The last time I saw Local H was at the now defunct Birch Hill Night Club over a decade ago in Old Bridge, NJ. That club was a strange place; it sort of felt like you were in the middle of a junk yard in the woods. I remember seeing the Afghan Whigs there and Greg Dulli was like, “Where the Fook are we?!) And the bouncers! Oh man, they would lord over the crowd on risers and promptly throw out anyone they didn’t like with force that would make you think they were mercenaries from Blackwater.
I Wear The Exact Same Stockings When I Listen To Local H
What I fondly remember about Birch Hill was that they booked a lot of great acts that are still important today, and many of them while the bands were still just below the mainstream radar. System Of The Down, The White Stripes, Weezer, Incubus and Local H were all veterans of the club before they returned to NJ to later on in their careers to sell out much bigger, though decidedly less intimate, venues.
Birch Hill was a strange island of an indie rock haven amongst post-modern vistas of strip malls lit by sulfur street lamps, the kind that hum and flicker in the summer when you’re doing doughnuts under them in empty parking lots.
My Favorite Local H Video
They’ve since paved Paradise and put up a condominium complex, so now that Local H is returning yet again to Jersey, singer/guitarist/front man Scott Lucas decided to bring their distortion laden sludgy guitar sound, and sing-along swear filled melodies ( the best kind!) to The Brighton Bar tomorrow, Saturday 4/23. The act is currently in the middle of their “Singles Tour” ( hey man, if I ever have enough singles to constitute a tour, you bet I’ll be loading up the van and cashing those checks), and features the well-experienced Brian St. Clair on the drums.
Also playing will be The Dig from NYC, and yes, yours truly will be there glowing with adolescent nostalgia and making fun of dudes who have “ grand prize monster trucks” with this rowdy rock act come tomorrow evening.
See you there, you high-fiving mothertruckers!
XOXO
Ang
