I Can't Work Any Faster, My Arms Are Killing Me

I headed down to New London today to check out some of the bands playing at the I AM Festival (Independent Artists & Musicians), which is still going on as I'm writing this, though probably not by the time anyone reads this (because nobody reads this piece of shit blog and I'm just about done here anyway, so you can stop e-mailing me to write about your shitty band) (I hate you). There was a whole bunch of stuff going on today; some neat-o "Cassette Store Day"-related activity at Redscroll, including something involving Elm Recordings though I'm not sure what, and then Snotrocket played a show at Willimantic Records. I could've hit all three things in one swing and made a really full day of it, but instead I figured I'd keep it simple and just get lunch at Captain's Pizza, they're not very good but they're convenient.

Anyway, Bedroom Rehab went on in New London around 3:00 and they totally killed it, I know that's something people say about bands all the time -- "they totally killed it" -- but in this case it's fucking real, jack. I watched people walking into the place and then slowly inching forward, like "what the heck is this, this is amazing", including a group of metalheads who finally just said "fuckit" and went up front, howling and throwing devil-horns in the air and headbanging like maniacs. This is true, I'm not making this up. Adam and Meghan are both hugely charismatic performers, Meghan maybe even the most out of the two even though she's seated behind a drum kit the whole time, and this was another one of those Bedroom Rehab sets where the crowd starts off kinda medium-warm and then by the end everyone is going nuts. I just stayed towards the back most of the time and played with the soapy bubble-making stuff that Rich Martin was handing out, but I couldn't get it to work very well, even when I tried to blow bubbles towards the band while they were playing. I guess I just suck. Then at 4:00 I moved over to the stage next to the whale's butt (in front of the train station) and caught Fatal Film, who weren't quite as good as when I saw them at Cafe Nine a couple of weeks ago -- in fact, the first half of their set today kinda blew -- but by "Coolest Friend" they were kickin' it, and they finished off the second half like champs. All their new songs are great and top almost anything on "Thrill'r", except for the fake reggae one which I'm not even really sure is a new song (I get mixed up sometimes), but other than that. Of course, almost any song they play now could be considered a "new song" because "Thrill'r" came out, what, 5 years ago? Fatal Film also have the best jokes of any band from around here, I'm practically in stitches every time I see them. I mean, they might not look funny to you, but I'm here to insist otherwise.


Bedroom Rehab Corporation, "Basilosaurus"



Fatal Film, "Our Daily Meds"

I Heard Those Kinds Of Records Are Coming Back In Style

I totally missed out on seeing Bedroom Rehab Corporation last night, walking through the door at Cafe Nine at 9:40 just as Adam was saying "thanks alot guys, Stone Titan are up next". I mean, when has a show at Cafe Nine ever started before ten?? *grumble grumble* Even though I missed Bedroom Rehab, I did score a copy of their new "Red Over Red" CD, which is not only friggin' hot -- I mean, seriously, the recording came out sounding huge and totally amazing -- but EVERYTHING about the CD looks sharp as hell. They really hit a home run with this one, plus it's being pressed to vinyl right now, and that includes a small handful of copies which'll be on clear red vinyl, which is bound to look incredible. I've posted a couple of my favorite tracks from the album down at the bottom of this post, check 'em out and then go pick up a copy for yourself. No doubt the LP will be on my year-end best-of list, you know, the one that nobody reads or anything.

Stone Titan also have a new album coming out soon, on Safety Meeting, called "Scratch n' Sniff" (after Scott's favorite Poison record). Stone Titan pretty much killed it last night, and made it worth the drive down even though they were the only band that I stuck around for. Couldn't hear Scott's vocals much, although I like the songs that the bass player sings better anyway, so that was kind of a bonus. I think this was the first time I've ever seen Stone Titan in a regular room and not in a basement, but they've got the kind of sound that can handle any size room (low and rumbly). Cafe Nine even did some remodeling, replacing the brick wall with all the dartboards and gadgets on it and putting up some wood paneling instead, which might've helped the room sound a little better. It definitely meant less stuff in the background to screw with my camera flash, and we all know how important that is.


Stone Titan -

"I Wish I Was Fucking Dead"



















Bedroom Rehab Corporation, "Basilosaurus"



Bedroom Rehab Corporation "S.S. Hangover (Sobering Sickness)"

Grab An Oar And Start Rowing

There aren't too many nights where I'm like "fuckit, let's go to Meriden", but Bedroom Rehab Corporation are playing so fuckit, it's a Friday night and here I am in Meriden. At a bar called Chas' Place, which I've actually never been to before (despite any earlier misrememberances), and which has those Bud Light signs and Dale Jr. standups in all four corners and on all four walls, so you know that it has the potential to be a weird night. But Farewood put on shows there, so it's okay, plus Brian LaRue is there -- playing in a band I've never heard before -- so I know that, if the four dudes in the Ed Hardy shirts over by the pool table want to throw down or something, I've got backup.

What ends up happening is that Bedroom Rehab level the fuck out of the place and leave a big old footprint in the middle of the floor for the next band that wants to come along and try it. Seriously, Bedroom Rehab are pretty much seamless-- Meghan is the perfect rock drummer, while Adam pulls some horrendously bad-ass sounds out of his bass non-stop-- so when they play, they aren't so much a band as they are a conquering army.

So here's a new song they recorded a few months ago, one that you should probably listen to. Or else me and the dude with the Dodge with the girlfriend who still thinks Lolcat pictures are funny are gonna have to come over and do something about it.


Bedroom Rehab, "S.S. Hangover"

Don't Expect Too Much Looking The Way You Do

I wasn't able to get to The Hygienic Rock Fix in New London this year (I already had tickets to see Aziz Ansari at the casino, yeah big time), so I missed out on getting all the CosmoSingles that Cosmodemonic Telegraph puts out in time to sell at the show. Which is okay, because as before, all of this year's CosmoSingles-- all forty of the a-sides, at least-- have been collected onto a two-CD compilation, "The Long Hundred", which you can get your hands on in any number of ways: either direct from Cosmodemonic Telegraph (hozomeen.org), or through Bandcamp, which is where you can also hear all 40 songs in full (Bandcamp page is here), or even by making a trip down to Rich and Daphne's new record store in New London, The Telegraph, and pick it up in person (ask them if they've got a used copy of the Whales "Rock!" LP, they'll probably think you're hilarious)... anyway, I gave "The Long Hundred" a quick run-through yesterday and noticed right away that the new Bedroom Rehab Corporation song is a total monster, their best song yet. I think I've said it before-- or tried to, anyway-- that Bedroom Rehab's best riffs sound like either Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" or "Into The Void", and this is another one of those. So track down "The Long Hundred" (the Fatal Film song is fairly brilliant, also) or somehow get your hands on the Bedroom Rehab CosmoSingle-- the cover's solid white except for "..don't expect too much.." written across it in plain black letters, pretty hysterical-- because this one's a hit, at least in some other universe.


Bedroom Rehab Corporation -

"Don't Expect Too Much"

I Have Teeth Instead Of Eyes

As far as nightlife goes, New London is a Triple-A town in a decidedly A-level part of the universe. Much like Danbury and New Haven, you can walk across town at night and hear the sounds of multiple indie/punk shows from competing venues echoing between the buildings, and there's different bar, club, or restaurant to be found seemingly every 20 or 30 feet as you hoof your way around (don't bother driving; the one-way streets are all closed for construction, and the two-way streets haven't been built yet). On Friday night, along with everything else, I could even hear a band practicing in one of the upstairs apartments across the way on Bank Street, and through the windows they almost sounded better than anything that was going on at the El N Gee or Oasis at that exact moment. Just don't try to find a Dunkin' Donuts that's open or a place to get a coffee after 9pm, because you'll be shit out of luck.

The Oasis Pub is about the size of Cafe Nine, maybe a bit larger, and definitely seems like a great place to see bands regularly, even if the oddly-shaped stage (consider it "Fenway-esque") presents some problems if you're taking photos. Bedroom Rehab Corporation brought their freshly-made CD with them, and ripped through a six-song set (all five songs on the CD, plus one) that was pretty darn tight once they got everything dialed-in properly. Every Bedroom Rehab song is like the best Kiss/Blue Öyster Cult riff you've ever heard, only on a thunderously distorted bass this time, with lyrics that would be spooky-dumb if they weren't so friggin' funny. You should really try to grab their CD, though I have no idea how you'd go about getting a copy; try messaging them through their MySpace, I guess.




If you miss the 90's and bands like Dirt Merchants and Ditch Croaker, well, I don't either, but in any case, Fatal Film's got you covered. Fatal Film are a band that I've slept on for a while; I'd seen them a couple of times before, though I didn't write anything, and I only just listened to their "Thrill'r" CD (which has been out for about half a year now) for the first time on the drive to New London on Friday night. It didn't take long to find something I liked, because "First Step", the opening track, is a cracking good song. They've got some great song titles, too, like "Put On Your Goddamned Jetpack", and funny song titles are what it's all about, just ask the Bunnybrains.


Bedroom Rehab Corporation -

"The Corinthian"

Fatal Film -

"First Step"

(both of these files are now listen-only)

It Never Gets Old It Just Gets Cleaner

I'm not always good at hints or keeping promises, but as I mentioned about a month ago, last Saturday was gonna be my first chance at checking out Bedroom Rehab Corporation (after nine months of wanting), at the Hygienic Art festival in New London. A bunch of other bands played that night, too, including Brava Spectre, who pretty much played the best set any Ct. band's ever played and totally destroyed traditional rock n roll for me forever, or for the rest of the weekend at least.

Hygienic Art is an outsider art festival that began thirty years ago, at the Hygienic Restaurant in New London, CT (hence the name). Hygienic Art is modeled after a pre-Impressionist art protest from the 1800's, when a bunch of crazy French fuckers went nuts, foregoing galleries and going direct to the public by hanging their stuff in various cafes around Paris. The Hygienic Art festival includes poetry, music, film, and theater, all spread out over a two-week period, and the show that I went to on Saturday night was just one of about 20 different events. I don't really know all of this by heart, I just read it in the booklet.




Anyway, so Bedroom Rehab Corporation were the deal, and while they didn't exactly blow the roof off the place (Meghan was fighting a flu or something), they were still pretty awesome. Meghan's a great drummer, Adam makes cool Godzilla noises on his bass, and while I was watching them I was thinking that Bedroom Rehab sound almost like a guitarless version of Murdervan, if that helps you at all. The five or six older songs that they played were good, but the one new song killed all of them, and their Black Sabbath cover ("Paranoid", I think it was, though just about of 'em will do)... needs more practice. No doubt about it, though, Bedroom Rehab are BAD ASS, and I'll keep saying that until someone makes it into a t-shirt or something.

Brava Spectre's show-ending set practically crushed the known universe; every so often they'd drop it down to do their semi-beatnik thing with the acapella chants and stuff (which is pretty cool), but other than that, they were noise-metal bebop, total fucking Void/"Get It Away" at 120rpm, or Thin Lizzy/Deep Purple at mutilation speed, depending upon which channel you were watching. No one in the room dares to look away even for a little bit while Brava Spectre are playing. It's like one of those video clips of huge trains that keep crashing into things - destroyed in seconds!! How Brava Spectre are able to be so physically reckless while they're playing and still keep it tight is something I haven't figured out yet, although I think it's their drummer. At one point I was watching his kick pedal foot moving faster than I can even drum roll, and this was while his hands were doing something completely different. Dude's a monster.

You can download Brava Spectre's newest EP for free at their MySpace page (myspace.com/bravaspectre), although the version of "Lioness Eye" that I've posted below is an earlier one that I've posted before (I'm giving everyone a second chance). Also, the Bedroom Rehab song is a demo that I swiped from their MySpace, so hopefully they won't mind their unfinished goods being passed around.




Chasing Trinity went on right before Brava Spectre, and were pretty good. I'd never seen them before, but they were almost exactly what I expected based on their split CD with Hand Grenade Serenade... meaning they not only brought the rock but they were funny as well, but in a cool, flippant, punk kind of way instead of a pseudo-ironic Dan Barry will love us, he's from the Advocate kind of way.

Cosmodemonic Telegraph had a merch table set up, and so for a while I was able to bullshit with Rich Martin about his old band, Grand Passion (one of the best Ct. bands ever), until I got too annoying and Rich would start moving in the other direction whenever he'd see me walking towards him. Cosmodemonic have just now released their '09 set of "cosmosingles"-- 16 bands from the label, 16 CDs, two songs each-- which are so new that they weren't even posted on their web site yet (hozomeen.org) the last time I checked. A mere two sets had been banded together as complete sets, so I grabbed one of them, which makes me friggin' special I guess. If I find any especially awesome ones once I crack the pack open (like a T206 Honus Wagner, that'd be nice), I'll let you know about it.




Here's the other songs I was talking about. Three songs, and only one with words - what a bunch of suck. I mean, seriously.

Bedroom Rehab Corporation -

"Duel Bridges" (instrumental version)

Chasing Trinity -

"Laundromat"

Brava Spectre -

"The Lioness Eye Tamed My Open Palm"

(these files are now listen-only)