Laura Stevenson, Crying, Chris Farren, & Anika Pyle played Mercury Lounge (pics); Katie Ellen played Aviv
photos by Amanda Hatfield
Laura Stevenson is currently on tour with Fake Problems singer/Antarctigo Vespucci co-leader Chris Farren and chiptune punks Crying, and the first of two NYC shows on that tour happened on Saturday (4/2) at Mercury Lounge. Laura and her band played mostly off 2015’s punked-up Cocksure but of course included some old favorites that had the crowd singing. Chris Farren’s dedicated fanbase came out for his set, which inspired quite a few singalongs as well.
Laura, Chris and Crying play NYC again on April 29 at Shea Stadium (tickets), and Laura plays the Asbury Park festival that her label Don Giovanni is presenting in September.
The Mercury Lounge show was extra special because it included an opening set from Anika Pyle, who fronted the now-defunct Chumped and now fronts Katie Ellen (with Chumped drummer Dan Frelly). I caught the full-band Katie Ellen set (a bassist included) at Aviv a day earlier (4/1) opening the release show for Slingshot Dakota’s Break. Katie Ellen are less pop punk than Chumped and more just sad, personal indie rock, and their set at Aviv has me very excited for their record. The highlight was a song called “Sad Girls Club” (which Anika also played solo at Mercury Lounge), that had Anika pouring out so much genuine emotion it was impossible not to get a little choked up. Katie Ellen play NYC again opening for Dowsing and Kittyhawk, when their tour hits Suburbia on May 28. Three Man Cannon are on that bill too.
More pictures from Mercury Lounge below…
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Anika Pyle
Chris Farren
Crying
Laura Stevenson
