by Ray Rusinak | Nov 23, 2022
Oceanator at The Broadway (photo by Ray Rusinak)
By their own account, Elise Okusami and Oceantor have been on the road for seven separate tours this calendar year. That’s a LOT of touring. Sharing the stage with such diverse acts as Pedro The Lion, PUP, Jeff Rosenstock, Laura Jane Grace and Tim Kashner to name just a few. They also toured the UK for their first time along with criss-crossing the States way more than any human should within one set of 365 days.
This hectic and sometimes chaotic touring schedule finally came to a close last Saturday night with Oceanator’s headline homecoming gig at The Broadway. Support for this tour closing show came from the likes of Philadelphia’s Queen of Jeans who’d been on the road with Oceanator the last few weeks as well as added guest, Georgia Maq of Camp Cope who was passing through New York City on the way back to Australia from the UK. Oh, and on top of all of this Oceanator released a killer album in 2022 called Nothing’s Ever Fine, on Polyvinyl Records which I’m sure will land on numerous best of lists this year (It’s firmly embedded in mine, that’s for sure).
As I’ve stated in the past, Oceanator is one of those enigmatic bands which just seems to get better and better every time you see them. Saturday night was certainly no exception to this standard. Opening the set up with the shoegazey instrumental from Nothing’s Ever Fine, “Morning,” Okusami and the rest of Oceantor (Dylan Lapointe on bass and Lou Hanman on drums) took what was already a piece which builds momentum and energy from start to finish to a whole other level, building it into a sonic crescendo which might have had ears bleeding upon its completion.
Oceanator
Sticking to material from the new album, the next five songs were all from NEF, albeit not in the same sequence as they were presented on the LP. When the band kicked into the fuzzed out guitar intro of “The Last Summer” followed by Okusami’s breakneck recitation of the opening lines
Neon signs, flashing by me and a
Cherry coke and crumpled bag of french fries lying
on the passenger seat
Where you used to be
One hand out the window
watching Light play
across the hood of my car
from the streetlights passing by
One couldn’t help but reminisce about those teenage summer nights just driving around killing time looking for something to do. It was almost Springstonian in the song’s ability to capture that kind of moment.
It wouldn’t be until well into the set when we’d get the slow burner “January 21” from the 2020 debut album, Things Never Said. Next up we were treated to a relatively rare song called “Average Joe” which was released on a Sub Pop compilation called The Eleventh Hour: Songs for Climate Justice followed by “Bad Brain Daze” from the new one. This song with Okusami ’s powerful staccato guitar strums filled in with Hanman’s pounding drum beat had the filled room jumping up and down right on cue.
The evening would close out with a demonic like sludgy demolition of my ear drums version of “In the Van” with its “Star Spangled Banner” guitar riffs and bottom heavy chugging rhythm backbone. Appropriately followed by the waltz like “Evening” with its translucent imagery of a hot humid summer’s night and the cicadas humming in the trees. And with that peaceful image in our heads the night was over only for us to soon be slapped back to the reality of the freezing cold winter’s air and the clanging of the M train as it passed over Broadway.
Of course, there was more to the evening than Oceanator’s set. The last minute addition of Georgia Maq to the bill was a tremendous surprise to which I was elated to hear as Maq doesn’t make it to these parts very often. She did have a solo gig scheduled for the Spring of 2020 over at Trans-Pecos but we all know how that panned out. So having a chance to see her solo was truly an added treat. Being self admittedly jet lagged, sleep deprived and hung over, she treated us to a five song set of all new material interspersed with candid stories and tales which would certainly make most of our mother’s blush if they were to have heard them. All of that being said, the new songs were wonderful, especially “Brooklyn, Not This One,” “Neighbors” (about her lockdown friendship, wink wink, with her neighbor) and “They’ll Never Dance Like Us” (about her short lived relationship with an anti-vaxxer). NOTE:` As these were new songs, I am guessing at the song titles and probably have gotten them wrong. My apologies to Georgia for any inaccuracies.
Georgia Maq
Following Maq’s set was the Philadelphia band, Queen Of Jeans. Another band that I’d heard of but was not familiar with their actual material. (Who can keep track of all these Philly bands these days anyway?) They opened up their set with the title track off of this year’s EP, Hiding In Place. As I would soon discover, played live, the band’s material comes off much more aggresive and loud than it dows on the poppier recorded versions. And truth be told, this was fine by me. Queen’s set was a nice mix of songs from the aforementioned EP as well as their 2019 LP, If You’re Not Afraid, I’m Not Afraid. The band itself, composed of Miri Devora on lead vocals and guitar, Matti Glass on background vocals and lead guitar, Lou Hanman on bass and background vocals (is there any band that Lou doesn’t play with?) and Andrew Nitz on drums sounded great especially on “Only ObviousTo You,” a love gone wrong song, which started out slowly with Devora quietly singing in her waif-like style only to build into the climactic chorus of “love will always fuck you over” complete with Glass’ screeching guitar all the while flipping the audience the bird.
All in all, I have to say that this was one of those special nights where all three acts were truly a pleasure to watch and hear as they performed not only heartfelt but vividly emotional story songs complete with fantastic musical accompaniment.
Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Ray Rusinak)
GEORGIA MAQ
QUEEN OF JEANS
OCEANATOR
by Ray Rusinak | Jul 23, 2022
Camp Cope at Webster Hall (photo by Ray Rusinak)
Australia’s Camp Cope found their way back to New York City this past Wednesday night at Webster Hall for the first time since their 2019 show at Brooklyn’s Warsaw, and needless to say, it was quite the triumphant return. A lot has happened in those 3 years (duhhh). Of course there was Covid, the same Covid which squashed a much anticipated joint solo show at Trans-Pecos which Georgia Maq and Kelly-Dawn Helmrich had planned for Spring 2020. Then of course Maq went back to her day job of nursing, dealing with the Covid outbreak head on. And Helmrich is now expecting her first child.
So it was obvious right from the outset that this Camp Cope was not the same one as the band of shy, bashful and yet extremely confident women that I’d first met in the courtyard of Silent Barn eating takeout pizza before their first ever US gig opening for Jeff Rosenstock (and yet in many ways it was). The obvious physical difference was the addition of Jenny Aslett on second guitar. Furthermore there was Lou Hanman filling in for the too pregnant to tour halfway around the world Helmrich on bass. But that wasn’t all of it. Maq, herself was different (and yet the same) as well. It was almost as if she’s grown into the role of being Georgia. I don’t mean to say that she’s putting on an act onstage but it seems clear to me that she’s now comfortable enough onstage to be the person that those who follow her on the socials are familiar with.
On Wednesday night we were privy to seeing both sides of the front woman. We got the imp who thrives on being a coquettish tease as well as the understated awe struck new comer. I mean not too many could possibly describe a walk through Central Park earlier that day where they witnessed not only one man self pleasuring himself but also another one later on deficating in public with both horror and disgust as well as giggly “wow what a great day” enthusiasm. But she pulled it off glowingly to the delight of the audience.
Camp Cope at Webster Hall
Ok, enough of all that. Now, the show! Opener, Kiley Lotz aka Petal is a true gem and should be paid attention to way more than they are. After only ONE rehearsal (this being their first full band show since pandemic) the four band members put on a wonderful, snappy and entertaining set of Petal favorites, including their magical cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Silver Springs”, which she introduced with the vignette that if Stevie hadn’t been able to have an abortion there would have been no Fleetwood Mac. What a damn shame that would have been. (And it’s also why reproductive rights are so important, so women can live their full lives on their own terms without compromise or apology.)
Camp Cope came out and opened their set with, appropriately enough “Keep Growing,” a single from 2016 which was later included on a split they released in 2017 with Cayetana. They followed that with “Jealous,” a real crooner off of the new album, Running with the Hurricane. As I mentioned earlier, the band is touring this go around with a different lineup and the results were evident right from the get go. With the addition of a second guitarist, Maq is now freed up to just focus on her singing, something she was not able to do previously as the group’s only guitarist. And at this point, let me say that her singing? <Chef’s Kiss> After having throat surgery a few years back, it’s safe to say she is fully recovered and sounding better than ever. This was quite self evident on the album already but that doesn’t always translate in a live setting. In Maq’s case it certainly does and she sounded fantastic. And as long as I’m discussing vocals, the addition of Aslett as well as Hanman on background vocals adds a whole new dimension to the group’s sound, one which I never realized was missing. But now that I’ve heard it, I absolutely love it.
After alternating a couple of new and older tracks, Sarah Thompson (how have I gotten this far and not mentioned the backbone and self proclaimed “mother” of Camp Cope, Thommo?) starts us off with a killer Charlie Watts drum intro which has me thinking, “they’re not gonna Brown Sugar are they?” They didn’t. But they did do a totally rad version of “The Mountain” from the new album which sounded a lot different from the album version, much more of an upbeat rocker than the recorded version.
Camp Cope at Webster Hall
By this point in the show, Maq had picked up the guitar and you could really appreciate the addition of the second guitar to the band’s sound. Not surprisingly, it was so much fuller, so much rounder than it had been in year’s past. Which also brings me to Kelly-Dawn Helmrich’s replacement on bass, Lou Hanman. I’ve been very familiar with Hanman as a musician for some time now. It seems like she’s played in virtually every band that’s come out of Philadelphia in recent memory. Oh and by the way, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that her solo project, All Away Lou, released a banger of an album, Things Will Change, earlier in the year which should most certainly be checked out. So her musicianship was never in doubt when I heard that she would be filling in on this tour on bass. BUT, let’s face it, Helmrich has a very distinct bass style, basically playing “lead” bass. Those bass riffs are as important to the Camp Cope sound as is Maq’s mellifluous singing. Suffice it to say, and not completely surprising, Hanman has nailed it. Especially on “Lost (Season One),” she killed it on the rolling bassline arpeggios, keeping the song flowing at a perfect breakneck pace.
To my ears two of the highlights of the evening were the (arguably) best two songs from Hurricane, “Blue” and the title track, “Running With the Hurricane.” Both songs came to life in a live setting with the band playing at full tilt, the crowd singing along in unison and of course Maq doing her thing front and center. “Blue” also, to the delight of the crowd, mixed in the chorus to Wheatus’s “Teenage Dirtbag”…I guess Dawson’s Creek was syndicated in Australia after all.
Closing out the evening was a slapping version of “The Opener.” I mean what else do you close out your set with other than a song with that title. With the entire room jumping and screaming, it dawned on me that this by far was the most electrified I’d ever seen a Camp Cope crowd get. And that ladies, gentlemen, and fellow human beings is a testament to how far this band has come and grown in their relatively short time together.
Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Ray Rusinak)
PETAL
CAMP COPE
