Waking Up To Nothing

Last night's show in Wallingford started out like a total bust, as Dead Uncles were a last-minute scratch. Then, a bare overhead light bulb started giving me technical problems with my camera, and after messing around with the settings too much I was too lame to figure out how to get everything back to normal. Sometimes I'm such a nub. Luckily, Swear Jar kicked up the awesome, and then Jason Clackley (holy crap!) and Fischer came through with sets that were amazing for any number of reasons.




Fischer have a pretty thick sound for a two-piece pop/punk band, and what I heard last night reminded me a lot of early Moving Targets-- especially the thrashier Moving Targets songs that have tempo changes, like "Changing Your Mind". Throw in some "My War"-type riffage every so often and you'll get a clearer picture, because Fischer are definitely heavier than the Targets ever were. Of course, that's live-- on record, Fischer's sound is somewhat poppier, and I actually think they're pretty similar to Dead Uncles in a lot of ways, though that just might be my localism coming through.

Jason Clackley was flat-out awesome; holy shit, he's got some great songs. If you're at all into the stuff that Greg Cartwright does with Reigning Sound, or maybe Mark Sultan even, than you should check this guy out. At his rockingest, Jason Clackley is definitely more punk rock than either one of those guys, but he knows how to pull it back too, and his songs and his voice are just amazing. He did a cover of Sam Cooke's "You Send Me", also, which as it happens was pressed on a split 7" with Fischer... it's recommended that you go to greatplainsrecords.com for more info on all of this stuff.


Swear Jar -

"Synapses Fire"

Jason Clackley -

"Deafening Sound"

"Dearest One"

Fischer -

"Hey Hallways"

"Noises and Boredom"

(these files are now listen-only)

I Can't Imagine What Goes Through Your Head

Last Sunday's Delay/Swear Jar show in Windsor had probably the biggest crowd of any house show I've ever been to. No doubt it was because of the headliners (whose name I'll remember in just a second), but jeez, the number of people standing around both inside and outside for this thing was massive. For instance, when I first pulled up around 8:30 and parked on the street behind the first row of cars that I saw, I figured I was only one or two doors down from where I had to go; I had no idea how far I actually was from the house. Turned out it was only about a quarter-mile walk or so, but it felt like I was walking to the Big E or something. Hey, sometimes I'm lazy, what do you want from me.

This show was on time like a motherfucker, too, which means I pretty much missed the first two bands but got there just in time for Swear Jar and Delay, who were awesome. Both Swear Jar and Delay play the sort of rough-around-the-edges pop-punk that almost woulda passed for "indie rock" back in the day, but as long as bands wanna lug their amps around and play anthemic rock tunes, I'll show up no matter what it's called. I guess this was Delay's first show in CT, even though they've got a bunch of records and CDs out; I love their stuff on the split 7" with Monikers, plus they were selling copies of a new tape-only album ("Plain Language") which is going to be released on vinyl soon by Salinas, and on CD by someone else. It's all really good Middle American pop/rock type stuff, much like a new school slant on Hüsker Dü/early Replacements-- sorta similar to Modern Machines in that sense-- with maybe a little bit of The Embarrassment, although I'm not sure if Delay are old enough to have ever listened to The Embarrassment or not. Anyway, Delay tore it up big time, and they were really funny guys, too.




Swear Jar's set seemed a bit more ragged than the one I saw at Whitney House a couple of weeks earlier, or maybe it was how the layout of the Whitney basement helps push the sound straight forward and makes just about any band sound better. The garage we were in was humid as hell, making it hard for the bands to stay in tune, and I think I lost a pound or two just standing there. In any case, it was still a good set and everyone who was there was getting into it, plus the Swear Jar tape is finally out so everyone else can hear some of these songs now, too (I don't think Swear Jar have a MySpace or anything like that). Once the word gets around in pop-punk circles about these guys, they are gonna kick some serious butt. Big thanks to Chris for sending me the mp3 files and saving me from having to rip them, since my cassette rips are generally pretty crappy anyway.


Swear Jar -

"You Bet It Does"

Delay -

"Bad Habits, Good Company"

(these files are now listen-only)

A Countdown To What I Don't Know

Tuesday night (geez, over a flippin' week ago) was another night spent at the Whitney House, though I only hung around long enough to catch the two openers-- locals Swear Jar and Dead Uncles-- and then split before the touring bands hit the stage (something Red Scare something-or-other, you can google it if you want). Swear Jar were good, very good; in fact, they might be my second-favorite new Ct. band I've seen so far this year, after Wonderlust. Hearing their recordings will correct me on this, I'm sure, but Swear Jar have a sorta Dylan Bredeau screamy pop punk thing going on, though a bit more ironed out, and their melodies were smooooth. I'm looking forward to their first demo tape, which is supposed to be out this weekend when they host a house show with Delay and (yïk) Andrew Jackson Jihad.

Dead Uncles had a bit of a sound problem for their first couple of songs-- turns out Swear Jar had turned all the knobs down but didn't tell anyone about it-- but their rest of their short set (6 or 7 songs, maybe?) was sweet. Dead Uncles were supposed to have a 7" out by now, or at least in time for their tour in August, but the test pressing got rejected, thus the wait. The band did release "Wayward Nowhere" from the record as a preview track a couple of months ago, and I like it a lot-- especially the rifle shot snare hits at the beginning, and the breakdown in the middle-- so here it is.





Dead Uncles -

(this file is now listen-only)

"Wayward Nowhere"