Jersey Beat and Maxwell's Host The Milwaukees, Eastern Anchors and the Bastards of Melody

It's been close to a year since I left Hoboken for the sunny shores of Jersey City. In the times I've been to Hoboken since. I see less and less of what first brought me there in 2001. 
The legendary club that first had me crossing the Hudson in the early 90's not only changed hands in ownership. It's moved on with the times and no longer provides music for local and touring musicians in the way it did for decades. Times change though and while that might be hard for many to emotionally digest, it's inevitable. So when Jim Testa invited me to his Jersey Beat showcase. I was more that happy to attend.

First impression of Maxwell's rebooted were good. Getting carded at the door as a forty something was a good start. Being on the guest list, pretty cool. The back room looks really sharp. The moved the bar and make the room look a lot brighter, deeper and wider. 
The overall feel of the crowd was great and it was a pleasure to see so many familiar faces.
James Damion

Bastards of Melody opened the show on a promising note. Formed way back in 1998.
The trio featuring Paul Crane, Paul Gil and Scott Treude.... gave the intimate crowd a rewarding set of power pop that quickly reminded me of bands like Sloan, Big Star and the Replacements. Lead singer/guitarist Crane loomed tall over the crowd boasting a pretty impressive Hank's Saloon Tee. One that reminded me of may a wild night in Brooklyn.
For their swan song, the band was joined by host Jim Testa of Jersey Beat for a cover of
Velvet Underground's Sweet Jane. Afterward, I headed over to the merch table in the back and grabbed copies of Breakup, Fun Machine and Hurry Up and Wait. Good stuff I thoroughly enjoyed listening to. Bastards of Melody

In the days leading up to the show host and Jersey Beat founder Jim Testa asked me if I was familiar with The Milwaukees. "Sure, if you mean hearing about them from you countless times." The truth was, despite hearing the name and having a couple of CD's I had never listened to taking up space in my bookcases." Regardless, the chance to finally see and hear a band that had ben talked about so often in Jersey Rock lore was much needed.
From the first song to the last. The bands energy and connection with with the crowd was praiseworthy. I felt my body move in places that seemed forever cast in stone.
Singing along to songs I had never heard and enjoying the charisma and chemistry of a great band. If all goes well, I will be both seeing and hearing out this Jersey City band for years to come.
The Milwaukees

To be painfully honest. If it were not for
Eastern Anchors inclusion on the nights bill.
I would have never made it off the couch.
With the keys changing hands at Maxwell's in 2013 and my purchasing a home in Jersey City in 2014. I've had little to no reason to return to the town I called home for over ten years.
The somewhat rare opportunity to see
Eastern Anchors anywhere near my zip code was all the gas I needed to get on to RT. 139 and in to the biggest collection of potholes in all of New Jersey. While my exposure to Eastern Anchors stated in 2012 with a handful of shows and the release of the outstanding
Drunken Arts & Pure Science. The bands membership, music and footprint on New Jersey rock goes back to the 90's with Aviso'Hara,
Mr. Thumb and Tow. These days I find myself listening to Eastern Anchors more and more while getting familiar with Aviso'Hara. What I love most about this band is that, while they remind me of long time favorites Husker Du. It's the overall sound and performance of  Eastern Anchors that I love. Imagine, if you will, a band that sounds like themselves. That's what I feel I'm getting when in the midst of an
Eastern Anchors song or live set. Great seeing these guys again and again and.......
Eastern Anchors

United By Images; The Milwaukees at Maxwell's 7/2/2015

Milwaukees guitarist Jeff Nordstedt asked if I would post some extra pictures from this Thursday's show at Maxwell's. So I decided to add some additional ones to go with the show review I posted. Included is the set list I snagged from Jeff. James Damion
The Milwaukees

Maxwell's to Host Jersey Beat Showcase

The Milwaukees were among the handful of local bands invited to play Maxwell's back in July, 2013, during the club's final weeks under its old ownership.  So the Jersey City    power-rock quartet seemed the perfect choice to headline Jersey Beat's first showcase at Maxwell's under its new management.

But the Milwaukees won't be the only familiar faces at Maxwell's on Thursday, July 2.  Eastern Anchors, featuring former members of New Brunswick rock powerhouse Aviso'Hara, and the power-pop Bastards Of Melody also have long histories at the legendary Hoboken club.  Enduring through lineup shifts, careers, marriages, and parenthood,  these three bands persevere as exponents of the Garden State's eclectic and ever evolving indie-rock scene.

The Milwaukees

Sink Tapes - Creases

If it wasn't for Jersey Beat's Jim Testa and Holy City Zoo's Frank DeFranco I might have completely missed the boat on New Brunswick's Sink Tapes. The honest truth of the matter is, that with all the bands, shows and releases I take in. I find myself missing out on more than you might imagine.

Additionally, in helping create and sustain a music blog for almost four years. I've learned that, as much as I thought I knew about music, the scene and what's happening within.
I really know nothing.
Which ultimately brings me to Sink Tapes and their latest release 'Creases'. Recently named as one of the
35 NJ Bands We're Excited About in 2015.
Creases opens with the laid back and mellowed out
Maybe Gray. A song that more than lives up to it's title with it's melancholic jangle pop majesty. Bugs follows with similar results and by the time
Blow Me a Kiss, a personal favorite of mine, is done. You begin to understand and appreciate just where Sink Tapes excel. While the bands Lo-Fi approach and melancholy brilliance can easily bring praise from fans of the beloved Guided By Voices. I couldn't stop myself from planting my own "What if the Lemonheads, Jesus Mary Chain and
the Black Hollies had a threesome that produced a lovechild who possessed
uncanny super powers?" seeds as to where Sink Tapes sound took me.  
400 Mint Records and Sniffling Indie

If Creases 13 songs aren't enough to win you over. There are twelve bonus tracks that include demo and acoustic versions of many of the songs. 'Creases' is a perfect example of when an album takes you out of your usual comfort zone, only to put you in a new, unexplored one. I highly recommend exploring all of Sink Tapes catalog. Just make sure you start with 'Creases'. James Damion

Sniffling Indie Kids  Get it Here

Sink Tapes

United By Images; Chambers (Old Love)

I was standing outside of ABC No Rio when I managed to start a conversation with Jim Testa of Jersey Beat. For whatever reason Jim seemed to know me. So when I enquired about the possibility of becoming a contributor. His response,
"We'll, I don't really cover much Hardcore."
though predictable, irked me. Looking back, I felt that somehow, a lot of people saw me as this one dimensional "Joe Hardcore" character more than twenty years after I last produced an issue of my short lived fanzine. One who was still referred to by many as James Unite. 

Regardless of any preconceived notions Jim might have had. I assured him that my interests in music lay far beyond that of any genre or sub genre labeling. Before long, my pestering paid off and Jim handed me my first assignment.
An interview with New Jersey Hardcore Metal act Chambers. While I had no prior knowledge of the band. I had their brand new album "Old Love" and two consecutive shows to help me get familiar. The first night I headed to Clifton's Dingbatz to see the band perform with the mind blowing
Tiger Flowers and a host of others.
What impressed me most about Chambers and singer Dan Pelic in particular, was how they took on the lazy son of a bitches who were too busy to leave the comfort zone of the bar. Chambers were one of the rare acts there, or anywhere else for that matter, to bring it to the crowd. Dan leaped from the comfort of the stage and got in the face of everyone while challenging those at the bar to make the price of admission worth a damn.
Before the end of the night. I had two new bands to cheer for and an interview set up for the next at Maxwells.

Aside from getting to experience some new music. The guys in Chambers were aces and the interview turned out to be the first of many collaborations with Jersey Beat and Jim Testa.
I also look at my interview with the band as a moment where my exposure to music and in particular, the NJ music scene began to broaden. Great thanks to Dan Pelic, Gregg Kautz and Vinnie Fiore for making my first assignment so enjoyable.
James Damion

Filling in the Blanks; An Interview withNew Jersey's Eastern Anchors

Eastern Anchors had just wrapped up a rare Monday night show at Hoboken's Maxwell's.
At the time I was feeling kind of lucky getting to see a band whose recent album
"Drunken Arts and Pure Science" had become a recent favorite by a band I honestly knew little to nothing about. It wasn't until the bands singer/guitarist Walter Verde handed me two CD's from the band Aviso'Hara that the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place.
As I listened "Goodnight Sweetheart" and "Our Lady of the Highway" I thought to myself, "How did I miss this?" I mean I've lived in New Jersey for most of the 21st Century.
What could I have been doing with my life? So with more questions than answers I decided to go right to the source to fill in the blanks and find the answer to just what the hell is this thing they call "Dad Rock"? James Damion

James: Can you fill me in on lineage between Aviso'Hara and Eastern Anchors? What was time frame and evolution between the two bands?

Ken: We had all played in the same scene together for a while, but I think the link originally formed between Aviso Hara and a band I was playing in with Aviso drummer Benny Rodriguez called Clydesdale. We asked Walter to record some demos for us. Soon after we recorded our singer/guitarist Bill wanted to move to a pure vocalist role, so we asked Walt to step in and fill the guitarist spot. Clydesdale broke up about a year later and Walter and I decided to keep things going with a new band, which became Eastern Anchors.

Walter: To piggy back off Ken, it took a few years and lapses in activity till we came to this version of the band.  We were a 4 piece with Dave on second guitar.  Dave left for a while and we became a 3 piece, which is where we switched up our direction and I started using different tunings to make the new material work better with one guitar.  Then our bass player left, but by then Dave was available again, so he came back in on bass.  And that’s how we got here today.

Dave: It's a totally muddled path but somehow we came back together as this rock unit. When Aviso' Hara broke-up I had a band called The Slow Wire and put out two records and toured a little. Then when that fizzled out eventually it made sense to me when I got the rock-bug to look for something else. Not to mention after Aviso broke-up we played a bunch of re-union type shows up until last year with Ken on drums! So in reality it's been the same group for some time. Just different songs in different keys and tunings with years in-between.

James: You've been quite busy writing new music and playing shows. What inspired the rise in activity and creativity?

Walter: Well, we put out a record in October of last year, so the increase in shows was definitely in part to sell Cds.  When we did the record, it was basically everything we were playing live as well, so you start to want to be able to switch up the setlist, which leads to more songs.

Ken: As far as the writing goes, I think we get pretty restless playing the same songs over and over.

Dave: Yes, it's true we go through booking spurts and in turn writing sessions that sometimes manage to be super productive. I'm already thinking of the fall. Right now we're in that writing stage again because somehow we don't have any shows until end of May at Asbury Lanes. So we're taking advantage once a week to build up a "new" catalog of tunes so we can try them out and mix them in the set. We're constantly throwing down ideas at home and then when the time is right and we've done some self editing we bring a tune to practice.  Sometimes it's really just a miracle with our schedules that we can even fit a practice in before a show.

James: In writing songs, do you have a certain approach? What's the building process like?

Dave: We're trying to demo everything.
I think we officially have a back-log of songs we're trying to write this summer.

Ken: I think the writing process differs from song to song. Sometimes Walt or Dave will come to practice with a new riff and the song comes together almost instantly. Other    times, we could labor on a riff for months until something comes of it.         

Walter: It varies, sometimes songs come in pretty complete, sometimes we play through a bunch of ideas and see what works. I try not to be too precious about anything because I think we have a sound as this band, so not everything is going to work.  I probably dump more stuff than I keep in this band just because it might not work in the context of a really loud and noisy three piece.  But what ends up an Eastern Anchors song, could only be an Eastern Anchors song.

James: Can you offer a little insight into the CD's title "Drunken Arts and Pure Science? It sounds like an inside joke. Or the secret answer you have to give to get into a club or retrieve your online password.

Walter: It came out of a term that I heard during a city architecture tour, Drunken Architecture.  Then I was thinking about the whole process of writing, recording and finally performing an album.  So, it’s this blend between the science of how it all works, and the drunken art, which is the sense of abandon I think you need to let songs kind of write themselves.  Now that I look at my explanation, it sounds like a bunch of bullshit, doesn’t it?  Ok, it just sounds cool.

James: The album art "Robot in the woods" looks vaguely familiar. What was the idea behind it?

Dave: This is a actual color by numbers painting by our good friend Neil O' Brien. who used to play drums in The Van Pelt and now has a band Ribeye Brothers with Tim from Monster Magnet. Neil also plays in a more experimental group called Wands. I actually won a copy at a benefit auction years ago and when i rediscovered the piece I proposed it to the band as the album art. I think walt came-up with the title as he was ease dropping on a conversation on a train or something.

Ken: We actualIy kicked around a lot of ideas for the album art. But, we all knew as soon as Dave showed us the painting that we should use it as the cover. We also used artwork from Neil O’ Brien for our first CD.

Walter: I just want to add that in addition to Neil’s awesome painting, the rest of the design and layout was done by Stu Wexler at Meat + Potatoes.

James: Can we expect a new record soon?

Walter:  I can’t say how soon, but we’re definitely writing.  I’m finally to the point where I can record the band at home.  We just did a track for a tribute comp to benefit the family of Jason Molina (https://www.facebook.com/songsmolina?fref=ts), which is the first full band track we recorded completely in my house.  Unlike the last record, where we recorded everything we had, I want to demo a lot of songs on our own this time, and then go into the studio to record the actual album. That being said, I plan on making the demos release quality, so that whatever does not make the record can be used for comps, b-sides, etc.

Dave: I would love for us to start tracking in the fall but first we need a big swath of songs to choose from and we're 1/4 of the way there. Which is a good start and we just need to put the blinders on and keep writing. I'm pretty sure we'll have another record out before the Wrens do. We challenged them last year when we heard there was movement in their camp that would get a record out before them. Charles conceded and we won the gentlemen's duel.

James: I had the pleasure of watching the documentary on the band. How did the idea to do the doc come about? Do you think it paints a good picture of the band in general?

Dave: I just had finished doing a web documentary series for Ogilvy & Mather  where I was recently working for the past four years and they asked me to make another piece of original content for the One show awards. So I decided to use some of those resources and all my producing skills i learned over the past couple years and apply it to a story I wanted to tell. So luckily it lined up with the release of our record. So many bands have regular rock videos and in the spirit of documentary film making we wanted toe true about the story and not be all glory. Some of the dark side I left on the cutting room floor and you'll just have to ride in the van with us to hear those stories.
I do have a follow-up planned but we're gonna have to track down all our old drummers and some old band mates to make it happen. Who knows maybe with the next record we'll do part two!

James: Did you have to bribe Jim Testa to say all those nice things about you?

Dave: I've known Jim since 1991 or so. He really does not need too much coaxing; if he has fond memories or at least what his subconscious might not of wiped out. Cool, because our old band certainly had our shitty nights and for some reason those are good memories. He seriously is a pro though. He was saying off camera to me when we were shooting that he had just taken part in a Yo La Tengo documentary and some other one and was not sure if they would ever see the light of day. If it weren't for people like him we would have no idea what it was like as a fan. He wrote about aviso at least a dozen times. He did ignore the first Eastern Anchors record and came through solidly on Drunken Arts like a champ. Although he did see us play he has not been able to catch this version of the band live as of yet but he will.

James: I was living in New York City in the 90's and apart from the occasional Hardcore show or touring band playing Maxwells. New Jersey Rock was pretty much a mystery to me. Can you paint a picture of what the Jersey scene was like then. The bands, the venues, the energy?

Walt:  Wow, early 90’s and late 90’s feel like two different lifetimes for me. Maxwells was always a major spot, and that is where I saw most of the shows that really influenced me.  Well, there and City Gardens in Trenton.  We were mostly associated with New Brunswick, which was great, from the city, to the venues, to the bands and labels that were active at the time, all great.  Then there was the shore scene around the Brighton Bar, where you had Monster Magnet, Godspeed and a ton of other great bands, as well as Heat Blast Records documenting the whole thing (I recommend the Holier than Seattle Comp, if you can find it). Oh yeah, and the Fastlane in Asbury!  I think people might forget how most great indie bands used to actually play in Asbury Park at that time.

James: Tell me about the term "Dad Rock"

Dave: For the record I'm the only dad in the band. Although Ken has cats. It's another way to say we're "experienced".
In term "Dad Rock" made me think of age and playing in bands as we're older and have more responsibilities.

James: Does it get harder to get out and play with the responsibilities of adulthood. Does it make it a little harder to sell and promote your record when you can't play out every week and don't really tour?

Ken: I think it takes a lot more planning in terms of scheduling things like shows and recording time. Even getting together to practice can be a challenge. As far as being able to promote the record goes, I think that using social media and having our record available on sites like "Bandcamp" and "Spotify" helps to make up for the lack of touring.

Dave: I would add to this that our Tumblr site http://easternanchors.tumblr.com has led to new fans and sales as well. It's basically part of our virtual store-front along with twitter and Facebook we use it all when we can to help promote us and our friends.

Walter: Touring isn’t a good option for us, we just do not have that time anymore, but I do think we can and will do some quick weekenders. We just have to make sure that when we do, that it is worth the time. As far as the internet and social media, etc., I do not think it makes up for not touring. But it does offer a ton of possibilities that were not there in the old days. We put this out on our own label, so I see everything that comes through.  I was really surprised by the amount of foreign sales we have, mostly Europe.  I don’t know where that comes from.  Maybe from the Rolling Stone thing helped some, but we were getting them before that.  So, thank you Internets!

Eastern Anchors  Band Site

Upcoming Event Asbury Lanes Show Details

Plow United, Iron Chic and The Unlovables Play Brooklyn's Knitting Factory

As I entered Brooklyn's Knitting Factory I almost immediately spied my comrade in arms Jim Testa of Jersey Beat. He invited me out to the show earlier in the week with the promise of good music merriment and a free pass for the night. As I met up with Jim we immediately started communicated in our shared language of music. The man stands as a testament of why Jersey Beat has stood the test of time for over thirty years. His knowledge of and understanding of music and the people who make it is astounding. Though our taste in music often differs. I feel that since my musical palette and knowledge has grown considerably since I initially became an occasional contributor to Jersey Beat and NJ.com. After buying Jim a beer and briefly meeting Mikey Erg and Pity Party's guitarist Fid, we headed to the ticket booth to get our free passes. Alas, Jim Testa was clearly printed in thick black marker on the second page. However, yours truly, his supposed +1 was mysteriously absent. Light on cash from my prior alcohol consumption and a little pissed about my exclusion, I looked at Jim like a man stepping up to an ATM. Jim gazed back with eyes as empty as his pockets. As to say, "Don't look at me." I was on my own. I sucked it up and paid for my ticket. I was on my own.

Love for the Unlovables

The Unlovables opened and got the show off to a good start, igniting an already full house and setting the tone for the entire night. Lead singer Hallie spent the entire set on the dance floor firing up the enthusiastic crowd. Though this my first exposure to Hallie and the band, I found myself dancing with a sense of wild abandon to each and every song. The bands upbeat, party pop sound was so addictive; Even this old, bitter and jaded old man couldn't help but be overcome by the musics warmth. Song titles like "Dance Party", "Being in Love" and "If you were here"wouldn't be my normal choice of themes to rock out to; But for Christ's sake, who wants to be normal? Later, as the show wound down. I headed over to the merch tables where I spotted the bands tasty looking colored vinyl. Unfortunately for me, I had spent my last chunk of cash earlier on other spirits. Regardless, I loved the Unlovables and hope to catch them again soon.
The Unlovables

The night moved along quickly as Long Island's Iron Chic took the stage.
The oft desribed super group features members of Latterman, Small Arms Dealer and Capital to name a few. The band played an rousing set that had the crowd singing in unison.

 Long Island's Iron Chic

Their sound blends punk and hardcore with emo influenced guitars and anthemic vocals. Vocalist Jason Lubrano prowled the stage as he worked up a very active crowd. It's always a personal pleasure for me, seeing the crowd become part of the show. I seem to have gotten used to witnessing people so involved with their electronic devices and distancing themselves from the stage to post about how much fun they're having at the moment. Iron Chic definitely kept that energy level high and kicked the adrenaline up a notch. Iron Chic

It had already been a stellar night of diverse sounds and positive energy by the time the nights headliner  Plow United launched into their set.

Plow United 

Like The Unlovables and
Iron Chic, this was my first time seeing Plow perform live.
To say they exceeded any expectations would be a major understatement.
The Unlovables and Iron Chic may have ignited the crowd. Plow, on the other hand, brought the gasoline can.
The trio, for lack of a better term, plowed through a set of sweaty, testosterone filled Punk Rock excellence.
Along the way the band was joined on stage by Unlovables vocalist Hallie Bulleit and drummer Mikey Erg playing guitar. Personally, my favorite moment came when drummer Sean Rule switched instruments with bassist Joel Tannenbaum. It added an extra notch to an already perfect night. Plow United

This was my first Brooklyn show of the year and a long overdue return to the Knitting Factory. As the weather warms I will surely be spending a lot more time in this storied borough. Until then, James Damion

Jersey Beat to Host Benefit for victims of Hurricane Sandy

Here's a chance to rock out to some stellar bands while making a difference in the lives of people still suffering from the damage of Hurricane Sandy. JD

An Eastern Anchors Rockumentary Trailer

Although I just recently became aware of this incredible band, I am excited to see this Documentary on a Jersey Band that definitely warrants the "Rock Doc" treatment. 

Check this trailer out and see why. James Damion

Eastern Anchors

Bandcamp

Jim Testa's Interview with The Front Bottoms

There's no handbook for Punk Rock

By Jim Testa

Bar-None Records released the Front Bottoms’ self-titled  full-length just about a year ago, and in that time, singer/guitarist Brian Sella and drummer Matt Uychich (along with touring bassist/keyboardist Drew Villafuerte) have literally seen the world, touring almost constantly from coast to coast and overseas, playing everything from small clubs to major festival stages.  And it was barely a year before that when the Front Bottoms were still hustling for weeknight gigs at DIY spaces like Montclair’s all-ages Meat Locker, slowly building a devoted following of giddy fans singing along to Sella’s fanciful,  passionate, generation-defining, and often cinematic lyrics.
Will success spoil the Front Bottoms?  We don’t think so, but just to be sure, we checked in with Brian shortly before the band finished enjoying a brief mid-summer respite and hit the road again for a two-month tour that will take them first to England with the Menzingers,  then through the U.S. and Canada with the Cheap Girls, including stops at
The Fest in Gainesville and Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin.
The FB’s will be at Santos Party House in New York City on October 19;  for more tour dates, visit The Front Bottoms

Front Bottoms Photos courtesy of Dan Bracaglia TheLondonBroil.com

Jim: This last year has been pretty amazing for you guys. What’s it been like from your perspective? Does it all seem like a dream sometimes?

Brian:  Yeah, it’s been crazy.
You probably know better than anyone, you got into us right as we were about to sign with
Bar None and just as we started going on those crazy tours.
I was talking to my mom today and she was telling me that she was in Shop Rite where I used to work, and she saw this woman that I used to work with there, and this woman was asking about me and wanted to know about the band.  And my mom just stopped for a second and said, ‘Brian, I am just so happy for you that you’re not working at Shop Rite anymore.’  And it just sort of hit me.
It’s really crazy that it’s only been a year… Not that we’re taking over the world or anything, but it just feels very, very positive and very good.  It feels like we’re headed in a good direction and I’m very proud of all the tours we’ve gotten to go on.  And everything else.
It’s exciting and I’m excited to start the whole process over again.

Jim: Was there ever one particular moment when you just suddenly realized, ‘I’m not the guy who works at Shop-Rite and plays in this band on weekends anymore, I’m a musician’?

Brian:  Oh God… It’s kinda hard to say. It’s still a lot of hustle, and I’m still poor. I’m still running around trying to make things work. It’s definitely a process. But you’re right.
I do have to stop every once in a while and just think, you should be happy about what’s going on, because it’s something to be proud of.  Matt and I do talk about how excited we are about how things are going. And when you stop and really think about it, this is my dream. So in a way my dream has come true, as weird as that sounds. So it’s exciting, and I’m very happy, and I’m just very proud of what me, Matt, and Drew have been able to accomplish. So yeah, it’s great, it feels very positive.

Jim: Did you ever read the piece that Geoff Rickley wrote about being in Thursday, about how the best year they ever had as a band on a major label, he made less money than he made working at the Gap folding pants?

Brian: (laughs)  Yeah, I did read that. It was very inspirational.

Jim: But I have to assume he was much happier on tour with Thursday than he ever was at the Gap.

Brian: Of course. But you know,  there’s a lot to be learned from that. It really does take a lot out of you.  I’m not speaking from experience, and hopefully I never will be, but I can imagine how disheartening that situation would be. We’re not anywhere near that point yet.

Jim: Kids think about how awesome it would be to live on tour all the time, but they don’t think about living out of a suitcase or being away from your family and girlfriend for months at a time, or all the other sacrifices that go with the lifestyle.

Brian: It definitely is a trade off. Honestly, you’re probably right when you say that when he was on the road with Thursday, it probably was the best years of his life. At least I hope that I’m able to say that.  I’m sure if things end up where I’m in an office job someday,
I’ll definitely look back and say my best years were spent with Matt and Drew, driving around the country and playing shows every night.  Making little or no money, but still getting to do it.  That’s what you think about, not how much money you’re making or not making, but that you’re out there doing it every night.

Jim: Typically with my musician friends, they’ll complain on the road that they can’t wait to get home, and then once they’re home for a week, they’ll say that they can’t wait to go on tour again.

Brian: Oh yeah, I know that feeling. This right now is probably the longest I’ve been home since we started touring so much a year ago. It’s been three weeks that I’ve been home, and I’m going crazy. Oh my god, give me something to do. But it’s good because I’ve gotten a chance to write a lot of new stuff, which is definitely needed.  Time off is needed.

Jim: There’s that famous saying that you get 21 years to write your first record, and six months to write your second.  You’re in that position now. Do you find you can write on the road? Or do you have to be home and have a regular schedule?

Brian: Some people can write on the road and some people can’t. The road for me is more or less just gathering information.  I’m just writing things down in my notebook and recording things on my cellphone.  But the real work… if I’m going to put together a song, I have to sit down for an extended period of time and really hack at it.  So it’s hard to write on the road for me, and honestly, I’ve never written a song on the road.   So being on tour for as much as we were, and then coming home, it was nice to be able to sit down and tell myself, okay, now is the time I’m going to write the next album.   Most of it’s written now. There’s still work to be done but this past three weeks is when the album really came together.  So it’s been exciting.  I think this new stuff is really coming together, I think it’s matured and I think people are going to like it.  I hope, anyway.

Jim: Your first batch of songs was so awesome, and audiences really fell in love with those songs, so I’m wondering… do you ever have moments of self doubt when you start thinking, oh my god, I’ll never write another song as good as “Maps” or whatever…  Do you worry about topping what you’ve already done?

Brian: It’s a pretty terrifying thought, to be honest. And in all honesty, it has snuck up on me. There are slower days when I haven’t been able to write, and I had a lot more time to think than I wish I had, and you start thinking, well, maybe that was it, maybe that was the best of the best. So it’s important to have a good support system, and specifically, Matt. Matt is always full-steam ahead, and he loves those old songs and he thinks they’re awesome, but he’s ready to make better songs.  He’s ready to move on, and when you have a partner like that, that’s constantly in that mindset, that ‘yeah, we’ll make something better than this… If it’s not coming together, don’t worry, we’ll throw it out and start over because we have better ideas to work with.’ Even Drew has been very encouraging, specifically when we were on the road with Say Anything and Kevin Devine. Our van got broken into and we got robbed, and my backpack was stolen.  It had basically everything I owned in it – my laptop, my iPod, all my music, everything – and it had all my notebooks in it. Like three years of notes that I’d been writing on tour. And it was really a heartbreaking experience.
I never really had to deal with anything like that before. And Drew just told me, it’s okay. We’ll get through it. You have to be okay with it because you have no choice. So when you have people like Matt saying, ‘Oh yeah, that sucks, but don’t worry about it because you’ll write better things anyway.’ And Drew says, ‘You have better things to write than what was in those notebooks.’ And so I realized that yeah, you just have to move on. It was a scary thought, but I’m confident about the new stuff  we’ve written.

Jim: The number of people whose second record was better than their first is pretty small – Elvis Costello, the Ramones, maybe Nick Lowe – but I’m looking forward to putting you on that list.

Brian: Well, thank you. I’m excited. I’m hoping that I’ll be honored with the privilege of being included in that company. And when you think about it, it is a little scary. But you just have to have fun with it.  Me and Matt love making songs.  Even now, we’ll just go to the practice space, we’ll buy a 12-pack of beer, and we’ll just hang out.  That is the whole point, and that is what we love to do. And when a song does start coming together… there’s always that moment when I’ll look at him, he’ll look at me, if Drew’s there we’ll look at him, and we’ll all just know that something is happening. You’re never sure if a song is going to come together and when it does, it’s just like ‘YES!’  It feels so good. This is awesome.  Nothing else matters, this song is cool.  Songs are really the only things that last when you’re making music.

Jim: They don’t teach how to be in a touring rock band in high school or college…

Brian: I wish they did!

Jim: ...so when you get to tour with a Kevin Devine or a
Say Anything, people who have done this for years and years, do you find yourself learning from them?
Not like you sit down and take lessons, but just from observing how they pack a suitcase for tour, for instance, or what they bring on the road with them?

Brian: Oh God, yes. Absolutely.  Especially someone like Kevin, who’s been doing it for so long and basically has it down to a science. The tour that me and Matt did with Kevin was the longest tour that we had been on to date, and he had been on tour for two months before that.  You just have to open your eyes and have respect and you’ll learn a lot.  Kevin taught us so much. Even the guys from Say Anything or the guys from Fake Problems, basically every band we’ve played with has taught us something.
I think the fact that Matt and me have wanted to do this for so long does make it a little easier. If someone called me tonight and asked if we wanted to leave for tour tomorrow morning, and it was a good offer, we’d be ready.  We’d throw some shit in a backpack and we’d just go. Because we are still so excited about all of this. And you learn, you learn. Like even with the van, when it got broken into.  That was a huge thing.  But we will never get robbed again.   That’s the mindset we have now. We’ve got the van locked down, we’ve got new locks, we’re more security conscious.  So you learn.  You go and talk to these other bands, and you tell them ‘you know, we got robbed,’ and mostly what every band says is, ‘Well, that’s the first initiation.  Congratulations, welcome to the club.’  It’s a learning process and for as long as I’m on tour, I’ll continue learning about how to be on tour. So it’s nice and it is something that me and Matt enjoy, but touring with someone like Kevin just teaches you so much and basically humbles you.  It’s nice to have somebody like Kevin who’ll show you the ropes, and tell you ‘here’s how you do that’ or ‘no, you’re not going to need that.’   It’s just nice.  Like you said, there’s no handbook.   There’s no learner’s manual for punk rock.

An Interview with Jersey Beat's Jim Testa

Chances are, if you're from the Tri-state area and had even the slightest interest in local music over the last thirty years. You've more than likely heard of Jim Testa and Jersey Beat. His passion, dedication and longevity have earned him the love and respect of musicians and fans alike. In the Spring of 2010 I gingerly approached Jim at ABC No Rio about contributing to the site. Since then I've been an occasional contributor as both a photographer and writer. All the while, learning from a walking encyclopedia of music knowledge and love. Learning, each step of the way, how to carry myself when it came to doing my own blog. Last week I finally got to ask some of the questions that had been rattling around my head since that fateful day on the Lower East Side. Thanks to Jim for his time and what he's passed on to me over the past years. James Damion

James: You're someone that really needs no introduction. However, I would love to give our readers a little background on what you do. Can you fill us in on the origins of Jersey Beat and what you were setting out to accomplish when you started the first issue?

Photo of Jim Testa courtesy of Dan Bracalia

Jim Testa: One of my best friends at Rutgers,       Howard Wuelfing,  moved to Washington DC when we graduated and we kept in close touch.    Howard became involved in the very beginnings of the D.C. indie and hardcore scenes and started a fanzine called Discords.  (This was before there was even a Dischord Records.)  In the zine, he had scene reports  (this was years before Maximum Rock N Roll had the same idea)  from places like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago... and I became the columnist  from New Jersey, since I was involved in the early Hoboken scene at that time.   I called the column Jersey Beat, a pun on "Mersey Beat," which was a term used to describe the early Beatles (since Liverpool was on the Mersey River, and Hoboken was being called "the new Liverpool" back then.)  Long story short, Howard had to stop publishing his fanzine.  I was having so much fun doing the column that I just spun it off into a zine of its own and kept the name.  That was about April, 1982.

James: Fanzine culture was a lot different back then. Aside from writing for Discords, were there any fanzines, mags or rock writers that you particularly looked to for inspiration?
How would you describe your approach to writing the zine back then? Has that blueprint changed much in the thirty years you've been doing this?

Jim Testa: One of the things I think it's hard for people today to grasp is how small a community the zine/indie rock/college radio world was back in the Eighties. There were relatively few people involved and it seemed like we all knew each other.  I wrote for lots of other zines and magazines, including The Bob, Matter, Boston Rock, and for one issue (before it went bankrupt,) New York Rocker.  That was pretty common.  Steve Albini and Gerard Cosloy also wrote for Matter; try to imagine the three of us writing for the same publication today! Jim DeRogatis and Karen Schoemer wrote for Jersey Beat when they were still in college, then for Matter and The Bob, and eventually went pro;  Jim wound up at the Chicago Sun-Times and Karen wrote for Newsweek and the NY Times.

My two favorite writers were Lester Bangs (who died about a month before the first official issue of Jersey Beat came out, oddly enough) and Hunter Thompson, but they were such originals that I never considered them role models.  They influenced me to be passionate and creative, but in terms of style, my real hero was Jimmy Breslin, the hard-boiled newspaper columnist.  There's a famous story that at JFK's funeral, all the other press covered the ceremony and the Kennedy family and other politicians.   Breslin found the gravedigger who dug JFK's grave and talked to him.  That's the kind of angle I try to look for when I'm writing a story.  Try to look at the person or event and put a little spin on it.

My real guiding principle when I started Jersey Beat was that I'd write about anything that interested me.  In 1982, when all this started,  I was a regular at Maxwell's and writing about bands like the Bongos and Feelies, but I was also really into the early NJ hardcore scene and bands like Adrenalin OD.  There were a lot of great zines that kept a pretty narrow focus (like Al Quint's excellent Suburban Voice, which only covered hardcore and punk.)
I never wanted to do that.  Jersey Beat has always been about any and all kinds of music, which is why there was a "Quiet Corner" column for years about folksingers. In the Nineties, we had a ska column when that was hugely popular. We've had various people do metal columns over the years.  I really wish I had someone right now who was heavily into EDM and could cover that for us.

James: You're one of the many successes when it comes to people who came from the print age but managed to not only survive but thrive in the digital age. Did you see the writing on the wall? What was the transition like for you? Was there any gap between the last issue of Jersey Beat and Jersey Beat's online presence?

Jim Testa: Jersey Beat went online about as soon as it was humanly possible.
Don't forget, in 1982,  we had manual typewriters and scissors and rubber cement.
And our imaginations.  Luckily at work I got to work with personal computers from their first introduction as clunky DOS machines to Windows 3.0 to today. Jersey Beat had one of the first zine websites (I am pretty sure it was www.earthlink.net~jerseybeat.)  I acquired the JerseyBeat.com domain in 1997.

At first, since dial up was so slow and you could only use very minimal graphics and small photos, the website was really just an online advertisement for the print zine. But as it became easier and easier to put content online, the website became an adjunct to the print zine.  (Also we'd only do three print issues a year, so we could do live reviews and more timely stuff online in between print issues.) So there was never any sort of gap. I originally had every intention of doing at least one more print issue (which would have been #78) but time and circumstances just worked against me and I never got to do it. People always talk about Nirvana and Green Day changing mainstream culture, but the success of those bands really trickled down into the underground. Everybody was making money in the Nineties and labels like SST, Lookout, Epitaph, and so on put a lot of their profits back into the scene by supporting fanzines with advertising and promos. The loss of advertising hurt but what was even worse was the loss of distribution.  After See Hear (the fanzine store in the East Village) closed and then Tower shut down its distribution,  there was no way to sell zines except out of a backpack at shows.  So I was printing a thousand copies and giving away 950 of them, and maybe selling 50 by mail order.

James: In doing this blog I quickly realized that I can't be in more than one place at the same time. From working with you I've noticed you often cover more than one event in a day on your own. Between your day job, Jersey Beat, the podcast and every thing else, do you ever think that maybe your spreading yourself thin? Does it ever take a toll on your personal life and relationships?

Jim Testa: I think the secret of my longevity has been that  whenever I start feeling burnt out, I can take a step back and give myself a little time to recharge. Jersey Beat has never been my day job, in fact it's never been a source of income.
From the reputation I built doing the zine, I have been able to freelance for magazines and newspapers and that does bring in a little extra money, but I've never been so busy as a freelancer that it's intruded on my time.  My weekly radio show for BlowupRadio.com and AsburyMusic.com takes up a few hours a week, and that's mostly just downloading mp3s from music blogs and bands to play on the show.  Recording the actual show takes maybe two hours and I usually do that on the weekends.  I only do a podcast once a month or so so that doesn't take up much time. And I really don't go out to see bands - especially on weeknights - as often as I used to.

James: In all my years, I've not come across a single person with knowledge of Jersey Beat that didn't have the nicest things to say and share about you. Hard to fathom with the kind of work you do. How do you see yourself? A critic? A fan? A writer? Do you see yourself doing this ten, twenty years down the road? What do you think is the main characteristic responsible for your longevity and consistency?

Jim Testa: I'd probably put it in this order - writer / fan /critic.  Some people make music and it's what they do for a while; some people are musicians and it's who they are. Same with writing.  It's no secret that I am - even at my advanced age - still a huge fan and really enjoy seeing bands and listening to music.  And I'd like to think that after all these years, I have the perspective and taste to render intelligent commentary on it.

I recently recruited a new writer for JerseyBeat.com and he asked if he was allowed to write negative reviews since so much of the site was so positive.  That took me back a second, but I guess it's true.  The fact of the matter is that there is more music out there than there has ever been, and we can only write about a little bit of it.  So I do tend to focus on the good stuff - especially the things I do myself.
I think if you look through the site hard enough, you'll find a few negative reviews or at least some constructive criticism in there with all the raves.  I probably spew more venom on Twitter and Facebook these days if I have something negative to say or a snarky comment to make.  I really do look at those forms of social media as an extension of the zine, or at least of my role as a media critic.  If I'm going to be remembered, I guess I'd like it to be because people thought I was fair and passionate and cared not just about the music, but the people who create it and the fans who enjoy it.

James: I'm glad you mentioned that. I was talking to my blog partner Dave and mentioned how most of our reviews were very positive. I don't want to be mean or become a jaded critic; but in the same breath, I don't want our readers or the artists to think we're kissing ass or that we're push overs. His response was that we really don't have the energy and time to cover the things we really don't like. Your answer gave me a sense of comfort in that we're going about things the right way.


Jim Testa:  I would agree with that.  When I did Jersey Beat as a print zine, there were dozens of record reviews in every issue.  Most of them were shorter than what we print online, and there was a smaller pool of material to choose from, so we printed lots of snarky, funny, snotty, negative reviews.  Today, I just don't bother with something I know no one is going to like or care about, there's just too much music being created and pointed in our direction. And it's harder to get people to read it. Even at the height of the DIY movement, there were only maybe a dozen fanzines anybody really cared about. Today there are hundreds if not thousands of music blogs competing for attention.

The Nico Blues "Die Happy" with Frank DeFranco

"Hi, my name is Frank DeFranco and despite being the guitarist for Holy City Zoo and an active member of  The Tiny Giants Artist Collective; this is the first time I’ve ever interviewed anyone. Through playing in bands, and having a shared obsession over Nirvana and other 90’s alternative music, I became good friends with the guys in the Nico Blues before the band  even existed.  So when James Damion asked if I’d like to interview the band about their recent release of  "Die Happy".  I couldn't possibly turn down the opportunity. Frank DeFranco

Frank - First things first, you guys have this new record out called Die Happy. Plain and simple, what would you like to say about it?

Reed - Only thing we want people to do is to listen to it. We’re not going to beg them to like it, we’re not going to try to shove it down their throats too hard. We just want them to take the twenty seven minutes and hear the new stuff we made. We worked pretty hard on it, and we recorded it ourselves in our basement studio.
We just want you to hear it.

Frank - Now,
"Blame the Boredom, Blame the Basements". It had this feel where you travel through different genres.Where as this EP I’ve noticed that you’ve taken a lot of your influences and kind of converged them more into a unified sound. Like instead of playing songs of different genres, you’ve found ways to combine the genres into one. Is this the case, or am I just talking out of my ass?

Eric – That’s pretty accurate. I think we just kind of figured out what we wanted and we’re writing better songs and arranging the songs better too, so that’s making a big difference. Like literally, "Blame the Boredom" is just everything through a bass big muff. We didn’t know what we were doing as far as what we wanted to sound like, and it’s always a learning process, but this time we had much a better idea of what we wanted going into it.
At least we thought we did.

Reed – I think the sound of the new record just comes from playing as this band for longer because when you play with the guys for a while, you all just kind of click. Instead of jumping around from genre to genre, we don’t have to make a song a folk song or make a song a punk song, we can just kind of find that middle ground where we use our folk influences, use our punk influences, use our alternative influences, and just kind of make them the Nico Blues.

Frank - I know you guys have a very wide range of influences over many years of music.
Who were you guys listening to most during the song writing process, and who really stands out as the major influences behind this record?

Eric – Jim Testa pretty much guessed all of them with an interview we did with him.
The Replacements, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr.
He compared us also to Soul Asylum which none of us listen to, but I can definitely see what he means. Mainly he compared us to these bands who really don’t sound alike, so I feel like…


Reed – …that was a victory.

Eric – Yeah like, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. are obviously very different bands, but both Indie rock.

Reed – I think any sort of band that has the songwriting at the center of everything was what we were listening to. Anybody who was catering a production to a song was important for us to hear.

Eric – One of our biggest influences ever is probably the Chili Peppers, and that’s what they did. Everything they did served the song.

Reed – Yeah, Chili Peppers, you can call them funk, you can call them punk, you can combine them, but at the center of all the genres is just the song, and a really good song. So that’s what we wanted to do. Raconteurs was also something new and cool that influenced us, and of course the white stripes too. Every cool rock band with a good song has had some influence on us.

Frank - What are some of the techniques you’ve used behind the promotion of this release.
It’s a self released record, that you’ve made yourselves from scratch. How has that affected
how you’ve promoted it?

Reed – We emailed, we flyer, we host it on bandcamp for pay-what-you-want, including free.

Evan – When we released Blame the Boredom, everyone who downloaded it had to enter in an email address. So we just saved all the email addresses, and when we released "Die Happy" we sent a short message to those people saying something like, “we just released this, come check it out if you liked our first record.”

Reed – Social media too, we’re all over facebook, twitter…but the reason for doing it, as you mentioned, we made it ourselves which is all the more reason to want to push it yourself, and do the leg work, and hear person by person who likes it. When we hear back from other Tiny Giants like “oh, you guys made a great record,” that’s the most important thing to us. Hearing from other musicians, and getting it them, and having them get it to their fans. That’s pretty important right now, because we’re all on the ground floor right now and it’s fuckin’ crowded.

Eric – Plus it’s cool to up the ante, like you hear someone else you really like, and you want to one up them, and then they want to one up you. That way,

Frank – it’s healthy, friendly competition.

Eric – Yeah, you’re pushing yourself to be better, because your peers are getting better. That is a very important thing as well. There’s a bunch of cool bands, and everyone is going to keep growing as long as they don’t break up.

Frank – Speaking of "Tiny Giant", when you guys put out
"Blame the Boredom, Blame the Basements" it was before the Tiny Giant Artist Collective existed. How has Tiny Giant existing had an effect on your new release?

Eric – It was just a group of people willing and ready to take it in immediately, and that was the coolest part. When we released "Blame the Boredom", there was nothing like that.
There was no fuckin’ community we were releasing it to, there was nobody. Now there’s this group of people that are interested enough to listen to it and give it a chance, so that’s really the most important thing.

Reed - There was just a community that was ready to fuckin’ hear it, and promote it. All the things you would want a person to do, we had a hundred something people that were just ready to do it, and that’s amazing.

Frank - "Die Happy", interesting name for the EP, though after listening to it, I find it pretty fitting. I’m just curious with how you came up with that and decided on it, and if there was anything else you were tossing around before picking that.

Reed – Eric text me just one random, frustrated day “I just want to die happy.” He said it, and it sounded like an album name. Die Happy sounded like it encompassed the vibe of all the songs. On the surface it sounds negative, but when you dig a little bit deeper, there’s an actual positive meaning to it. That’s kind of the genesis of it, and we kicked around tons of names.

Eric – It faces a positive in a negative way, it’s only two words and I feel like it hits home. I’ve noticed that people say die happy more often than they probably noticed. It’s just two words that go against each other that say two seemingly opposite things but if you think about it, they actually do go together in a positive way.

Reed – There were some other front runners, I can’t honestly even remember them.
Do you remember any?

Eric – "Mommies and Daddies"

Reed – What was it?  "Relax Man"?

Eric – Yeah, "Relax Man".

Reed – We had a few we were just kicking around that weren’t album worthy, and then we came up with this one and it stuck, and we liked it, and it felt like the songs, which is the most important thing in an album name.

Frank - What’s next for Nico? I mean I personally know what’s next, but I’m asking for the sake of this interview.

Reed – We have a new EP coming out that’s not "Die Happy" that will be released sometime within the next year. That’s a pretty broad timeline, but we’re just trying to play it by ear because we don’t have to set a deadline. We recorded thirteen songs, not just six when we went into the studio, so we have seven on the back burner that are just dying for your ears.

Eric – More songs, more shows, and probably will start working on new material soon too. We recorded all the tracks for the next EP, but we might redo some of it, and yeah play more shows and,

Reed – do all the things that bands do, is what we will be doing over the next year, just twice as hard.

The Nico Blues
Killing Horse Records

Four Bands with Instantly Forgettable Names Play Memorable Sets at Maxwells

I've really been slipping when it comes to my show attendance. Finding more excuses to stay home and just listen to records or work on other things. No matter how much I love going out to  check out bands, bump in to some friends or better yet, make new ones.
The body and the mind need a change of pace sometimes.
Fast forward to last week when Jersey Beat's Jim Testa asked if I'd like to cover a night of Rock n' Roll at Maxwells. It was a nice night and the opportunity to stretch my legs and do a little experimenting with the camera was a good enough excuse to head out.

Ba Babes

Toms River native sons Ba Babes open the set and really helped to get the night off to a good start. Great Rock n Roll with a Garage vibe that had a nice driving edge. The set was short yet memorable. They've got a bunch of shows down in Asbury Park, Red Bank and Toms River towards the end of the month and will be heading down to Maryland in May so catch them if you can. Ba Babes Blog

Black Wine

Black Wine followed and the Jersey trio did not disappoint. Playing an impressive set of  kick the tires and light the fires Rock & Roll. Jim Testa had mentioned the band to me on numerous occasions so I was really eager to hear what he was talking about.
The band features Jeff Schroeck of The Ergs and has several releases under their belt including the self titled debut and 2011's 'Summer of Indifference'. You can go download their stuff here at their Bandcamp. Black Wine

Liquor Store

By the time Black Wine finished their set I was content and for the most part, ready to head home. Lucky for me I stopped myself and decided to see this thing through to the very end. I'm really I listened to that voice in the back of my head because Liquor Store brought the testosterone to another level. As the night had progressed the level of energy kept rising higher and higher and these guys really put on a show. The Jersey band is all rock bombast and swagger. Something you have to see in person and let wash over you. Liquor Store

Natural Child

As the night began to wind down and I readied for the nights headliner Natural Child I got into a conversation with a woman who sounded like she might have a promising future as a public relations or advertising guru. She talked up Natural Child as if they were the second coming of Christ. "They're really big right now and they're about to be huge." "They're going to be out on tour for a Really long time." "Think Country meets Classic Rock, The Blues and Sabbath." Now I'm no shit farmer but I know when someone's trying to sell me a truck of  horse manure. No offense to anyone but I kinda like to let people's recommendations blind my ears. Nashville's Natural Child took about half their set to convince me they were any more than a random touring band sweeping through town. The Country/Classic Rock influences were immediately apparent but the muddy bluest Sabbath didn't show itself until much later. I'm still kind of on the fence about these guys but will take some time to check out the disc that lovely lady handed me. All in all it was an excellent night. Busy Child

James Damion