Friday Night

Good show at the Knitting Factory last night. Got to check out LaGrecia, the new band featuring Jason Shevchuk (from Jersey/HC greats None More Black and Kid Dynamite.) Now based in Brooklyn, the three piece features Jason's raw throated vocals and a bit more of a pop format than his earlier bands. The Ergs put on their usual great show and it was great to see a sold out (and totally packed) Knitting Factory with so many people singing along (although Carla Monoxide claimed it was the lamest Ergs crowd as far as pit action goes. Point is, it wasn't an Ergs crowd, but the crowd still knew the Ergs' songs, especially the stuff form Dorkrock.)

Gaslight Anthem are from New Brunswick but for some reason they'd always flown under my radar. I think from the name I just assumed they were another So Jersey emo band. Far from it, they play aggressive Against Me! styled punk flavored with non-stop Springsteen tropes - let's get in our car baby and cruise those backstreets with the top down and our dreams in our hearts and yada yada yada. Hey, I liked it. A lot.
And from the way the crowd went nuts singing along, they've already already built up a sizable and passionate following with just one album and a recently released new EP.

But if the crowd went nuts for Gaslight Anthem, it was total insanity for Philly's The Loved Ones. Their new CD was produced by Bryan and Pete from the Bouncing Souls (you can read Jersey Beat's review here)and raises their anthemic muscular punk sound to a whole new level. I retreated from the claustrophobic moshing throng in the Knitting Factory's main room (one of my least favorite venues, although I have to admit the sound was terrific) and hung with the Ergs back at their merch table. I survived the CBGB hardcore matinee era, the fun-punk of ABC No Rio's glory days, and the huge commercial bubble that surrounded punk after Dookie came out in the early Nineties, and none of that surpassed the energy and passion that flowed through the show last night.


Punk's not dead, music's not dying. You just have to know where to look.