Le Yikes Surf Club: The Flamenco Punks.
Text by Brian Myszkowski. Images by Michael Bucher.
Le Yikes Surf Club was born after the hiatus of Dirty Tactics, Gary Viteri and guitarist Chris Haberstick’s old band. Originally Viteri’s pet project, LYSC expanded with Haberstick and drummer Ted Quann. Bassist Vinny Orender joined after sitting in on some practices.
“It was a boy’s club,” says Viteri of the hangout sessions. The result was a blend of funky Spanish guitars, organs and maracas with an ’80s punk vibe. “You’d drink a beer and play a set.”
“It’s always been that way,” says Haberstick. “The first songs had that kind of flamenco style. Flamenco punk. That was cool.”
LYSC focused on crafting their music and it paid off. Just after announcing their second live show, the band was picked up by Grizzly Records.
The label’s founder/operator, EJ Binns, was drawn in by the band’s capability to leave him humming tunes after a single listen. While the overall style wasn’t new, Binns found that LYSC brought something distinctive by combining simple riffs, hooks and rhythm for an easily digestible but uniquely fulfilling experience.
“All the dudes are fucking crack ups, super passionate about their crafts, and [they] play some really fucking catchy songs,” says Binns. “I was sold.”
Soon after, the band was performing gigs with the likes of The Dickies and Agent Orange.
LYSC’s self-titled debut was released in 2012, showcasing jaunty surf reverb with an energetic edge. Tracks like “Ghost Ride the Whip” call to mind a sunset-lit beach, smoking a spliff with pals and watching the waves after a wild punk show. The band’s upcoming full-length, Apocalypsos – recorded by Philly’s Joe Reinhart – promises to expand on that feeling.
On the deck that leads from Viteri’s second-floor kitchen, the guys kick back in lawn chairs, enjoying beers and smokes. Discussion ranges from the expansion of Comcast – whose mega-tower dominates a clear view of Center City – to alternative PR tactics.
“How about a Le Yikes crossword puzzle?” suggests Viteri.
“And if you solve it, you win a copy of the new EP,” Haberstick says with a smirk.
Despite few compatriots in the surf/world/punk-art project scene, the group is making a name for itself.
“It’s kind of cool,” says Orender, slumped in a chair against the wall. “We don’t really fit the bill. We’re always playing with bands from outside of town.”
Apocalypsos is set for release through Grizzly on December 21. Demos for a new EP are also in the works, featuring “a more ethnic sound, borrowing from my Ecuadorian background,” Viteri says. “A more chilled out, bluesy feel instead of surf-rock.”
At the end of the day, LYSC still holds onto its humble sonic ethos.
“It’s not complicated,” Viteri states. “The planets are aligning. We’re all here to hang and that’s how we sound when we play.”
WIN FREE TICKETS: Angel Haze @ Underground Arts Sunday.
Angel Haze performs at Underground Arts on Sunday and we’re giving away tickets.
Like us on facebook and email us at FreeJumpStuff@gmail.com to enter to win a pair of tickets (give us your name and put “HAZE” in the subject line).
If you want to play it safe and get your own tickets, find details for the show here.
WIN FREE TICKETS: All Time Low @ The Liacouras Center with Sleeping With Sirens Saturday.
All Time Low performs at the Liacouras Center on North Broad Street on Saturday with Sleeping With Sirens and we’re giving away tickets.
Like us on facebook and email us at FreeJumpStuff@gmail.com to enter to win a pair of tickets (give us your name and put “ATL” in the subject line).
If you want to play it safe and get your own tickets, find details for the show here.
Beach Slang: Honest and Accelerated.
Text by Brendan Menapace. Images by Jessica Flynn.
The guys in Beach Slang are open to uncomfortable conversation. They’ll talk about how they can display their most emotional and vulnerable sides through lyrics. They can talk about how they had to write material and form a band dynamic while they were already on the media’s radar. They can talk about how they still get nervous getting on stage. They won’t, however, talk about their age, religion or politics. Those topics are off the table.
Guitarist/vocalist/chief songwriter James Alex Snyder, formerly of Bethlehem-based band Weston, shares his time between Philadelphia and Easton and decided that this project would be an honest one.
“This was the first time I was like, ‘Oh, you know, I’m just going to wear my heart completely on my sleeve, just strip all of it down,’” he says, standing as the rest of the band sits on couches along the back wall of PhilaMOCA before a show.
Snyder’s voice is quiet and fast. It doesn’t quite have the rasp that comes out when he sings. There’s earnestness and modesty behind what he says. Snyder sheds his reserved ways when there’s a guitar in hand. Anyone who has seen Beach Slang live might not think it was the same guy who leaves every bit of his energy on the stage, powerfully leading the charge of the song and laughing with his friends.
The band’s lyrics have a certain aesthetic that can be hard to pinpoint. They balance between self-doubt and vulnerability, with moments of triumph and comfort at the same time. The music itself recalls melodic ’90s alt-rock and emo.
“[The lyrics are about] me and my friends and our weirdo, screwed up little lives together,” Snyder says. “I’m a horrible photographer. I can’t get anybody interested in reading a book. So I was like, ‘Well, if they’re songs, maybe that’s the best way I can remember my life and my friends.”
As the band puts it, Snyder writes the songs and then the rest of the members make it loud and it becomes Beach Slang. Originally made up of Snyder, bassist Ed McNulty (formerly in the band NONA) and drummer JP Flexner (formerly in the band Ex Friends), the group added Ruben Gallego (formerly in Glocca Morra) on second guitar after their first two EPs. From there, the songwriting process has gone smoothly, with two EPs released last year and their debut full length, The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us, due out this fall on Polyvinyl.
“There’s an ease with which we arrive at something that we’re happy with,” Flexner says. “When we get in a room after James has worked on something, we seem to know pretty quickly whether we’re on to something.”
They feel the hardest thing for all of them to overcome was handling a boost to popularity while they were still relative strangers. It has been an accelerated pace with the band already garnering major attention from both fellow artists and in the media, with outlets like Noisey and The AV Club singing their praises often.
“We grew up on television, you know?” Snyder says, comparing the band to child stars who grew up in the spotlight and never really got a chance to learn along the way. “We never had a chance to fall and embarrass ourselves. It was right away. We were becoming friends in this. I met Ed and Ruben in this band already doing this. The band found its legs pretty quickly and everything was just kind of a crazy pressure cooker where we worked at an accelerated pace.”
“They’re at the top of the relatively newer Philly punk rock bands,” says Marco Florey, drummer of Philadelphia-based Spill, who shared a stage with Beach Slang this year in Baltimore. “They have a constantly upward trajectory, as well they should. Seeing them and playing with them has validated that hype and made me a supporter of what they do.”
What they do is try to create a unique emotional experience—and whether that feeling is uncertainty in life or reveling in a packed basement with your best friends, it’s real to them and the fans.
“For better or for worse,” Snyder says. “Whether it connects or completely misses, I just want to do something really honest.”
RECphilly: Connecting the Dots.
Text by Jennifer Granato. Images by Michael Bucher.
“Philly is and always has been a talent town but it isn’t an industry town,” says William Toms, one of the co-founders of RECphilly, while leaning forward in his seat. “There’s lots of great music organizations in Philly that have pull but they don’t communicate with each other.”
Inside the sun-lit rooms of Venturef0rth, a collaborative workspace near the Electric Factory, RECphilly runs their operation. Headed up by 23-year-olds Toms and Dave Silver, RECphilly is a music incubator that they were inspired to create after seeing the slump Philadelphia’s music industry fell into.
“Philadelphia and Detroit used to compete to be one and two in the music industry.” Silver says frustratedly, his watch catching the sunlight, noting how the Sigma Sound Studios and Philly International Records buildings were closed, with plans to become apartment complexes. “We were seeing historic Philly shut down and it inspired us to be the change we wanted to see in the Philly area.”
Silver and Toms both speak with confidence because they understand the issues at hand. One of the major problems with Philadelphia’s music industry is that talent develops here, then leaves. Musicians and producers flee the city for places such as New York or Los Angeles, where there is an industry that can support them. RECphilly is working to keep these artists in the city.
“RECphilly has done remarkable things to help me, amongst others, establish ground here in Philadelphia,” says West Philly rapper Armani White.
Since the official launch in January 2015, the organization has become a matchmaker and an information clearinghouse of services in Philadelphia that musicians might not know exists or have trouble finding on their own.
“For musicians, connecting the dots is the hardest part and that’s why RECphilly exists,” Silver explains.
“The problem we saw was structure,” agrees Toms. “It wasn’t easy for musicians to access resources they needed, from recording studios to entertainment lawyers to everything in between. We needed a system that was more sustainable.”
RECphilly creates deals with local businesses that are beneficial to everyone.
“We represent a boat-load of Philadelphia small businesses,” Silver says. “We’re able to offer artists different budgets and different niches of services customized to them. ”
Artists who work with businesses through RECphilly receive discounted rates for the services in exchange for the extra clientele that RECphilly can connect the business to.
“They saw the problem too,” Toms says. “We just wanted to push extra clientele to their businesses. Then, we can take the weight off the shoulders of the musician, other than creating the music.”
The infrastructure RECphilly has built connects artists and businesses in Philadelphia, connections each may not have previously been aware of.
“Now they can come to Philly and be tied to an organization that can help get them to mainstream outlets and assist with funding and distribution,” explains Toms.
The list of businesses and organizations run the gamut from law firms like Offit Kurman to tour DJs like DJ Shiz Lo, public relations firm Montauk Music and local artist development coach Owen Brown.
“RECphilly has kept me involved all the way from the smallest events to the biggest shows and always made sure I had a comfortable position in a tight spot,” White says.
Milton, a 22-year-old R&B singer and rapper who has teamed up with RECphilly, says working with the organization has been an unforgettable experience.
“They’ve been a mediator for me as an artist from the music into the business world,” says Milton. “They helped me find an outlet to plug my energy into by showing me the proper channels for my music to flow and create a future.”
RECphilly not only provides the networking support for musicians, but can provide technical support as well.
“We have a space called the Rec Room,” Toms notes. “It’s all of the tools necessary to create audio and visual content at a low cost. It’s a multi-discipline art studio with an audio booth, photo and video backdrops.”
“The incubation process happens from the Rec Room into our network,” Silver continues. “We open that up to local musicians, offer those things and then the process happens. The gears turn for everybody involved.”
In the near future, RECphilly wants to expand their available resources for artists, but they also want to make a difference in another way.
“There is a huge opportunity in our business model to target the underprivileged youth, to tap into their talents and help them utilize it positively,” Silver says.
“The opportunity to make a difference – there is one of the burning passions behind RECphilly,” Toms adds. “First we have to find the money but then we want to have a whole branch to target youth in the city.”
RECphilly recently traveled to Atlanta for the All Three Coasts event, known as A3C, the largest hip-hop conference and festival in the nation. But it was their success at the 2015 South by Southwest festival that was a testament to their effectiveness and impact.
“It was such an exhilarating feeling but a roller coaster ride to put together,” Silver says with a laugh. Months of emailing, calling and pitching their proposal culminated in putting 40 people on a plane from Philly to Austin for a Philadelphia showcase at the festival. “It was the first time Philly was ever represented completely at SXSW. Chicago and all these different cities had their own stages, but there was no Philly one until this year. We got a call saying that we can do it all again next year.”
“It’s so refreshing to see it grow so fast because with the strong team it has behind it, that’s still continuously growing,” says White. “It’s easy to see that this could be a big thing for the city, akin to a Philly International even.”
Puscifer @ The Fillmore.
Text and images by Chip Frenette.
On Sunday night, Puscifer made a stop at The Fillmore to support their latest album Money Shot … and provide a bit of Mexican wrestling to boot.
The stage was minimally set with two sets of aluminum bleachers. The bleachers were for a few lucky fans who would be treated to a ringside seat on the stage for the action that took place before Puscifer took to the stage.
After the lucky fans were escorted on to the stage, a brief narrative told the story of jailers and prisoners who must fight to the death. The prisoners, one man and one woman, were dressed in all black with the exception of their blue masks and after the narrative was over, a full wrestling ring was revealed. The black outfits were ripped off to expose wrestling garb.
One team was in red and the other in aquamarine. The teams climbed into the ring for what would be a series of well choreographed violence that included flips and throws of humans in succession of one another and an occasional body flying off the top of a turnbuckle and crashing down on the canvas.
During the course of the wrestling pre-show, another masked man in an all black outfit appeared with a tray of drinks that caused a break in the action. The wrestlers toasted one another and drank before continuing with the well-rehearsed action.
Upon the last delivery of drinks, the masked man delivering the drinks exposed himself as another wrestler. He kicked, punched and grappled all four of his opponents, tossing them outside of the ring where they lie on the floor, vanquished.
Following the wrestling match, one set of bleachers was promptly removed and room was made for a drum kit to be placed front and center. As the stage was being set, the audience’s attention was drawn to video screens with information regarding the severity of using cell phones to record the night’s performance. The information was delivered in a humorous but surly tone.
“Nobody wants to stand behind you and watch the show through your fucking phone’s screen,” it read. “If you are caught using a phone to record the show, you will be escorted out of the theatre.”
A lone drummer was then illuminated on the stage as the rest of the band came into very dim light. Eventually joined by frontman Maynard James Keenan and the cast of Mexican wrestlers, who posed with menacing looks upon the audience.
Money Shot is Puscifer’s third full-length studio effort, released Oct. 30. Keenan is best-known for his work with Tool, the band that won two Emmy Awards for Best Metal Performance in 1998 and 2002 and one for best recording package in 2007.
Neon Indian @ Union Transfer.
Text and images by Chris Fascenelli.
By the time Neon Indian frontman Alan Palomo took the stage Union Transfer on Sunday, the venue was packed front to back.
On his first trip back to Philly in at least 3 years, Palomo told the crowd, “We’re off to China next but this was absolutely the best way to end our domestic run.”
From there, he had the crowd locked in. He started off with a few hits off his new album,VEGA INTL. Night School, which dropped last month, including “Annie,” “Slumlord” and “Street.” He then touched on classics and crowd favorites like “Terminally Chill” and, in the encore, “Polish Girl.”
“The tour has been great,” Palomo said after the show. “I mean, honestly, after what would’ve been a 3 year hiatus, we’re just jumping back into it, trying to get acclimated. This was the first domestic run. From here, we go to Asia, spend a few weeks there, go to Japan for a week. We’ve been working on the album for 4 years. Some of the demos I wrote in the fall of 2011- just as the last one was coming out. I lost my laptop and had to start from scratch. But I managed to finish in June of this year.”
Explorer Tapes opened the show.
Shakey Graves: “If You Don’t Trust Anything, You’re Fucked.”
Text and images by McCall Cox.
Shakey Graves brought his Americana sound to the Electric Factory on Saturday, along with some words of wisdom.
Those Darlins opened the show. The four piece band hails from Nashville, a detail evident in the twang of singerJessi “Darlin” Zazu. The group is comprised of Zazu, Nikki “Darlin” Kvarnes, Linwood Regensburg and Jordan Levine. The “Darlin” girls, a stage name adopted by the two women, shared both lead and back-up vocals. Both women also played the guitar while Regensburg played the bass and Levine was behind the drums. The quartet’s sound ranged from rock and roll to a country-indie collaboration. The band performed songs such as “Wild One,” “Guitar World” and “That Man,” and played for about 45 minutes.
As the lights dimmed for the main act, “Circle of Life,” the opening song from The Lion King, blared through the Electric Factory sound system, after which Shakey Graves took the stage. Shakey, otherwise known as Alejandro Rose-Garcia, walked out with an acoustic guitar and came to stand in front of the drum-cymbal combination disguised as a suitcase, which Rose-Garcia operates with each foot on a pedal while playing the guitar. Shakey Graves opened with the song “Word of Mouth,” stopping after a lyric to inform the audience that the line was bad advice.
“This show is going to be full of bad advice,” said Rose-Garcia, taking a moment to compare the lyrics to the balance of good and bad advice everyone receives in life, before continuing with the rest of the song.
Shakey Graves, which can operate as a one-man band, turned into an ensemble after Rose-Garcia was joined on stage by Pat O’Connor, Jon Shaw and Chris Boosahda. Boosahda played both the bass and drums during the shows, while O’Connor joined Rose-Garcia on guitar and Shaw manned the bass.
The band’s line-up continued to change as Rose-Garcia performed some songs solo, then brought out the other members to play other tracks. Shakey Graves performed songs such as “Roll the Bones,” “The Perfect Parts,” “Bully’s Lament” and “Where a Boy Once Stood.”
Before launching into the song “Tomorrow,” Rose-Garcia stopped to tell the audience the history of the song. He mentioned that he wrote the song when he was 16 and after forgetting the song for a while, he rediscovered the song a couple of years ago when he was 26. Rose-Garcia compared the two versions of himself as “16 year old shit-head me and 26 year old shit-head me” and found one commonality: “We were both afraid of a little thing called tomorrow.” While performing the song, the southern singer peppered the track with breaks to continue his story, discussing his fear of things not going according to plan or screwing things up.
“You can fuck up anything your heart desires,” he said.“You’re having a great night? You can still fuck that up.”
At the conclusion of the song, he told the audience, “The main thing the two shit head versions of me figured out is that you can’t be scared of somebody.”
Rose-Garcia continued to interact with the audience, feeding off the energy it provided. He encouraged a call and response from audience members during songs and talked to the audience between tracks.
As the show wrapped up, Rose-Garcia took a minute to introduce the other performers on stage before saying, “And I’ve been your host, Shakey Graves, from Austin, Texas.”
After the last song of the set, the four men bowed and exited the stage.
Rose-Garcia returned alone for a two-song encore, comprised of “Hard Wired” and “Late July.”
After the show, when Rose-Garcia was asked about the theme of good and bad advice and what the worst advice he had ever received, he simply responded, “I don’t really think there is any such thing as bad advice because I think all advice is inherently a little silly. But it’s important to listen to people, which is kind of what I mean by bad advice. So, everybody gives advice but you can give advice without being able to actually practice what you preach. It’s really easy.”
Similarly, when asked about advice he would give to others, he said, “Trust in something. Whether it’s yourself – you have to trust something. If you don’t trust anything, you’re fucked. And that’s kind of the trick of ‘don’t listen to anybody but don’t feel like you have to trust everybody.’ If you can find that middle ground—somewhere in between those two—you’ll be okay.”
Rose-Garcia says of Philadelphia: “I like the people of Philadelphia. Every time I’ve come to the city, I’ve really enjoyed myself.”
He concluded that this tour will be the last of the year and for a while as Shakey Graves has to head to the studio to write and record new music.
“We’re in the process of [writing new music],” he said. “This is kind of a send-off tour.”
Alex G @ The First Unitarian Church with Girlpool, Eskimeaux and Brandon Can’t Dance.
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Text by Emily Scott. Images by Tim Mulhern.
In a simple, black Title Fight hoodie and baggy light-washed jeans, Alex G performed at a sold-out hometown show at the First Unitarian Church on Saturday.
The show was part of the tour in honor of his sixth self-released LP, Beach Music. The album release show included friend-openers Brandon Can’t Dance, Eskimeaux and Girlpool.
Solo artist Brandon Ayres kicked off the night. His hauntingly romantic melodies accompanied by fun, ’80s beats were a strikingly odd combination that worked so well.
Four-piece band Eskimeaux was up next and frontwoman Gabrielle Smith expressed her excitement for getting to play the Church.
“Playing here has been a dream of mine,” Smith said.
Eskimeaux’s set was intrapersonal. Smith kept her eyes closed as she belted her choral-like voice and drove the band with her powerful riffs.
Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad of Girlpool joined the band onstage for a sing-along to “Broken Necks.”
The band played several tracks off O.K., an LP released back in May. Songs like “I’ll Admit I’m Scared” showcased her and guitarist Oliver Kalb’s ability to harmonize so well.
Punk duo Girlpool quickly set up and went right into “Ideal World,” off their debut album as Philadelphians, Before The World Was Big. The album is sort of like an open memoir to growing up. Tividad and Tucker moved to Philly from L.A. last winter at 18 and 19 and since then have toured extensively.
Their two-piece guitar and bass model and honest lyricism catches the ears of many growing up in Philly. “You got lots of potential—can you feel it?” the two harmonized together on an unreleased track.
The entire show was accompanied by double-exposed film being projected behind the musicians, which has become popular recently at other venues like Everybody Hits and PhilaMOCA.
Alex G opened his set with one of the first singles off Beach Music, “Bug.” The track feels like a statement to being stuck between two places. His fresh voice paired with his abilities on the guitar shows that he still has a young maturity about him felt through each track.
He also played tracks off older LP’s like Tricks, Rules and DSU.
He closed his set with an encore of “Harvey” off DSU. Right after his set, Alex G came off the stage to talk to fans and friends who came to the show.
The show really highlighted how great self-releasing musicians can be. And they all definitely proved that.
Text and images by Mina Lee.
The Electric Factory was filled by a ragtag sea of Generation Y fans on Friday to see Seattle indie rockers Minus The Bear.
Aero Flynn warmed up the stage with eerily distorted vocals, heavy guitars and an almost unsettlingly intimate atmosphere as vocalist Josh Scott swayed and danced with eyes closed and arms outstretched.
Hailing from Indiana, indie folk rockers Murder by Death followed, lifting the atmosphere by encouraging the audience to clap along with their songs. With a unusual arsenal of instruments, including a cello, the band performed as the crowd sang in unison. It seemed that many attendees came to see more than Minus The Bear.
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 