by Tim Griffin

BRMC / Acid Mothers Temple / Warpaint at Austin Psych Fest - 4/26/2013

Last year Austin Psych Fest was held at Emo's East and Beauty Ballroom (RIP), the year before at the Seaholm Power Plant, and this year APF, which happened last weekend (4/26 - 4/28) has found what might be a permanent home at Carson Creek Ranch. The two seemed to fit well; open skies, trees, and a river (just minutes from downtown Austin) made for a great new location. Pictures of the ranch, and many of Day 1's bands (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Warpaint, Raveonettes, Tamaryn, Acid Mothers Temple, Tinariwen and more) and other goings-on are in this post.

BMRC play NYC on Saturday (5/4) at Terminal 5 with fellow Psych Fest vets Bass Drum of Death and tickets are still available.

Sailor Jerry invited me along for the ride and hired me to take some pictures for them as well. They had an AirStream back stage where much ink was dispensed (in the form of tattoos) as well as happiness (in the form of rum). Austin Tattoo artists Keith Underwood and Philip LaRocca manned the needles for those who stopped by for some permanent souvenirs. Pictures of some of that in the set, too.

Over at BV Austin, you can check out portraits taken at the fest by photographer Natasha Ryan. More pics from Day 1 of Austin Psych Fest below...

Continue reading "Austin Psych Fest: Day 1 in pics (BRMC, Acid Mothers Temple, Tinariwen, Tamaryn, Raveonettes, Warpaint ++ more)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield & Dominick Mastrangelo, words by Bill Pearis

Deap Vally @ Public Assembly (by Dominick)

Foxygen @ Public Assemby (by Amanda)

Our Friday not-CMJ day party (10/19) at Public Assembly, our first of two day-long, two-stage shows at the venue over the weekend, had my favorite one-two punch of the entire 2012 CMJ week: Savages followed by METZ both of whose performances we wrote about already (click the links). But I'll add that even though it was a shorter set (that didn't include "Flying to Berlin"_ than when I caught them at Glasslands earlier in the week, Savages were more, relaxed, more electrifying at our show. And METZ bring their insane level of energy (and volume) to every show they do, day or night, and they knocked the crowd for a loop. CMJ in a nutshell right there.

The rest of Friday's line-up was highly diverse: Israeli prog rockers Tiny Fingers; Wisonsin folk duo Blessed Feathers; the retro-fueled shenanigans of the terrific Foxygen; Murals' laid-back dreampop; FIGO and Toys that Kill bringing some punk; Deap Vally bringing riffs and sex appeal; IO Echo's gothy shoegaze pop; MSMR's big pop sounds (a little like an indie Sophie Ellis Bextor?); Doldrums on what was one of their 8000 highly energetic shows that week; Braids' new, electronic direction; and the brainy fake surf of The Intelligence.

Attendees at the show were fueled by complimentary drinks courtesy of Sailor Jerry Rum, complimentary beer courtesy of PBR, and snacked on the free Raw Revolution organic live food bars that were scattered around the venue. Hopefully nobody had a hangover thanks to cans of the Mercy that were given out aplenty. If the PBR and Poggled photographer took your picture, look for it on our Facebook.

We already posted pictures from this party of METZ, Savages, and Sky Ferreira. More from the whole show, below...

Continue reading "BV Friday Day Party pics (Deap Vally, Foxygen, Murals, Toys That Kill, Braids, Io Echo, The Intelligence, Savages, METZ + more)"

photos by Nate "Igor" Smith; words by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Karoake chaos / Kirin J Callinan / Absolutely Free @ Saint Vitus, 10/20/2012

After a few days of utter CMJ madness, what better way to wash away your troubles than with Infinity Spaceship, the karaoke live band that specializes in punk/indie/hardcore and more. Perhaps due in part to the complimentary Raw Rev bars, Sailor Jerry's rum and PBR (both were free for a limited time) and a possible avoidance of hangover care of Mercy, the crowd at the BrooklynVegan un-CMJ party at Saint Vitus on 10/19 was more than ready to unwind by covering songs by Smashing Pumpkins, Minor Threat, Gorilla Biscuits and many others while backed by the current and former members of On the Might of Princes, No Way, Primitive Weapons, Nakatomi Plaza, Ghost Robot Ninja Bear and more.

It wasn't all covers and amateur hour though. The Saint Vitus shindig, one night before our metal show in the same venue, also featured a pair of performances including mind-blowing, gothic guitarist Kirin J Callinan and Toronto's precise, rhythmically-adept Absolutely Free. Pictures of both bands and the karaoke crowd are below...

Continue reading "Kirin J Callinan, Absolutely Free & live karaoke band Infinity Spaceship played the BV 'un-CMJ' party at Saint Vitus (pics)"

this is happening Saturday....

As you know, we'll be serving complimentary Sailor Jerry drinks at Public Assembly in Brooklyn (70 N. 6th St) this Friday (10/19) AND Saturday (10/20), but on SATURDAY we're ALSO giving out FREE TATTOOS from noon-6pm (first come, first served).
To quote Sailor Jerry:

The Sailor Jerry brand was inspired by tattoo legend, Norman Collins, a true visionary with intense dedication to his craft and an unwavering rebellious and devil-may-care attitude. In honor of Collins' and the spirit of bad add music everywhere. We are proud to have artists Matty No Times and Jeremy Sutton from Three Kings Tattoo Parlor on hand giving complimentary tattoos at our Sailor Jerry Pop-Up Tattoo Shop. Even better, right after you get fresh ink stop by the bar and have a shot on Sailor Jerry Rum.

The tattoo choices are Anchor, Panther, Cherry, Dice, Swallow, and Sailor Girl, but there's a catch! We'll have a dart board and you have to shoot and get whatever tattoo it lands on! Crazy people can start lining up at 11:30am Saturday at Public Assembly...

and STAY TUNED FOR THE SATURDAY LINEUP OF MUSIC on two stages.
Meanwhile check out Friday's lineup.

We're at Public Assembly in Brooklyn all day Friday (10/19) and Saturday (10/20). Here's what Friday looks like...

BrooklynVegan FRIDAY DAY PARTY - 10/19/2012

STAGE 1 (front room)
12:00 Tiny Fingers (from Israel)
01:00 Murals
01:45 Deap Vally
02:30 Savages
03:15 METZ
04:00 MS MR
05:00 Braids

STAGE 2 (back room)
12:00 Blessed Feathers
12:40 Foxygen
01:25 FIGO (live)
02:10 IO Echo
03:00 Sky Ferreira
03:40 Doldrums
04:30 Toys That Kill
05:15 The Intelligence

That's 15 bands in 6 hours and all 100% FREE. If you have to work, call in sick!

And show up early for complimentary drinks courtesy of Sailor Jerry Rum and complimentary beer courtesy of PBR. You can also grab a free hangover prevention beverage courtesy of Mercy, and stay energized with free Raw Revolution organic live food bars. Get your photo taken in our free photo booth courtesy of PBR and Poggled.

Saturday lineup (same time, same place) coming soon...

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Meanwhile you'l also find us, or our BV Austin site to be more specific, repping Texas at Rebel (a free and official CMJ party), and at Saint Vitus on Saturday night.

photos by Nate "Igor" Smith, words by Bill Pearis

A skimasked Nobunny at Otto's Shrunken Head, 9/20/2012

Last night at East Village tiki bar Otto's Shunken Head, Sailor Jerry presented a night of garage bubblegum insanity with Nobunny, The Tough Shits and Bad Sports. Nobunny apparently misplaced his disturbing rabbit mask and performed with a skimask instead. Needless to say, the rum-fueled show was wild and sweaty. We've got a few pictures from his set in this post.

UPDATE: The Tough Shits didn't play, word is they couldn't get off work. It's tough being a band, these days.

Hopefully Nobunny has found his mask since, as he and Bad Sports play NYC again tonight (9/21) at Living Bread Deli (2 Knickerbocker) with Xray Eyeballs and Liquor Store. Nobunny and Bad Sports continue their tour Philly tomorrow (9/22) and cross the finish line at next weekend's Gonerfest.

If you haven't checked out Bad Sports, who are Nobunny's backing band on this tour, their 2011 Kings of the Weekend album is sneery, shoutalong punk a la the Ramones or early Damned and can be streamed below via Spotify. All remaining Nobunny/Bad Sports dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Nobunny played Otto's Shrunken Head with Bad Sports (pics); playing tonight at Living Bread Deli"

Mick Collins of The Dirtbombs on stage with The Gories at FFF5 (more by BBG)


The Dirtbombs have a couple months to prepare to be sea-worthy, but until then have a pair of Sailor Jerry-presented FREE-with-RSVP gigs scheduled with White Mystery. The 21+ shows go down on 12/16 at the Subterranean in Chicago and 12/17 at Gramercy Theater in NYC. RSVP now. Flyer below.

The Dirtbombs were last in NYC in June with Dennis Coffey, and recently released a covers album of Detroit Techno.

Continue reading "The Dirtbombs schedule free NYC show at Gramercy (RSVP)"

Jon Spencer @ Brooklyn Bowl in April (more by Ryan Muir)

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are playing a free NYC show in December, but you have to RSVP UPDATE: The show is private. Flyer removed at request of all involved :/