After a 19-year break, post-punk essential band The Feelies are still churning out great music with their fifth studio album, Here Before. They’ll be at the 9:30 Club this Wednesday, March 27, presented by Dogfish Head Brewery.
People generally shit on New Jersey, but if anything good ever emerged from the Garden state, it’s The Feelies (and The Shirelles, and The Vivian Girls, and…I digress). Often lumped in with post-punk or (my favorite) the “college rock” genre, Feelies’ songs are known for layered jangly guitars and the fast pace of their Crazy Rhythms (the title of their best-known and first album, and the title track below, for those that don’t get my reference).
After a brief self-imposed exhile in the ’80s, The Feelies recorded The Good Earth with the help of Peter Buck of REM. This is how I think they have ended up with the horrible “college rock” classification that I associate with shit like Blues Traveler, and, well, REM (whose early stuff is not shit, though).
Anyway, it’s really exciting that The Feelies are touring because many believed they would never do so again. Their latest release, Here Before, was recorded at Water Music in Hoboken, New Jersey, produced by Feelies founders Glenn Mercer and Bill Million. Besides Mercer on rhythm/lead guitar and lead vocals, and Million on guitar and vocals, the album features Feelies mainstays Brenda Sauter (bass, vocals), Stanley Demeski (drums), and Dave Weckerman (percussion). This is by no means the original Feelies line-up, but a solid presentation nonetheless. Listen to “Should Be Gone” off of Here Before.
Tickets are $20, but don’t let that prices thwart you; there will be decent beer in the mix and nothing is better than a good show with good beer. The following delicious Dogfish Head Brewery craft beers will be on tap:
60 Minute IPA
Aprihop
Rhizing Bines
90 Minute IPA
Burton Baton
Sixty-One
Raison D’Etre
Chicory Stout
Midas Touch
Don’t be stupid—go buy your ticket!
