As We Were, The Lentils, Dog Hospice At Punk Rock Block Party On Lower King St then And The Kids And Joe Adler & The Rangers Of Danger At Nectar’s

Words by Tim Lewis.

Despite missing one of my favorite bands (Black Rabbit went on first), I had a great time seeing music tonight. I tried to take it easy last night and was up a bit after 7 this morning. I worked 9-5:30 then stopped home for a bit. I was out the door and headed to the “Art Hop?” to see some punk bands, especially Black Rabbit. I forgot the address but when I was close I asked the group of kids on the sidewalk where the bands were, and they directed me down the driveway and into the basement. As We Were ground out some heavy metal/punk and the twin guitars lit my heart with joy. The vocal was a bit growly but the band were beautifully ferocious and the workday melded into the play day. I only caught a couple of their songs, but they were super solid and playing hard. The small (for a hall but big for the basement) crowd was very enthusiastic, and got in a nice mosh on the last song.

It was hot in the basement, so when they finished, I headed to the back yard, and enjoyed the fading day. Soon enough there was a noise from the basement. The Lentils were a three-piece with singer/guitar player, seated electric bass player, and a drummer who flipped a bass drum on it’s side and played it with a maraca. Their songs had a low-fi indie feel with a full on punk attitude. They only played 4-5 songs but really had something. I will have to check them out more soon.

After that, I headed back out and ran into Kevin Ryan. We chatted for a bit, but then it sounded like a band was going on. I headed back down the stairs into the brick basement cellar. The next guy on was called Dog Hospice. He was the last guy on, and had two guitars strapped to his drum kit, placed a mic over his mouth and wrapped a few layers of duct tape around his mouth and sang and drummed and hit guitars and played loops. I was a challenge to listen to the stories he told, through the distortion of the duct tape pushing the mic so close, but it was kind of riveting too. After that, I was going to wander out, but James Lockridge asked me if I wanted to hang out and have a beer. I took him up on his offer and chatted with lots of cool people. After a bit, I could hear the clock strike 9, and knew it was time to head out.

I thought I was a bit early when I walked into Nectar’s, so I ordered a drink and ordered some food. The drink was quick and immediately after, And The Kidswalked onto the stage. The only option was to run to the front and rock out for a few songs, and figure out the food later. They played some killer hard rocking new wave pop, or some dancey pop that rocks hard, or whatever it is that they play. I loved every moment while trying to dance myself into a frenzy. After a few songs, including a killer Wiser, the bartender said my food was ready, so I reluctantly moved to the back for a few songs. When I was somewhere close to finished, I ran back to the front to join the fun. They had he audience eating out of the palm of their hands as they played great song after great song. They dedicated all of the songs to Joe Adler and played a sweet cover towards the end for him. They wrapped it up with another killer rocker., and that was that.

The set break was not too long, then Joe Adler & The Rangers Of Danger took the stage. With Eric Segalstad on guitar, Samara Lark Brown on vocals, three increasingly large saxophones, and Mammal Dap’s guitarist, bass player, keyboard player, and drummer, Joe played a killer version of his new album Many Things &Many Scenes. Johnnie Day Durand lit the room with her saw playing on Brothers and Sisters. Aya Inoue joined in on vocals for a few songs, and took a nice lead on Cloudy Mind. They did a killer version of my new favorite song, Dreams Elope, though it was before Cloudy, then rocked us hard with Mirror Mirror. They kicked the first set with Many a Girl (Back of a Sail) reprise. That’s such a fun song to sing. They said they were going to take a 5 minute break, and I still had energy, so I hung out for the fastest set break ever. It might literally have been 5 minutes, but might have been less.

They came out swinging with a killer cover of Burning Down the House. They followed with a Joe song not on the new album called Another Drink Of Water. They got the crowd rocking with Hungry Like the Wolf. We got to rock to another Joe song called Spit and Fire Blues. They kicked the night with Walk On The Wild Side. Towards the end, Joe started introducing the band. After each member was introduced she or he would leave the stage. It was finally down to a guitar player, the bass player, the drummer, and the keyboard player. Joe said they were a band called Mammal Dap. They took over and closed the evening. I hing our for a song, but tomorrow is my Wednesday, so I took the long joyous walk home, with a happy heart full of music.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.