November is here, which means I can already hear the premature sounds of Christmas jingles from department store parking lots. If you are as annoyed as I am with the never-ending parade of sleigh bells before you even get your box of scarves out for the winter, have no fear.
There’s another round of excellent shows coming to the 9:30 Club all month long to ease your pain. Here is your November preview and an extra chance to win tickets to the show of your choice from the list below.
It’s been less than a month since Poliça released their second studio album Shulamith. The name was inspired by the radical feminist Shulamith Firestone and is drenched in themes of modern feminism and societal norms of today. The first single “Tiff” features Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and has been described by vocalist Leaneagh as “a portrait of a woman as her own worst enemy.”
Poliça is the late show on Wednesday, November 6, so you can prep up all the feminist anger you can muster and head over to the 9:30 Club at 10:00 PM (doors) to catch a great show.
Toad The Wet Sprocket (early show), Thurs 11/7
“When Monty Python’s Eric Idle created the fictional band ‘Toad the Wet Sprocket’ for the program ‘Rutland Weekend Television’ in 1975, he never dreamed that anyone would actually use such a silly name. Fast forward to 1986, when four California teens desperately needed to come up with a name to call their band for an upcoming gig at a Goleta, CA watering hole called The Shack.”
Today, Toad the Wet Sprocket are currently on the road promoting their sixth studio album New Constellation and playing the early show at the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, November 7.
J. Roddy Walston and The Business (late show), Thurs 11/7
In September of this year, J. Roddy Walston & The Business released their third studio album Essential Tremors. The name is derived from the nervous-system disorder that’s long plagued the band’s frontman J. Roddy Walston.
“It’s this condition where my hands shake―sometimes not at all, but sometimes pretty bad. I’ve referenced it throughout all our records in some way, but it made sense to be more open about it on this album, which is partly about owning and embracing your weirdness instead of letting it hold you captive because you don’t even want to talk about it.”
Embarrassingly, I was first introduced to GWAR watching late night Viva La Bam episodes alone in my room in middle school. Seeing Oderus jumping into bed while Phil and April slept haunts my nightmares to this day. It was probably the weirdest concept for a band I had ever seen, but I’ve learned to accept it because nobody messes with GWAR and survives the experience.
Despite various explanations that GWAR is an acronym for something, band members have insisted from its inception that the letters do not stand for anything. Indeed, the official website of Slave Pit Inc. indicates that GWAR is a shortened version of “Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh,” the name the band used originally when opening up for Death Piggy.
Sky Ferreira & Smith Westerns, Mon 11/18
It’s about damn time that Sky Ferreira got her debut album. For the years it seems that Ferreira has been stuck in a never-ending march of factory pop failure purgatory. In October of this year she finally she put out her debut album and on her own terms.
With the release of Night Time, My Time, Ferreira has hit the road and joined forces with Smith Westerns, who released their new LP Soft Will in June.
MGMT, Tues 11/26 at DAR Constitution Hall
After spending some downtime in their hometown of New York City, Ben and Andrew sat down in early 2012 and tried to pinpoint their mutual artistic goals for their third, self-titled album. What they ended up making was an authentic collection of sounds with an overlay of weirdness that only MGMT could create.
“This album feels to us like coming down to earth in a way. We’re trying to be accessible but we’re trying to do something new within the realm of pop music. When we finally came close to finishing MGMT, everyone in the studio had the feeling that we’d made something really great.”
A Rob Zombie show is unlike any other show you’ll ever experience. “He has continuously challenged audiences as he stretches the boundaries of film, music and publishing. He’s not happy merely sporting a single creative hat; instead, he submerges himself fully in each artistic endeavor, rolling up his sleeves and immersing his hands completely in each project.”
Pull out that black lipstick you’ve got left over from Halloween and get a little weird when Rob Zombie comes to the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, November 27. Note that it’s the day after Thanksgiving, so you can even take your grandma with you.
Be sure to check back in throughout the month for more info about how to win a pair of tickets to each of the shows above. For an extra early entry, tell us below, the weirdest name of a band you’ve heard and the show(s) of your choice.
