Last Thursday, 12/8, Brooklyn Made played host to an epic tri-state rager featuring Philadelphia’s Catbite, Brooklyn’s very own Thick and New Jersey punk legends, Bouncing Souls. The sold out show was already fairly packed when Catbite took the stage with their super fun new-two tone ska sounds. Next up was Thick who crushed it with a set that featured a ton of heavy hitters off their recently released sophomore album, Happy Now. By the time Bouncing Souls took the stage that crowd was rowdy as hell and the room was packed—clearly stoked to see such a massive band in what is ultimately a very intimate room. Good times all around!
Scroll down for setlist, fan shot videos, pics of the show (photos by Jeanette D. Moses)
Bouncing Souls setlist: ¡Olé! (Lange Jojo cover), That Song, Sing Along Forever, Say Anything, Kate Is Great, Lean on Sheena (Avoid One Thing cover), The Something Special, The Ballad of Johnny X, Ten Stories High, Hopeless Romantic, 1989, Kids and Heroes, Here We Go, Bullying the Jukebox, Shark Attack, Manthem, Favorite Everything, The Freaks, Nerds & Romantics, East Coast! Fuck You! Encore: The Gold Song, Late Bloomer, Gone, True Believers
On Wednesday 8/17, Our Wicked Lady brought together a killer lineup of bands for a curated evening of music at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg—and it was an absolute treat to see some of our favorite locals crush it on the venue’s massive stage.
Heat Death kicked the evening off with big riffs and haunting vocals from the five-piece’s front person Alexandra Noland. The expansive stage and cavernous room that is Brooklyn Bowl was perfect for this group’s big sound.
Next up was Rat Motel who used the occasion to kick-off a small tour through the northeast. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, this two-piece tore through a tight set that left the Wednesday night crowd in awe.
Desert Sharks sounded amazing on that massive stage. Their mixture of surfy vibes and heavy rock ‘n’ roll are always a delight. They ripped through a bunch of fan favorites in their set like “Sorceress,” “Don’t Be Shy Alicia” and their killer cover of “Voices Carry”. They were recently in the studio working on new material and we can’t wait to hear what they have in store.
Desert Sharks
Brooklyn faves Haybaby closed out the awesome night of music and they crushed it—as expected. I’ve seen Haybaby on about every stage size imaginable—tiny DIY basements, mid-sized rooms and a handful of large venues. Getting to see the three piece perform at Brooklyn Bowl gave an added appreciation for Leslie Hong’s distinct guitar tone. Their set was tight and short and hit some of our favorite songs: “Monster,” “My Mother Tells Me,” and “Get Down,” but the enthusiastic crowd wasn’t ready to let them go so soon. After some enthusiastic chants from the audience they closed their set with the massive and heavy song “Witch Like Me” and it absolutely crushed.
Haybaby
Here’s hoping we get more Our Wicked Lady curated nights at big venues like Brooklyn Bowl in the future…
Last Thursday 7/28, The Wand-ers, Flavour and Music City came together for a killer little showcase at Trans Pecos in Ridgewood, Queens. Originally scheduled to perform at Union Pool, this is one of the many shows that had to be relocated because of the fire next door that damaged the venue. We’re very happy that this one found a new home base.
The recently renamed Wand-ers kicked off the night, and if you’ve yet to see this four-piece, what the hell are you actually doing?! The Wanda Jackson tribute band plays all the classics, but with a killer injection of punk rock—faster than the original songs which inspired the group, but still so fucking good.
Next up was Flavour from Troy, New York—who recently added members from Brule County Bad Boys and the Abyssmals. The night before they’d been gigging with Frankie and the Witch Fingers and they provided the perfect amount of pop infused psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll.
Music City, originally from Dublin, Ireland closed the night out with a sparkly (literally they were sparkling) night of dancey rock ‘n’ roll. 13/10 would do again.
Laura Rebel Angel kicked off her fall tour with Screamin’ Rebel Angels last night in Our Wicked Lady’s downstairs bar. The intimate show was their first one in Brooklyn in over a year, and the first time debuting the band’s newest lineup featuring Jules Styles on drums, Seth Kessel on guitar and Jorge Harada splitting his time between guitar and stand up bass.
The intimate vibe of the night was enhanced by the fact that Laura’s newest bandmates served as the openers for the night. Seth Kessel kicked things off and by the end of his set had much of the bar singing along to a cowboy song about a certain variety of Brooklyn douchebag. Next up was Jules Styles’ project, formerly known as The Whores, who are switching to a more internet friendly numerical spelling very soon. Turns out the algorithm doesn’t like the original name, but the band assured the crowd that if they yelled “hey whores!” they’d still respond.
By the time The Screamin’ Rebel Angels took the stage, you could feel that the crowd was ready to party. Laura’s energy on-stage is infectious, and within a few songs audience members were twirling one another around as she belted out the lyrics to her rockabilly standards. Good times were had and no stand up basses were hurt in the process.
I love to see a big band in an intimate space, and that’s exactly what The Black Lips provided on Thursday July 8th during their second sold out show of the week at TV Eye in Ridgewood, Queens. At this point I’ve lost track of just how many Black Lips shows I’ve attended, but in more recent years, if they were rolling through town it was pretty much guaranteed they’d be playing somewhere massive. So getting to see them crush it on TV Eye’s intimate back room was a real treat. Their set cherry picked some of the best stuff from their 20+ years of making music, instead of just sticking to the material on their most recent record. They kicked off the show by throwing rolls of toilet paper into the crowd and it didn’t take long for people to start stage diving, beer cans were flying at the band and someone lost their smartphone mid-mosh. By the time the night was over the first few front rows were a sloppy mess of beer and sweat—things that seemed impossible only a few months ago.
Brutis VIII opened things up for the night, I only caught one song, but he had the vibes of a possessed street preacher—the perfect amount of weird energy for a Black Lips show. Brower was up next and played a killer set with Josephine Network holding it down on lead guitar. Overall it was a fantastic night of tunes. New York is healing and it feels alright.
Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Jeanette D. Moses)
