Boris and Young Widows @ The TLA.
Text and images by Chad Sims.
I made it into the TLA just in time to see the beginning of Young Widows set on Friday. The room was near black except for a few lights by the bar. I wondered if the entire show would be cloaked in darkness. Then the flood lights built into the bands custom guitar cabinets ignited an assault of luminosity.
Text and images by Rick Kauffman. Pics of Mohican and Vasudeva by Tim O’Donnell.
Distance is hard. People break up. Friendships die.
Tim Cooper, drummer of Los Angeles’ Signal Hill, recalled the night he found out his best friends and bandmates were moving thousands of miles away.
“It’s like when your girlfriend says, ‘I’m going to go to school, like, far away,’” said Cooper. “And I’m like, ‘CAN WE STILL MAKE IT WORK?!’ And then Dave’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to tell you, I’m moving to New York.’ Gahhhh! I thought my life was over.”
It was all very dramatic at the time but here they are, an EP and a full-length later, standing on the streets of Philadelphia outside the North Star Bar, having just finished their first set on their east coast tour with a night of glorious instrumental music. Read more…
Joe Hardcore Gets Medieval.
Text by Kevin Stairiker. Images by Jeff Fusco.
Joseph of Harcourt yells, “One, two … fuck yeah!”
An axe comes down hard on a faded opponent’s shield as the two weary battlers wince slightly from the heaviness of the sound.
Thwack! Suddenly, a swipe from the axe comes a moment too soon to be blocked again by the shield and all at once, the already-damaged fighter loses both of his legs. Though the axe-wielder knows victory is imminent, he takes his time circling his opponent before making the final strike. He comes down once more with a crash and the clash is over.
A moment later, Joseph of Harcourt, one of many squires to King Edward of the East Kingdom, lends valuable advice to an inexperienced fighter.
“When you’re fighting, ‘hold’ means stop, no matter what,” he says. “I don’t care if God comes down and offers you Beyonce’s asshole, ‘hold’ means stop.”
Everyone laughs and the winner of the practice bout helps up the dead man. “Everyone” tonight is Joey Ross, Damon Cunningham, Kitt McKittrick and organizer of the practice, Joe McKay, aka Joe Hardcore, founder of the This Is Hardcore festival and all-around promoter of the genre. But in this rec room, in his somewhat historically accurate 11th/12th century fighting armor, he is Joseph of Harcourt. When the armor comes off later and the gym shorts go on, he’s back to being regular Joe McKay — Philadelphia lifer, Freemason and father of three.
The turnout is relatively small but it is of no consequence to Joe.
“You gotta come to practice,” he says. “You don’t have gear? Borrow some and come to practice. You’re sick? Come to practice. You’re really sick?”
Joe thinks for a split second, smiles and says, “Then you probably shouldn’t come to practice.”
The men are assembled in a rec room run by Damon, who, during practice time, goes by nKante, a 13th century African warrior. With one flickering light illuminating the space and the remains of a child’s first birthday celebration still in the air (one large decoration reads “Happy birthday! Oh boy, I’m one!”), the room may not be where one conjures up the image of people gathering to beat the shit out of each other with blunted, though still dangerous, weaponry. Kitt, Damon and Joe have been fighting for years but tonight is Joey’s first practice. Joey, 22, is completely new to this sort of battling, and it wasn’t surprising to learn that he was drawn in by Joe.
“I was at a show seeing Cruel Hand and Agitator,” Joey says. “Joe said that I’d probably like SCA, so I came out.”
Joe has that effect on people.
Joe Pug and Hezekiah Jones @ Johnny Brenda’s.
Text and images by Kyle Bagenstose.
You know those cartoons where the music notes kind of drift off into the air, from whatever instrument the character is strumming or blowing into, before slowly disappearing toward the edge of the screen?
That’s folk artist Joe Pug on stage, whose simple guitar strumming backs stop-and-go lyrics. He sings out a line, recoils, and watches the notes drift away, letting the words sink in, and then comes back to the microphone with increasing fervor as his songs build.
A room full of people witnessed exactly that at Johnny Brenda’s on Wednesday night, as the Chicago-based singer-songwriter brought an upright bassist and electric guitarist on stage with him.
It was a low-key kind of show, the kind where couples swayed gently to the rhythm and the loners listened to Pug’s poignant words thoughtfully.
Lyrically, Pug hovers between the simple (“Speak plainly to me Diana…I don’t mind riding around,” he repeats over and over in “Speak Plainly, Diana“) and the critical (“I seen skeleton mothers and hungry folks… across the street from the kitchens that cookin’ for most” he sings in “Nation of Heat“).
But whatever the words, the former carpenter appears genuine and unassuming on stage: he’s into the music and only says a few soft-spoken words between songs.
Pug’s line of the night did come between songs, when he explained that his band was trying to arrive in Philadelphia early to let a few underage fans listen to their soundcheck, but that the plan blew up when they were delayed.
“But hey, I think that’s a good lesson for them,” Pug said. “Life’s a bitch.”
The audience was also treated to a fantastic opener in local-favorite Hezekiah Jones (Raphael Cutrufello), who took to the stage with the simplest ensemble his up-to-12-man-band appears with: a trio of Hezekiah, upright bassist Pepe Jones (Phil D’Agostino) and Pocono Jones (Brad Hinton) on lap steel.
The band seemed to know what audience they were playing for, strumming their way through a low-key set that had the crowd tapping along. They played a few numbers that they introduced as new material and it might have just been the best stuff they played all night, which bodes well for Hezekiah fans.
Illvibe Collective: The Brotherhood of DJs.
Text and bottom images by G.W. Miller III. Top image by Marie Alyse Rodriguez.
Tucked away in a parking garage in the heart of West Philly, in a living room-sized studio next to the rehearsal space of a thrash-metal band, you’ll find the headquarters of some of Philly’s best party people.
The Illvibe Collective DJ crew members have been throwing parties around the city since 2000, selling out venues and winning competitions, like the Red Bull Public Assembly competition over the winter. They topped local legends from Mad Decent and the Shakedown crew.
“We love music so much, we treat it delicately,” says DJ Statik, aka Mr. Sonny James. Read more…
Text by Chad Sims.
Japanese experimental rockers Boris are playing TLA on Friday. What exactly to expect from the Tokyo band is anyone’s guess as they combine elements of punk, noise, doom, sludge, psychedelic and pop into their own unique blend of cacophony.
Imagine a Japanese version of Sleep playing MC5 tunes through the lens of Sonic Youth on speed and you might have an idea what these guys sound like. One of the biggest problems when trying to describe Boris is they change their sound with almost every album (in 2011 they came out with a straight-ahead J-Pop album called New Album).
Despite their disparate influences and noisy textures, the band still makes approachable music and they put on an absolutely killer show.
As if Boris wasn’t enough, Louisville art punks Young Widows and Stephen Brodsky will open. Widows combines elements of post-punk, indie and metal into a challenging but original brew. Brodsky is mainly known as the lead singer of Cave In, but will be playing his solo material.
This show is going to be totally worth the low price of admission for three great acts. See here for ticket info.
John “Heyward” Howkins creates blustery nostalgia through vivid storytelling and lyrical imagery. But do you know what else he creates? E-Bibles. The book editor and entertainer talks to Nikki Volpicelli about his day job at a locally-owned electronic publishing company and how he fits his musical career into his 9-to-5 routine. Photo by Katie Harrold.
Give me a few sentences about what you do between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. — or 6 or 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.
I manage all of the aspects of e-book development for a small publishers’ service firm. I spend a ton of time reminding people what they already know, making sure they pay attention to their work. I am like a generally unlikeable common sense cop. I am actually totally different outside of work. I am really easy going and funny. But at work, not so much. I have really high standards. I am kind of a dick.
Rainbow Destroyer: Waiting For You In The Dark.
Text and images by Megan Matuzak.
If Rainbow Destroyer had their way, every day would be Halloween, Gothic chic would be uniform and zombie movies would be as routine as brushing your teeth.
Mo Hayes and Foster Longo, who make up the electro-pop duo, are something out of an old-school Romero flick, where brain-starved zombies creep around every corner.
Rainbow Destroyer is hard to ignore — leopard print everything, sequin shorts, studded jean vests and zombie-like makeup are all a part of the band’s essence and attitude. Their music is Top 40 pop, but their lyrics are dark and asinine and their bass lines could make bones rattle six feet under.
Dead Skeletons: The Art of Psychedelic.
Text By Brian Wilensky. Image by Jon Saemundur Audarson.
Ryan van Kriedt, guitarist for Philly-based Asteroid No. 4, was on a European tour in 2008 when he was introduced to Icelandic visual artist, Jon Saemunder Audarson.
Audarson was working with Henrik Bjornsson of shoegazey-psych Singapore Sling on a song to accompany an installation he had going up at the Reykjavik Art Museum when they asked Kriedt to contribute to it.
That song, “Dead Mantra,” was intended to be a one-off tune for the installation. But its video became an instant hit on Youtube, prompting van Kriedt, Bjornsson and Audarson to continue writing together, form Dead Skeletons and release 2011’s full-length record, Dead Magick.
SATURDAY PARTY: PIFA Street Fair on Broad Street.
Text by Morgan James. Images by Timothy Becker.
If you have been busy spring-cleaning or jogging or jamming or standing in line at a Rita’s or Shake Shack, let us remind you that the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) has been revving its engines the past month with a spectacular series of events.
PIFA, a production of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, is a month long celebration of Philadelphia’s rich arts culture. It is the Kimmel’s segue from the classics to the current.
“I think it’s an opportunity for the whole city to go on an adventure with all of the artists who live here,” said Jay Wahl, Director of Public Events. Read more…
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 