All You've Got Is An Empty Hole

Whomever the guy was after the show on Thursday who said it was a great show but neither band really killed it sorta hit the nail on the head. I wasn't aware of it when I first walked into the place, but this was White Bronco's first show ever, and I think they pulled it off okay. Not that they would've been sweating it much anyway, since their line-up is all guys that a bunch of people from around here would easily recognize. Genesis (from Hand Grenade Serenade) played bass on the demo that I was carrying on about a few weeks ago, but he's since moved over to second guitar, with the guy from Half Shaved Yak taking over on bass. The drummer is actually the frontman for Chasing Trinity, Jordan, and he's a wicked drummer, too-- even handling the vocals during the break in "Carl Weathers".

Now that I've seen White Bronco, I'm still gonna say that the riffs remind me of How Do We Jump This High?/Iron Chic-type stuff a lot, although I'm not saying that's the sound they're aiming for, or if they're even aware that it exists. Still, if you took out Andy's vocals (which are quite a bit different from the Long Island style) and added something more gruff on top, you could stick these guys on one of the Dead Broke compilation tapes without anyone knowing the difference. I don't even remember how many songs they played on Thursday, but I really liked the second one and the last one; the second one doesn't have a title yet, but I think the last one was called "True Black".

I hadn't seen Murdervan in nearly two years, which is practically a lifetime as far as those things go. Their set on Thursday might've had a light layer of dust on it, but it was still pretty good, with Andre and Adoni keeping things locked into place so that Shaun could effortlessly pull huge chords out of his guitar as if it were nothing. They even played three new songs-- unless one of them was a cover or an older song that I didn't recognize-- including one called "Florida" that was pretty rockin'. I get a kick out of Murdervan every time I see them, because it reminds me of all the older dudes in the CT hardcore scene back in the mid-80's (from bands like CIA, Lost Generation, Vatican Commandos, Dresden, Bad Attitude, etc.) who were either trying to evolve into hard rock or were starting heavy metal side projects, just to show us younger punks how to "rock"... except that none of them were manly enough to pull it off. Murdervan has that style exactly, the difference being they can pull it off.


Murdervan -

"Black Phil"

This Place Sucks

Before last Friday it had been nine months since the last time I saw Murdervan, which is kinda dumb considering they're my favorite Ct. band and so forth. It's also been a while since I've seen a set of theirs that wasn't hampered by equipment trouble, or bad sound, or whatever else, and Friday night was no exception-- though they still tore it up regardless. Andre didn't seem to mind getting into a little friendly give-and-take with some of people in the crowd who were shouting out dumb stuff all night, either. I'm sure I've cried this same note a lotta times, but I would've wished for Ct.'s sake that a band with the power to deftly mix Black Flag with Black Sabbath and a little Epitaph-era New Bomb Turks would have a lot bigger following by now, but maybe that added Kiss cover or two is all it's gonna take to turn that around. Now that I think about it, it's been a while since I've heard them play some new material, too, though I'm sure they're working on it...




Hand Grenade Serenade announced a Jawbreaker cover on Friday night, but I don't know a single Jawbreaker song, so I can't tell if they actually pulled it off. It wasn't exactly their kind of crowd (hence all the blank stares when they mentioned Jawbreaker), but it only took one song before all the disinterested stoner types in the back of the room were standing up front and getting into it. This band just keeps topping themselves every time I see them, and while their newer material is pretty close to unbeatable, they've beefed up their older material, too; case in point, "Americana", which I sorta used to skip over on their "Black Market Band" CD, but has now become an anchor of their live set. Any of their past releases (which are all at least a year old, anyway) don't even apply to this band anymore, and if they ever get the mix right, their next album is bound to be a hell of an ass-kicker.


Murdervan -

"Black Phil"

Hand Grenade Serenade -

"Americana"

(both of these files are now listen-only)

Murdervan Makes The Papers

...though I'm sure it's not the first time they've been in the New Haven Advocate, just the first time I remember seeing one of my photos used. Not that I was given a photo credit or anything, though that's not a big deal. Like the Advocate was supposed to know; they think The Reducers are still punk rock. "Support your local fuck-ups!"

Listening to Murdervan takes me back to the Connecticut hardcore scene circa '86, when the scene elders wanted everyone to believe that bands like Bad Attitude (battitude!) and the reformed C.I.A. were going to move beyond thrash into something heavier, and show us all how to rock. That didn't happen, obviously, but I think Murdervan are finally pulling off what those bands were trying to accomplish-- heavy rock that's a step or two beyond hardcore, but still very, very good.

"The Scraping" is probably the best song off Murdervan's most recent CD, or at least it's my personal favorite, especially live when it takes on a whole new form of punishment.





Murdervan -

"The Scraping"

(this file is now listen-only)

Because Of You I Missed The Ben Folds Concert

Last night at the Charter Oak in Hartford started out looking like a wash out when a bunch of Murdervan's gear wound up missing. Listed as the headliners, Murdervan instead went on second (after Post-Modern Sounds), playing without their pedals as well as without any replacement strings, apparently. A broken bass string mid-way through the third song almost brought an end to their set, and it took a few minutes of discussion before Murdervan finally finished playing using a bass borrowed from one of the other bands.

Steinbeck and Pluto Gang went on after Murdervan and ended up being just interesting (and stupid) enough pull this night out of the ashes, right when I thought things were gonna suck completely. Steinbeck, despite the literary band name and drawn-out song titles like "This Ain't the Age of Aquarius and I'm Not Growing Waterwings," actually rocked out and even reminded me of Dimestore Halos, I swear. Or at least the singer's voice sounded like Chaz Matthews' a bit, when he was in between sounding like Josh Silverman a lot (ex-Shirk Circus/Plus Tax, neither of which you've ever heard of so forget I even mentioned it).

Steinbeck had some, um, visual inconsistencies about them-- most notably the cast-wearing bass player and the barefoot drummer with the goofy kit and splash cymbals-- but they have a song on a brand new Magnetic Fields tribute album (I know, I know...) which I like way too much, actually, once I got past the problematic tempo changes. I'm sure we've all wondered a million times what Stephin Merritt would've sounded like if he'd grown up writing songs for a band like The Ergs!, without ever expecting to get the answer. Okay, maybe you haven't wondered, but here it is anyway:

Steinbeck -

"I Think I Need a New Heart"
(Magnetic Fields cover)

(this file is now listen-only)






Pluto Gang then played a set of mostly ordinary pop punk, but were hilarious anyway, mostly because their shitfaced singer kept sliding on the carpet and falling down, even while he was picking fake fights with the crowd and everybody else in the band. They played "Coolidge" twice, as well as one song which I haven't figured out yet if it's a cover or not, but it goes, "I don't care what your momma's been thinking, everyone knows that BEER! AIN'T! DRINKING!!" Of course, bourbon is drinking, so eventually Pluto Gang's singer crawled behind the drum kit during the middle of a song and literally passed out, which was the end of Pluto Gang's set and the end of the night as well.

Pluto Gang -

"She Said"

(this file is now listen-only)

While I'm at it, here's a track from the newest Murdervan CD; to their credit, even with all their technical problems and after going on early, Murdervan stuck around last night to watch the rest of the bands on the bill. By the way, they're playing Cafe Nine on June 12th with The Dukes of Hillsborough. Fukkin' right!




Murdervan -

"The Wheel"

(this file is now listen-only)

Get To The Chopper

There were a few things that I didn't get to see at the Murdervan/Haymarket Martyrs show on Saturday. I didn't get to see Humanoid, who were on the bill but didn't show up for whatever reason (Tombstone Minds were also listed on the bill at one point, but you knew that wasn't going to happen). I also didn't see BLudrum, who drew the last slot on the shortened bill and thus went on after I'd already decided to call it a night. What I did get to see earlier was someone scrawling "Join Us or Die!! --BLudrum" with a piece of chalk onto the sidewalk in front of Monkey Bar, which was part of the reason why I left early, since I didn't feel like doing either one at the time.

Haymarket Martyrs are not quite your standard three-piece jittery punk band, throwing into the equation a synthesizer guy who wore a "Science. It Works, Bitches" t-shirt while sending out a constant array of sometimes-funny electronic burps and samples. Their songs are built around jagged guitar riffs, which means they sound a bit like The Ex, I guess. I'm only guessing because I'm not really up on that sort of thing. I'm also not really up on heavily political bands that list "universal health care" as one of their influences, although Haymarket Martyrs were fairly entertaining, and their singer came up the best line of the night when he looked over the meager crowd and said, "Murdervan and Bludrum are up next. But you already knew that, because you're in 'em."





Since it's better that I not talk about bands just for the heck of it (as I'm sometimes so lousy at it, like right now) when instead I can give you something of theirs to listen to, here's a song that I cribbed from Haymarket Martyrs' MySpace page:

Haymarket Martyrs -

"The Arpegiattor"
(Live at Cherry St. Station 2007)

(this file is now listen-only)




Murdervan wasted no time after a brief 30-second soundcheck, saying "Can we just start playing now?", and then immediately tore into a shortened set that was fast and loud as hell. Like the guy from Beware The Hippie Menace said, Murdervan almost always sound like they're ready to fall apart. For a band that can build a pocket about as well as anybody, they have this way of playing extremely loose, while still sounding incredibly tight... yeah, whatever that means. If you go see 'em, you'll find out.

I'm going to hold off posting anything from the new "Jaundice" EP until sometime later, but here's another track from Murdervan's self-titled CD that came out in 2006:
Murdervan -

"Like a King"

(this file is now listen-only)

I Got This Useless Energy

I'm almost willing to bet that Murdervan own a couple of records by Black Flag, and maybe "Total Recall" too, though even if all they have is a bunch of crap like Godsmack, that'd still be cool with me. Any rock this straight-up heavy that reeks of bad pot (but in a good way) yet still isn't so completely full of it own shit is worth keeping around for any number of reasons, not the least of which is, Murdervan sound friggin' great when played good and loud through a car stereo.

This isn't really stoner metal, though-- more like Leatherface meets Thin Lizzy (okay, so maybe that does describe stoner metal), and if someone asked me which Connecticut band I like the most out of the ones from right now, I'd probably say Murdervan, or at least until Tombstone Minds get their act together.

There's a new Murdervan EP that just came out a few months ago ("Jaundice"), plus if you do a YouTube search you'll find a whole bunch of cool Murdervan stuff, so get moving.





Murdervan -

"Ten Years"

"Gression"

"Losing Blood"

"Brains Out"

(these files are now listen-only)