festival in Coney Island.
CONEY ISLAND, NY - New York's The Pains of Being Pure at Heart gushed while taking the stage at Coney Island's Siren Music Festival a few weeks back.
That's probably because their old pros of the annual Coney Island summer event that's been known to feature top flight indie acts before they go pro with the mega festival circuit. Old pros, however, baking in the sun as fans with the only sigh of relief from the heat being the shadow offering of The Cyclone roller coaster.
"Being at Siren Fest ... we think that's so rad," said singer Peggy Wang. "I was at the very first Siren. Saw Rainer Maria and Superchunk and Guided By Voices."
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart's self-titled debut has been on heavy rotation at the On The Beat offices since January - a little late, yes, but so thankful they fell into our lives. The music's sort of synth-pop Morrissey, but cheerful with a sugar base.
Ted Leo and The Pharmacists and Matt & Kim headlined. Missed Matt & Kim, but Ted Leo - who we hadn't seen live in years - was totally explosive. An awesome, energetic set to say the least. The highlight however, was a special appearance by The Screaming Females' Marissa Patemoster. The New Brunswick, NJ, set screamer leapt from behind the scenes with a fury of vocal massacres that pierced ears.
The Screaming Females set for earlier in the day was certainly a highlight. Veterans of the New Brunswick basement scene that produced the likes The Gaslight Anthem, Lifetime and Let Me Run, this might be they band that'll emerge from this year's Sirefest and were already featured in Spin and Rolling Stone and on MTV. Go Jersey!
Singer Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem rocks out at The Great Plaza in Philadelphia on July 29. The New Brunswick diamonds in the rough headline The Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park Thursday night.
Garden State pride was loud and proud last week when the New Brunswick rockers stormed Philly’s Penn’s Landing Grant Plaza. Were the chants of “Jersey” deafening to be heard across the Delaware? Probably not. But singer Brian Fallon took notice. “It’s like screaming your old girls name at your new girls house,” Fallon said with a smile, a Hall & Oates record draped across the monitor behind him. “We have to be respectful. Plus, the Flyers almost brought it home last year.” Not bad for a band who went from attracting a paying crowd of 20 at Trenton’s Mill Hill Basement in 2006 to now drawing thousands of ink-scarred punk purists and mosh-rookie, meathead frat boys. “American Slang,” the punk band’s new disc, is a slice of shore-bred Americana chock filled with intoxication-induced love ballads that’ll have Bruce Springsteen and Kings Of Leon fans serenading their girlfriends and contemplating matching heart tattoos. That record, and 2008’s “’59 Sound,” will make up a majority of tonight’s set list at The Stone Pony Summer Stage (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park). Show starts at 6. Frank Turner and William Elliot Whitmore open. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $30 at the door. All-ages.
Danny Vapid, whose pop-punk resume includes prominent stops in Screeching Weasel and The Queers, brings his more-melodic-less-snooty new band to The Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) tomorrow night. The three-chord energy has this Bad Religion appeal, while the quaint, playful harmonies pay homage to Jawbreaker, Squirtgun and “Kurplunk”-era Green Day – especially in the solemn heart-twister, “A Single Bullet.” Also for fans of The Replacement, Husker Du, “Feel The Pain”-era Dinosaur Jr. and fellow Chi-town indie punks Naked Raygun. Show starts at 10. Downbound City (Verd of 37 Slurp, Joe of Break Away), The Stark Blues and Band of Beards (ex Whiskey Flask Revenge!) round out the bill. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The babe-built Brooklyn foursome’s low-fi art-punk rhythm collisions combine the dark and distorted musical turmoil of the San Francisco ’60s acid-rock scene with the fever-y poetic howl of a Karen O. For fans of “Fever To Tell”-style Yeah Yeah Yeahs, School of Seven Bells and The Breeders. The girls headline The All Call Inn (214 Weber Ave., Ewing) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. The Timid Roosevelts, Steer and The Vast I Am play, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Jersey metalers’ Pantera-influenced thrash marches and Hatebreeding tough-core tantrums get the pit-tornado spinning out of control. As for fans of hardcore truth speakers Earth Crisis and Bane, Clive Barker’s mental imbalance and Rob Zombie flicks. The fearsome foursome headlines Championship Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Mourning, Dark Sacrement, Ollipeist and Machina Infernace round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
The pro-pot Undead-head and former guitarist for horror-punk icons, The Misfits, plays a solo set at The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Ani DiFranco’s bad-boy folkster friend, Hammell On Trial headlines. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door. All-ages.
The rocksteady soul-searchers’ “We Can’t Wait” CD hit the streets last week, and On the Beat got saxman Johnny B to drop some knowledge about its musical makeup so that everyone knows what in store for tomorrow night’s live revue at McCormick’s Pub (266 Somerset St., New Brunswick). He said the songs are like “The Skatalites hav(ing) a drink with Memphis (Otis Redding) and NoLa (Lee Dorsey) Soul at the pub with Inspector 7 sitting in the corner waiting for another round.” Yeah, it’s that tight. And heavily jazz influenced, too, for long nights of beer sipping by the lake. Show starts at 10. Tickets cost $3. 21-plus.
Unlike former Up Records label mates Modest Mouse, Doug Martsche’s indie-rock fluttering and caustic lyrical tone never turned out a radio hit here on the East Coast. But that’s never stopped the trio from packing in mid-sized venues and open-air arenas to the seams the last decade, where they mix up favorites with odd covers of M.I.A., Steve Miller and “The Peanuts” theme. Matt Groening is one of the band’s many famous fans that seem to cross all musical planes. Psycho rhyme slayer Cage couldn’t even “get that sound (Martsche) make(s) out of (his) head” when straight-up ganking the jangler “I Would Hurt A Fly” in his head rattler “Ballad of Worms.” Built To Spill makes a local stop at The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. Show starts at 7. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $30 at the door. All-ages.
The growls off the Wisconsin death metalers’ new disc, “What Horrors Await,” are reminiscent of “Chaos A.D.”-era Sepultura - where the Larynx isn’t wasted on that wussy emo soft-served fake-core. Also for fans of Obituary and The Black Dahlia Murder. The metal band headlines Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts a 2. Woe Of Tyrants, Lightning Swords Of Death, Last [Red] Ember, Nightfire, March To Victory, VTT, Orion and The Difference play, too. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $14 at the door. All-ages.
The surf-tinged garage pop from these way-out New Yorkers will get your go-go-ing bum a twisting. For fans of The Monkees and The Cramps. The foursome play Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. The Doughboys headlines. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.
The local singer-songwriter plays the second day of The Rootstock Music Festival (36 Cpl. Luigi Marciante Jr. Blvd., Jackson) on Sunday. Show starts at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The two-stage assault includes sets from original, cover and tribute bands the likes of 15 Keys, Friends of Bill Wilson, Instant Karma, Black Dog, Danny Nova, Matt O’Ree, Yasgurs Farms, Dr. Cheeko, Black Reign and Blondsense. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $16 at the door. All-ages.
The Jammy winners - whose improvisations takes a page out of Iron Maiden and King Crimson’s song book more than Phish and The Grateful Dead – unleash their scientific progressions from The Stone Pony Summer Stage (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Saturday night. Show starts at 6:30. Tickets cost $27.50 in advance, $30 at the door. All-ages.
The angelic O.C. hard rockers – think a holy-rolling AFI getting paddled with the Ten Commandments by Gravity Kills and Bullet For My Valentine - headline The Wonder Bar (1213 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Sunday night. Show starts at 4:30. The Wedding opens. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.
The Philly rockers feature an ex member of The Ruining and a peddle-to-the-metal punk stomp reminiscent of an angrier and country-trampled Smoke Or Fire or Off With Their Heads. They roll into Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Lanes) Wednesday night. Show starts at 8. New Brunswick’s Let Me Run, Trenton’s Downbound City and Asbury’s Taylor Allen (Skull Motion) play, too. Tickets cost $7. 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.
WWE valet Virgil shakes hands with On The Beat Editor Scott Frost. He was selling his autographs for $15 and posing for pictures.
CONEY ISLAND, NY - A former WWE valet tells On the Beat he too sees the comparisons of LeBron James' banding with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh for the Miami Heat next season to Hulk Hogan's decision to turn heel and join the nWo in 1996.
Virgil, real name Mike Jones, was selling his soul on the Coney Island Boardwalk last Saturday when he was stopped by On the Beat and asked about the comparison.
Virgil, best known as Ted "The Million Dollar Man" DiBiase's money holder/manager/indentured servant for the then WWF in the '80s and ''90s, was a valet for the nWo - taking the brunt of most battles as he was usually thrown to the wolves as a decoy so that the rest of the crew was able to sneak in for the kill. He was one of a few jobbers for the nWo and was thought to be out of wrestling. He's back on WWE TV now, though, in a feud with Ted's kid. "I'm going to take Ted's title at Wrestlemania," Virgil said in the only promo I ever heard him do.
At first Virgil didn't see the correlation between the Hulkster's move to the NwO and LeBron's evil switch over to the Wade's Heat.
"Nah," Virgil said, when asked the question.
"But you know what," he said after pondering for a minute. "I can see that.
"But he's going to bring home a title."
Found it a bit surprising that Virgil hadn't heard the comparison. It had been a topic of juxtaposition among sports morning shows and on the net (see some funny videos below - thanks to Queens Mike, who's also pictured shaking Virgil's hand).
Well, he had been hit in the head a few times - maybe even more than your average wrestler. He's Canadian, too.
PHILADELPHIA - If there's one band that's excelled in the in-between songs it's We Are Scientists.
The New York rockers kept the atmosphere jovial at Philly's Johnny Brendas on July 15. And the inside sweat shop - with the air conditioning hardly cooling down the band's on-stage antics - played along.
"We made a lot of mistakes in Philadelphia," said bass player Chris Cain, "and never paid for one of them."
Not sure what Cain was talking about, but We Are Scientists have the reputation of using comedy to explain themselves while also being the life of the party. Rumor has it singer Keith Murray showed up to a SXSW gig so intoxicated he was barely able to perform. And that had to be a shame, because every time On The Beat's in attendance - be it at a mega fest like Coachella or inside a tiny club like Asbury Park's Wonder Bar - the trio always delivers. It was also good for them that Philadelphia was ready for a good old shake down. In fact the packed house passed on the struggle of extreme humidity to jiggle along from first to last song.
The guys played nearly every song off the new record, "Barbara" - including the single "Rules Don't Stop" - but the most shaking came during the "oh ... oh ... ohs" in the almost five-years-old track, "Nobody Move Nobody Gets Hurt" and the closer, "After Hours."
Probably one of the best live sets I've seen this year. It just rocked my socks off.
The Trenton trio’s rock ’n’ roll flow ridin’ tends to skin the concrete between alt-glam Stone Temple Pilots and screamy, sci-fi power punk. But that’s changed. On The Beat’s learned the gang is working on two new singles expected to drop in the winter time, featuring a “radio-ready with integrity” delivery aimed at Muse and Foo Fighters fans. “Crying Out,” the only song available on the band’s MySpace right now, is a suicide dive of punk grime that’s been an On The Beat fave for a couple years now. A staple of their live shows, it should be the highlight of tonight’s free acoustic jam at the Hot Topic at The Quaker Bridge Mall (3320 Quaker Bridge Road, Lawrence) tonight. Show starts at 7.All-ages.
The Woodbridge rockers’ perplexing opera punk mixes Mike Patton vocal posturing with Sonic Youth. The foursome’s seven-month siesta since releasing its “Done Waiting For The Day” last summer ends with a performance at The Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) tonight. Show starts at 9. Sludge punks, The Sex Zombies, play, too. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
Hear a bit of Propaghandi in the Ewing trio’s head-spinning thrash-punk these days. Also gaining an appreciation for the whirl-winding progressive psycho shreds in the guitars and unapologetic bark. If only NoFX was still looking for the perfect opener to their 1996 “Eating Lamb” tour these guys – banded together for the first time two years later – would be set. Going to fight the good fight, though, with a nationwide tour that begins in Baltimore next week with stops in Kansas City, Denver and Seattle. A hometown warm up date starts it all off at Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 6. Pistol Monk, Amalgama, Live Set Disaster and A Call To Arms round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. All-ages.
The Princeton rubber-room rapper mixes up his slippery rhyme style with the Trenton free-for-all grunge-core sound slayers for what should be an event of pandemonious proportions at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) tomorrow night. Roebus - On the Beat’s favorite word technician – said he’s been working with DEMO for a few months now, and that the rock band will make a major musical impact to the follow-up to 2009’s “Reflections of Goodbye.” “We jammed one night and recorded a few songs. I freestyled a bit and played drums on one song,” Roebus tells On The Beat. “They are like the music I hear in my head before I even met them.” For fans of El-P and “The Judgment Night” soundtrack.Show starts at 9. Stampy Goblyn plays, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Welsh guitarist from bluesy Brits Sovoy Brown headlines The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tomorrow night. His acoustic solo work is said to be on the jazzy side, which is a contrast to the electricity of Simmonds’ time with Savory Brown. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $18 at the door. All-ages.
Southern rock ’n’ roll with a poly-minded Rage Against the Machine rap attack for Faith No More and Pearl Jam fans is what’s on the menu when this local trio headline The Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Trenton’s Honah Lee (Philo, Moscow Girls), The Wait and The Turnpike Sailors round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
The beach-bumming shoegazers – think a soft and spacey My Bloody Valentine high on daffodils – headline Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. Also for fans of A Perfect Circle and Radiohead instrumentals. Show starts at 8. Dr. Void & The Death Machines, Status Green, The Obvious and DJ Jim Curran round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. 18-plus.
The punk-core players headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
The Hawaii power-pop tour warriors released “There’s No Place Like Home” in June. It’s infectiously melodic stuff with harmony-laden breakdowns topped off with aggro sing-along choruses like Four Year Strong. The tour hits The Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) Saturday night. Show starts at 5. Illusionist, This Is Our Fight and Cowabunga open. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
The New York City ska lords - who dropped “Steal My Sound” in May - are more hyper than The Skatalites but are cut from the same cloth in relation to the music’s island rhythm tradition. Third-wave ska in its labeling, their rock ’n’ roll and punk additives were also born out of the spirit of the scene’s new wave chart toppers, Bad Manners and The English Beat. For fans of The Toasters and aging hot chicks in plaid skirts, too. With some “ska saved up for a rainy day” at their disposal, the gang is all set to headline 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 Trenton alt rockers – think post-stoney Queens of Stone Age – hit up The Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Blind Man Drive plays, too. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
The perpetually heart-broken Hamilton high schoolers recently woke up from their strength-saving slumber to play a few shows – including a co-headlining spot with Reckless at Brewsters (529 Route 130 N, East Windsor) Sunday afternoon. Right before their hiatus it looked like their bittersweet harmonies and tempestuous lyrical cries – think Circa Survive or Cursive – had set them up as the top teen attraction around. Well, singer Jeff Del Valle tells On The Beat that there’s new material in the works to sob over, and that some of those tunes will be on display this weekend. Show starts at 1. Here and Now, The Central Fuse and Paul Bedford round out the bill. Tickets cost $5. All-ages.
The bluegrass blitzing Stillwater roots rockers headline The Stone Pony (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Saturday night. Show starts at 5. Assembly of Dust opens. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $30 at the door. All-ages.
The kill-core metallic masochists - whose name is defined as a type of brain trauma that causes its victims to forget words and names – headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Sunday afternoon. Show starts at 2. Battleships, In Wake Of the Plague, ArchaeuM, Morgan’s Accident, Angel Of Fire, Yours Truly and Assayer play, too. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
Still getting lifted after more than 20 years on the hip-hop circuit, the cannabis crusaders dropped “Rise Up” earlier this year – their eighth studio effort. Not much of a departure from the Latin lingo-ing rap-rock mashing they’ve done on their past record, the newest features guitar work from Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) a Spanish soiree from crunker Pitbull and a sonnet from Marc Anthony. They’ll get smoked out with ragga-dub fusionists Slightly Stoopid at the Stone Pony Summer Stage (913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park) Sunday night. Show starts at 5. Collie Buddz with The New Kingston Band play, too. Tickets cost $37.50 in advance, $40 at the door. All-ages.
1996’s “Joe Black” is a four-minute hell-riding explosion of murderous woofs and grating musicianship that not only helped establish the Florida death metal champions’ violent hostility as among the most extreme music in the world, but also set the bar for all heavy music to follow. They’ve had tons of lineup changes over the years, but have always remained brutally minded. Original bassist Jason Blachowicz stopped tattooing for a living to record “Invidious Dominion” – Malevolent Creation’s 11th studio album, due out August 24 on Nuclear Blast. He told metalunderground.com the new offering “is going to rip the weak and feeble to shreds.” Cool! There’ll be something fresh to melt your brain to when the hate-breeders hit up Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Wednesday night. Show starts at 4. Misery Index, Gigan, Anticosm, Her Virgin Womb, Death Sick, I Am The Trireme, Hadean Reign and Hydro Shock play, too. Tickets cost $15. 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.
It's packed from boardwalk to amusement park at the annual Siren Music Festival every summer in Coney Island, NY. Now in its 10th year, the free concert featuring Matt and Kim, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Surfer Blood is all day Saturday, July 17.
Pretty excited about this Saturday's Siren Music Festival in Coney Island. Never been there before, because I usually hit up the Warped Tour this weekend. But this lineup is sick and that lineup is too juvenile for this getting older blogger. So braving the heat for the annual free outdoor concert is where On the Beat is headed this weekend.
What we wanted to do was get you psyched up a bit by offering some free music. Check out the set times at the bottom. And surf back here next week for a review of the event.
The pissed-off dispatch of the San Francisco slayer’s month-old CD, “Goner,” (Metal Blade Records) blends scaring death-core and Entombed-taught thrash with modern-day metallic bloodletting for instilling fear into the human race. Crushing stuff to say the least. The musical monsters – who have web reviewers comparing the throwback track “Old Bones” to vintage Minor Threat – headline Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tonight. Show starts at 8. California’s Funeral Pyre, New York’s Tiger Flowers and Tom’s River’s An Open Ended Sky round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. 18-plus.
The job-dodging Trenton alt-rockers’ split EP with The Plurals has gotten some nice press lately. Philly’s Examiner online addiction say the band – while spelling their name completely wrong throughout the article – have “the rare ability to succeed in the confined space of three minutes and distorted guitars along with melodies that will get stick in your head for days on end.” They’ve been touring all summer long with road trips to New York, Fairfield, Pompton Lakes and New Brunswick coming up. Until then, they’ll headline McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) tomorrow night. For fans of The Replacements and Weezer.California’s The Scarred and The New Threat, and Central Jersey’s Radio Exiles (Jimbo of Garden State Soul fame) round out the bill. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Pocono party poppers’ cascading electronics and synth-shocked bedazzlers – think Chromeo, Soft Cell and the theme to the ’84 Saturday morning cartoon classic “Kidd Video” – get its neon glow on at Six Flag’s Great Adventure’s (1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson) Live & Local stage tomorrow night. Show starts at 6:30. Free with admission to the park. All-ages.
The female-fronted New York outfits’ bubbly jolly pop and kooky lyrical liveliness will get you in the mood for Go Sailor, Rainer Maria, The Summer Set, and ’90s janglers Juliana Hatfield and Mary Lou Lord. The foursome headline Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night. Show starts at 8. The Sundials open. Tickets cost $8. 18-plus.
“Duck, Duck, Grey Goose,” the effects-driven pop-rock dittie off the Ohio band’s 2009 EP “Digital Spaces” (Fearless Records), nicely represents the current wave of Warped Tour bands that seem rely less on searing guitar and puffed up vocal yells and more on electrified keyboards and harmony-heavy sing-along choruses that get stuck in your head for hours. Their sound is this generations Panic! At the Disco – who were the first successful band of the millennium to melt club-like beats with pogo-prompting punk rock. Fall Out Boy utilized these electronic additives, too. As do Let’s Get It label mates Mayday Parade, whose infectious pop rhythms and target audience – trendy teen girls in neon sunglasses and scenester boys in excessively tight jeans who look to score with said girls – are basically the same. The Dayton five-piece – who have more than 4,000 fans on social network PureVolume.com - headline The Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) Saturday night. Show starts at 5. The Blue Pages, Stay, Return To Gold and Somersault Sunday play, too. Tickets cost$10. All-ages.
The fist-flying trench punks fight for the rights of the everyman – and pot-smoking cop haters, too - with ’70s-inspired riot rock with a Minor Threat temper and classic skin-ska state of mind of Citizen Fish. Also for fans of Swingin’ Utters, Rancid, The Clash and GBH. The sharpies headline Championship Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Bull Dozer, Rough On Rats, Barcode Youth, Not In Public and Mahlors round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
The politically minded Philly ragga rockers – think State Radio with a Mars Volta-like, Latin energy - headline the All Call Inn (214 Weber Ave., Ewing) Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Amleah and The Vast I Am open. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Atlantic City five piece, whose fuel-injected hard-rock restorations sound a lot like Black Label Society, headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Mind Fish and A Light Divided open. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
The Drexel songwriter made headlines in 2008 when he won a 2008 Internet search to open a sold-out Coldplay concert at the Wachovia Center. Since then the Rancocas Valley High School graduate’s been specializing in a charming, acoustically centered indie-folk mesh of Flaming Lips and Citizen Cope. More recently, the bassist for the Philly “fractured-pop” band Goodnight Lights flexed his ukulele muscle when scoring the music to the indie flick “Exit 117.” Labeled as New Jersey’s take on “The Breakfast Club,” Delso will debut tunes from “Exit 117” at a screening of the movie at The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. Show starts at 8. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.Drexel
The New York-based worship rockers’ angelic alt-pop resurrects Six Flag’s Great Adventure’s (1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson) Live & Local stage on Saturday night. For fans of Jars Of Clay and DC Talk. Show starts at 6:30. Hopewell’s Selkow plays, too. Free with admission to the park. All-ages.
The punk rockers have a noisy, take-no-prisoners, Germs feel to them that can get a little crusty. They play Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Sunday afternoon with Teen Wolves and Threatening Youth Show. Show starts at 4. Tickets cost $10. All0-ages.
The sultry-voiced singer got to open for David Lee Roth once. Her songs also appeared on “The Real World” and “Dawson’s Creek.” She even shared a stage with Steve Mill Band. You’ll love her if you dig on Shawn Colvin and Joan Osbourne. And if have time to wander between getting wet on Congo Rapids and a bucking, white-knuckle run on El Toro, Minouge will be featured at Six Flag’s Great Adventure’s (1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson) Live & Local stage on Sunday night. Show starts at 6:30. At Sea opens. Free with admission to the park. All-ages.
The barbarous babes have been riding the lightning of their immense popularity all across the nation this summer. The titty-triumphant Metallica tribute band even scored a gig in Alaska next month. Metal purists like that the Philly gals – opening for Electric Six at Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) Sunday night – tend to concentrate their set lists around Metallica’s early records. But there’s some angry postings popping up on their Facebook complaining that “St. Anger” and “ReLoad” tracks remain absent from their shows. Those people are lame and should stay home with their Creed records anyway. Show starts at 8. Township plays, too. Tickets cost $8. 18-plus.
Former High Court singer John “JB” Browne continues to diss those pretender bands that refuse to keep it real with his new pop punk project, starring on The Ernie Ball Stage at tomorrow’s Warped Tour stop in Camden and at The Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) Tuesday night. On the track “Something Personal” he takes shots at the new wave of pop punk bands making bank these days and how they concentrate more on staying trendy than evolving the anti-establishment/DIY spirit the genre was born out of. He “never looked right in V-necks or tight clothes/never looked good in high tops and camou (and) won’t strike a pose like All Time Low.” Why? Because, “Hey, it’s rock ’n’ roll,” he says on the track, “And it’s not OK to forget what you know.” For fans of Valencia and The Early November. Show starts at 7. Someone Just Like You, Reckless and The Cretins play, too. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
The city techno-heads’ twisted turntable tumbling force your back up off the wall at BT Bistro (3499 U.S. Highway Route 1, Princeton) every Wednesday night. For fans of Frankie Knuckles, Kaskade and Raze’s “Break For Love.” Sets start at 9. Free. 21-plus.
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.
PHILADELPHIA - Cash was flying at Passion Pit's show at the Mann Music Center on June 27. And that's probably because the Massachusetts' synth-rock outfit were money.
"Seriously you should be throwing twenties," said Michael Angelakos when a few dollar bills hit the stage a few songs into the set. He gave the money back to some lad in the front row.
Later on, more money continued to hit the singer.
"This is embarrassing," he said. "You make me feel like a stripper."
It was Passion Pit's second show in Philly. And it should be noted that while the band was selling out mid-size venues last summer in New York while establishing themselves as future festival party starters - they played a 7 p.m. at Coachella in April (sorry guys, was watching The Specials) - Passion Pit were packing the tiny First Unitarian Church. Heard it was an intimate show.
"We never played a venue like this before," Angelakos gushed.
"This is ridiculous," he said later on. "We played the basement of a church last time."
The Mann is one of the biggest venues in the city and is only open during the summer. They have a great lineup this summer, too. Seeing Faith No More there on Saturday. Totally phyched!
Shameless plug!
OK, back to the show!
The band's set was electric. No one stayed in their seat, as the aisles were filled with dancers whose gyrations ignored the fact that it was a sticky night in Philly with temperatures into the '80s with a humidity level that causes beads of sweat to Doppler all into you liquid refreshments. It poured during the set, but nobody noticed. Concertgoers only cared about the lightning - the strobes, sick light show and smoke - happening on the stage.
Passion Pit played nearly the entire "Manners" LP with the highlight coming in closer "Little Secrets." Even by then it was hard to find anyone not in full party mode, as they belted the "Higher and Higher" refrain.
Kicking myself for leaving after that song, as the guys - according to internet reports - played a cover of The Cranberries "Dreams." Did hear "Sleepy Head" while walking to the car.
Tokyo Police Club opened, and were awesome as usual. "Champ" is the Canadian rockers' sophomore record. It's in heavy rotation right now. It seemed that the guys got the open-band treatment as their garage-rock shuffles were turned up a bit too loud. Still, a solid performance, but not as good as a similar set from Coachella - which was an awesome main stage daytime set to say the least. A day later TPC featured the single "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" on "Late Night With David Letterman."
Silversun Pickups bass player Nikki Monninger smiles during the L.A. band's set in Brooklyn June 25.
Photos/Article by Scott Frost
BROOKLYN, NY - One thing is for sure, even after a Grammy nomination and two highly successful records, Silversun Pickups bass player Nikki Monninger never seems to feel comfortable living in her own skin let alone being this indie-alternative heart throb.
Meek and mild and bashful a bit as photographers snapped her photo during the band's exhilarating set at the Williamsburg Waterfront on June 25, Monninger - in a powder blue baby-doll dress and ruby slippers - popped a few smiles for the camera that were less about posing and more a symbol of embarrassment.
Yet when it was her time to talk, the bassist turned to a joke.
"Is there an animal doctor here?" she asked the crowd. "Because these pythons are sick."
Monninger then flexed her muscles - or skinny little arms from our vantage point - like the Hulkster of years past.
It was a funny moment and one of only a few stoppages in music for the California band. Singer Brian Aubert noted that it was only the second time playing New York. The last must have been when they opened for Muse at Madison Square Garden. But after a few songs Monninger got her groove on and started flopping her hair and rocking her body back and forth.
It was a tight set consisting of most of the songs off "Swoon" and selected pieces from "Carnavas" - including the set closing 2008 Fox Baseball Playoffs theme song, "Lazy Eye." The encore was a nice touch, with two hidden gems, and fan favorites, off both records.
The Vegas strip showmen jailhouse rock-it with a big hunk ’o love of an Elvis impersonator singing the King’s classics over ’80s and ’90s hair metal. Metal Elvis – karate kicking into The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tonight – is the name of the band, not the singer. In fact the show also stars a Peter Criss copycat on drums and Slash wannabe on guitar. A video found on their web site shows a live video clip of Elvis pointing and shuffling to Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher,” before smashing in some “Blue Suede Shoes.” They have ballads, too. “Love Me Tender” mixed with “Sweet Child of Mine” is also a concert staple. The show – a warm-up date for the group’s Atlantic City gig tomorrow night - starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door. All-ages.
The city rockers’ working-class rasps and melody-enriched punk-rock edge nicely fits in the new wave of Garden State bands right now defining the “Jersey sound.” With Hot Water Music and a library of classic fiction as its muse, the former Roskoes have officially hit their stride this summer with an EP, “The Way Things Swell,” produced by The Bouncing Souls’ Pete Steinkopf, scheduled to drop on July 13. They’re spending the week trying out new material on ready-to-rock crowds in New Brunswick, Philly and Brooklyn – with a hometown throw-down set for the Mill Hill Basement (300 S. Broad St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Florida’s Spanish Gamble (Paper + Plastick Records!), Scranton’s Fake Estate and local punk-rock playmakers Downbound City (The Frantic, Break Away) and Nick Harris & The American Drug (The Ruining, Checkers NJ) play, too. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Rochester outfit can get straight up gloomy with its piano-led chamber pop. “4 Legs Good, 2 Legs Better” – a sure riot starter at Championships Sports Bar and Grill (931 Chambers St., Trenton) tomorrow night – bites in a Ben Folds-scoring-a-vampire-musical-sort-of-way. Show starts at 9. The Reverend Christopher Eissing, The Wilson Family Forgery, The Smoking Jackets and Swift Robinson round out the bill. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
Drew’s Farm
The cover band plays McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Maine-born, Bob Dylan-inspired folk singer has won 14 Boston Music Awards over his 16-album career. In the late ’80s he was a regular of the Cambridge, Mass., coffeehouse scene where Shawn Colvin and Dar Williams made their start. He’s also friends with folk radical Vance Gilbert, who headlined The Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) in March. Both explore the issues of race in their songwriting. Tomorrow night it’s Paul’s turn to headline the quaint local venue. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $18 at the door. All-ages.
The North Jersey rockers helped We The Kings score some cash on the MTV game show “Silent Library” by keeping their cool as singer Travis Clark was forced to hold a tongue depressor way down his throat for 20 seconds. Yeah, bands this good will do anything for a buck. Even play snuggly pop-rock songs like “Right Back Down” about sweetening-up chicks with a sunset walk on the boardwalk with the agenda to bang them later. They’ll use their meat hooks to score at The Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) tomorrow night. Show starts at 8. The Bad Notes, American Living and The Night Life play, too. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
The Sayreville band’s “The Rise and Fall of Progress” EP slips in-between aggro styles – melting multi-layered melodic choruses that go acoustic from time to time, monstrous break-downs and shout-y vocal shoves they say is inspired by The Deftones and Glassjaw. For fans of Far and Fall Of Troy. The trio joins a host of punk and metal bands for Championships Sports Bar and Grill’s (931 Chambers St., Trenton) “Punk Rock BBQ” Saturday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Final Summation, The Forum Walters, The Disappointments, Stomping Ground, Factor X, Animal Train, FreeDoom, The Choices, Bildo & The Reacharounds, The Brain Farts, Robbin’ The Nak and Raised By Wolves round out the bill. Tickets cost $10. 21-plus.
Sonically storming synths, at-the-moment improvisations and trance-inducing guitar frolics make this jam-band one of the best bands around town to boogie down to. They’ll trip the light fantastic at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) Saturday night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Floridians’ clap-along passion punk is a spirited mix of Avail and The Menzingers. They’ll open for New Brunswick’s Let Me Run – who recently released its “Broken Strings” EP and often cover Samiam - at The Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) Saturday night. Show starts at 8. The Banquets and The Great Explainer play, too. Tickets cost $8. 21-plus.
The Long Islanders’ style-conscious teen-pop sounds like All Time Low. We think. Don’t listen to that crap. Don’t hang out at malls either. But do ride roller coasters at Six Flags and always hear this kind of music pumping out of the speakers when waiting in line for El Toro. So the foursome will fit right in at Six Flag’s Great Adventure’s (1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson) Live & Local stage Saturday night, where they’re playing with Taking To Walls. Show starts at 6:30. Free with admission to the park. All-ages.
Guitarist Al Schnier once described his Buffalo band as “an amalgamation of a wide variety of the history of rock, all regurgitated and recycled through the eyes, ears, hands, whatever of the guys in our band and all of that with a sense of adventure, a sense of humor, also a constant desire to push the envelope. All in this arena of taking chances, improvising live, and making things up on the spot." Head-y stuff, right? We just call it jam music. The band celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its moe.down festival in Upstate New York this September with Built To Spill and The Black Keys. A much-miniaturized version hits the beaches of Asbury Park Sunday night for its annual 4th of July bash at the Stone Pony Summerstage (Ocean Avenue). The Mike Montrey Band and Lemon Juice open. Show starts at 5. Tickets cost $30 in advance, $35 at the door. All-ages.
The Columbia-based rockers open for the fireworks at Six Flag’s Great Adventure’s (1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson) Live & Local stage Sunday night. Show starts at 6:30. Free with admission to the park. All-ages.
The city deejay crew’s electro blends of house and techno stay steady, steady pounding at The BT Bistro (3499 US 1, Princeton) every Wednesday night. Sets start at 9. Tony Handle mans the ones-and-twos, too. Free. 21-plus.
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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