Not only are they one of the few punk bands that have managed not to completely break up or become a flash in the pan (fourteen years and counting!) Not only have they had multiple studio albums, but rare 7”s, EP’s and mixtapes that have managed to circulate their way around to all of their die-hard fans. Not only have they been covered by everyone from other punk bands to Australian folk singer Ben Lee, who put out his own version of New Wave titled Against Lee! which is adorably excellent.
But, they have two attributes that clearly stick out when seeing them on their current headlining tour with Lemuria and Screaming Females: They have excellent stamina, and despite maturing their message, they have not lost fans but gained them instead.
Playing for almost straight through their hour and a half set, lead singer Tom Gabel maybe uttered four or five sentences between songs and the band maintained a solid block of punk rock for the entire set. Dripping with sweat, Gabel had a wide grin on his face during most of the songs and it was clear he enjoys getting up on stage and playing with his band every night.
When I think of families forming bands, the first images to appear in my mind are of psychedelic singing children, like in The Partridge Family or The Brady Bunch. Or even dysfunctional married/divorced/pseudo-sibling couples like The White Stripes. So I was in for a pleasant surprise when I entered the basement the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in downtown DC.
Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the six-piece and actually unrelated Kopecky Family Band combine an eclectic combination of guitar, bass, drums, keys, xylophone, cello, trombone, and many more to create their multi-layered indie sound. With the only female member of the band, Kelsey, as lead singer, the band’s music took a sultry turn, a la Slow Club. This was especially evident when she sang duets with lead guitarist Gabe.
Although the band makes beautiful music, not everything in their lives goes smoothly. Onstage the band discussed how much of a struggle their touring van, nicknamed “The War Wagon,” had been having on their most recent tour. “I learned how to change an alternator today!” Gabe announced. “Cross that one off of the bucket list!”
Big cities, including here in Washington, DC, are guaranteed to have certain things, like diverse people and famous landmarks, or tiny apartments and high drink prices. Generally we collectively embrace and endure these things to be near the culture, the hustle and bustle. But there is another culture in the rural areas of America that can be just as stimulating, and I was exposed to it full force from May 13th-15th at the Nelsonville Music Festival.
Tucked away in the hills of Southeastern Ohio, Nelsonville is the kind of small town that would make very little impression on your memory as you passed through it to somewhere else you wanted to be. But during this three-day music festival, the combination of newer, hip music acts and staple alt-country artists would have made any passer-by’s head turn. The line-up included, but was not limited to, Justin Townes Earle, Wanda Jackson, Yo La Tengo, Neko Case and George Jones, with The Flaming Lips for the main headlining performance.
Dressed like a well-meaning southern gentleman in straight, clean slacks, a collared shirt, pressed suit jacket and bow tie, Justin Townes Earle mopped sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief on Friday night as he crooned to the crowd the tracks from his 2010 album Harlem River Blues.
“I’m a hard dog to keep under the porch,” Earle sweetly slurred to the crowd in his Tennessee accent. His songs reflect this wandering state of mind, as they often embrace moving on and being on the road. But with an apartment in Manhattan, Earle also knows the place that he calls home, and he played and discussed the many songs on this album that talk about New York.
Most touching was his performance of “One More Night in Brooklyn,” a song that describes Earle’s eager anticipation to move out of his less than desirable apartment in Brooklyn and into one he now enjoys much more in Manhattan, an experience anyone who has lived in any large city over a long period of time certainly understands.
By Saturday a large amount of rain had fallen, turning the outdoor festival into a sopping mud pit. But this did not deter audiences, for as Saturday night came around, a crowd of hundreds gathered to watch perform a now festival band legend, The Flaming Lips.
“We have been here since early this morning and I have had a chance to walk around,” said lead singer Wayne Coyne. “We have played a lot of festivals, and we are usually the biggest freaks there. But here, we fit right in. I wish we could stick around tonight and hang out with you guys in a tree or something,” Coyne said with a giggle in his voice.
The crowd roared, happy to have gained Coyne’s approval. He made it clear that he sought theirs as well, as The Lips gave the same enthusiasm to this crowd of a few hundred as they normally would to throngs of thousands.
Complete with full light show and LED screens, back-up dancers, and the infamous hamster ball Wayne surfs the crowd in, the band pulled out all the stops. And the audience gave back all that they could; even from the back of the horde I was drenched from the rain, as well as covered in a thick layer of mud and confetti. I can’t even imagine what those in the front of the audience looked like at the end of that show.
In addition to these epic evening acts on the main stage, two smaller spaces, the Back Porch Stage and the No-Fi Cabin, allowed smaller groups and acoustic artists to perform their music for earnest crowds that were eager to listen. One endearing example were Bruce and Gay Dalzell, a graying couple whose years living in Southeastern Ohio playing music together have made them effortlessly happy. “My, we haven’t played this song in over thirty years,” Gay kept saying, as the couple took us audience members down their musical memory lane. Alternating singing and utilizing small percussion instruments and modified folk guitars and harps effectively conveyed the duo’s full pastoral sound.
As the music festival trend continues to grow and album sales continue to decline, tours become a band’s main source of income and venues tend to exhaust audiences with bands that had no say in deciding to play there. They often hurry through their set so that they can get back in their trailers and move on to the next gig. Especially in bigger cities, band turnover is high. But try to make your way out of a club and into a small town some time soon; you never know what amazing musical gem is tucked away in the back room of a bar, waiting for you to hear it.
By the time The Submarines got to their Washington D.C. show at theBlack Cat, being on tour had taken its toll on the voice of Blake Hazard, the lead singer/guitarist of the indie pop duo. Her voice was noticeably raspy, but she still sang beautifully and enthusiastically to the crowded and excitement-filled room at the venue. Not only did the band’s performance shine, but somehow she and her other half, in the band and in their marriage, John Dragonetti, were still able to answer many probing questions about their famous family lineage, being a married couple that also plays in a band together, and how much Steve Jobs likes them.
Blake, did being the great granddaughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald in any way effect how you were brought up on culture or the arts? Was it an influence on how you first got into music?
Against Me! has some real balls.
