Ramblings of a Redhead Music Snob

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Pete – Birdmonster – CMJ – StudioB,
originally uploaded by xneverwherex.

11/3/06 – Birdmonster, Sam Champion, The Thermals – Studio B, Brooklyn, NY

Well this wasn’t an official CMJ show, but regardless the bands playing on Friday night ROCKED! I got to the club way out in Greenpoint fairly late on Friday night. Was waiting for my friend Hannah to show up in NYC, but unfortunately her bus broke down and she wouldnt arrive till after 11:30 pm. Which is the real bad news.

The good news is, I saw a portion of Birdmonster’s set and they tore it up! As always they were in fine fashion, and as noted in the pic, Pete had on his huge trademark smile. The band always seems so happy to be playing. On the final song, which I don’t even remember at this point, they brought up someone else (I’m guessing the guy was in another band) and him and Justin went crazy on the cymbals. It was so cool watching as they hammered away, cymbals flying through the air. And perhaps its fitting that a band named birdmonster ended with lots of things flying. One of the highlights of CMJ.

Next up was Sam Champion. While Im not one who likes to rip apart a band, I just could not get into the band. I really felt that they were lacking on energy, and following up after Birdmonster, it was a bit of a let down. They do have some catchy pop sounding songs, but nothing stood out in my mind.

It was a good thing that I didn’t leave after that, because the amazing Thermals would come up next. Hutch Harris, lead singer and guitarist of The Thermals is nothing but amazing. His piercing eyes, feel like electricity are racing through them as he plays his songs insanely fast, with a pop-punk sound. He gets so into the music, he is amazing to watch as is the rest of the band. The band goes crazy with each song, each one getting faster and more out of control than the prior one. Hutch was flying around the stage, bouncing all over the place, while the crowd was just a rush of people, bouncing, pushing, singing into one another. The set was quite short, but they did play a full 11- or 13 set song. With songs as quick and short as that, it’d have been fun to see them play a bit longer. But the band was truely wiped out by the end of the set, with Hutch’s shirt and face dripping with sweat.

This was by far the surprise of the night. Unfortunately, due to time I didn’t stay around to catch the Horrors, but I’m sure their set would have been just as great. At least one would like to hope.