So I had just finished rocking out with the great Night Ranger over at the B.B. King Blues Club and since it was rather early, my friend suggested a couple of more beers over at Smith’s Bar. Considering that I would have train company for the always long ride home to Bay Ridge thanks to his being there I said sure, so once I finished up with some of the media duties that come with being a music scribe, I headed back to Smith’s. Yes, I did say back as I had done a little pregaming there prior to the gig. Anyway, while my friend and I discussed current and not so current events, there was a band performing on the larger restaurant space side of Smith’s and they were really delivering some solid stuff. I grabbed my trusty Panasonic Lumix from my camera bag and snagged a few videos that I will share with you now.
I was sad to catch only the tail end of Supertramp’s “Give A Little Bit” since they were absolutely killing it up there. This is such a wonderful tune and done quite well.
Back in December I had the chance to attend a Holiday Mixer over at The Marlin Room at Webster Hall. This is a relatively new space in the building and essentially gives NYC a grand total of three venues in this location. That is great news if you are a musician and for those who are curious, this Marlin Room is slightly larger than the downstairs Studio. Anyway, after the party my buddy Skeleton Pete and I went downstairs to enjoy the music. Two of the bands that were performing at the time were Rhythm & Stealth and Jogyo. Check them out in these images.
After attending a Holiday Mixer over at the Marlin Room at Webster Hall, I decided to do a little exploring to see what was happening down at The Studio (which is a space that many Metal fans know about since we’ve all been there for shows). Having done numerous reports about these events at the space, I was intrigued by the sounds that were happening there this evening but it was not really up my normal reporting alley which led me to scribbling some thoughts here on the PiercingKen site. One of the exciting acts that was doing their thing was called Dynasty Electric.
Every now and again I like to catch something that falls outside of my Metal and Hard Rock comfort zone and I say this for a couple of different reasons. The first is mainly because I do like much more than the stuff that I report about over on PiercingMetal and the second is because you get to enjoy the broader musical geography that is available to you in a city like New York. You might have heard me say this before in any number of music reviews, but this city is a cornucopia of absolutely amazing music to listen to and I suggest that you give some stuff a chance when possible.
Harper’s Fellow @ Bowery Electric
That said I recently was invited by a friend of mine in the business to see his band called Harper’s Fellow. They are a Country Rock act for all intents and purposes and there is a lot of sweet vocal harmonies over tasty musical riffs. The four piece band is fronted by Cortney Metzler who sings most of the leads and plays acoustic guitar, Brendan Smith on bass, Eric Castellazzo on guitar and Alexander Ford who keeps it all in motion from the drum kit. The gig would be at The Bowery Electric which I have been to on a number of PiercingMetal adventures before but in the downstairs part of the club. Tonight’s Harper’s Fellow gig would be in the rear of the club’s main floor, a spot called the Map Room. It’s smaller for sure but seems an interesting spot to deliver ones music. The band set up quickly and was delivering their sweet and solid sounds faster than I expected but most of their supporters were in place which was a good thing. I had to say that I was liking what I heard and it was a definitely positive change of musical pace for me. They only performed about nine tunes which I have listed below and the ones that stood out the most for me was their “Cadillac” original and the cover of the Lumineers. Of course there were other highlights but I was very new to their material and had not yet locked in on as much of it as I would have liked. Cortney has a really nice voice and the rest of the guys bring this material to larger life with the harmonies that they add in. Though I was a newcomer, I was finding my foot tapping more often than it was not and if I caught onto a particular chorus I sang along at a much lower volume so’s not to have people wondering where the dying animal was 🙂 (I’m kidding of course).
One of the things I like to do with the personal blog is to periodically showcase some of the talented friends that I have in my circle whether they be music, art or something else. One such project is the band Command Z that features one of my best buddies (and occasional PiercingMetal contributor) Joe Kaufman on lead guitar, Tom Quigley on lead guitar, Larry Corban on bass and Brian McMahon on drums. The band used to feature Trig on drums but he has since left the group. I’m happy to say that I’ve known most of these lads for more than twenty years apiece and a couple of them even longer. Here is their striking logo.
