Modern Hut


Where Has All The Pop Punk Gone?

Double Dagger, Black Wine, Night Birds, Dope Body, Modern Hut - Maxwells, 11/7/09

Various ex-members of the Ergs, Hunchback, and For Science showed off their new bands at Maxwell's this weekend, on a bill that included two inventive post-punk trios from Baltimore, Double Dagger and Dope Body. And not surprisingly, many of the familiar faces from the local Pop Punk scene were in attendance, including former or current members of the Marshmallows, Steinways, Psyched To Die, Short Attention, Sandworms, and others, as well as the redoubtable Lawrence Livermore, who deemed the event important enough to temporarily lift his embargo about traveling to Jersey for shows.

This showcase represented not just a changing of the guard for the local pop-punk scene but also a good harbinger of 2010, since most of these bands will be nearing their debut full-lengths in the near future. And the first thing you noticed is that no one's playing much in the way of pop punk anymore.


Modern Hut

Joe Steinhardt (ex-For Science) and Chelsea Lacatena (Short Attention) have teamed up for the acoustic combo Modern Hut, playing low-key, laconic, often ironic folkie tunes which often recall the self-deprecating wit and dour worldview of anti-folker Jeffrey Lewis. Chelsea's lovely voice provides a perfect counterpoint to Joe's gruff, barely in tune singing, and the single acoustic guitar really lets the lyrics come to the forefront. I'm really looking to hearing the first recording from these two.


Dope Body


Baltimore's Dope Body looked like a throwback to 1992-era CBGB's, what with the band's ironic porn-star mustaches, the lead singer's sinewy torso, and a bludgeoning post-punk reminiscent of the days when Helmet, Unsane, and their ilk ruled the scene. They're certainly not the first guitarless band I've ever seen - just voice, drums, and bass - but I will say that their bassist did things I've never seen or heard before. Playing through a rack of effects pedals and working at the top of the neck, he created sounds that transcended the usual division between bass and guitar, hitting octaves and creating sounds that propelled the band's furious throbbing songs. Back in the days of AmRep this band might have been huge, but I'm not sure the market for muscle, sweat, and thud is what it once was.


Night Birds

The Night Birds - featuring Brian Gorsegner (ex For Science) on vocals, Joe Keller (ex-Ergs) on bass, and Mike Hunchback on guitar - provide a showcase for Brian to exorcise his inner Ian MacKaye, as the band rages through old school hardcore (minus the metal edge that wound up subsuming NY/HC in the Eighties.) Think, maybe, early Underdog or Gorilla Biscuits - just a good excuse to mosh around the floor a little and flair your arms while the band stampedes through high-speed solos and undulating bass runs.


Black Wine


Black Wine is the highly anticipated trio that unites Ergs guitarist Jeff Schroeck with his just-married wife Miranda (ex Hunchback)on drums and Jay Hunchback on bass. (Weird how every ex-Erg has started a band with at least one ex-Hunchback, with Mikey Erg's Psyched To Die completing the triptych.) Falling somewhere between a reinvention of classic rock (they covered Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath," fer chrissakes) and pure garage, the band's already got a slew of standout numbers, including the romantic "Chauteau Of Ghosts" (which references Brill Building 60's pop), the 60's garage groove of "Haunted," and a cool instrumental theme song.


Double Dagger

Headliner Double Dagger turned out to be another Baltimore combo without a guitarist, just bass, drums, and vocals. Again, "post-punk" probably comes as close to a genre tag as anyone's going to get, with the singer's flamboyant embrace of the audience (literally - he kept walking intot he crowd and hugging people) the band's keystone. Parts of it reminded me of early Talking Heads and there's definitely some sort of damaged art-rock going on there, but the delivery is explosively loud and spastic. Interesting? Very. Am I going to run at the next chance to see them? Probably not.