photos by Harriet Roberts

The Dwarves

The Dwarves played the misanthropic and high-octane punk shows in NYC onver the weekend, part of a larger 25th anniversary tour for the miscreants. The first was on Friday (7/15) at Knitting Factory with The Stalkers and Lugosi. Dwarves then packed up their snotty attitudes and fun riffs to play The Studio at Webster Hall the next night (7/16) with The Stalkers, The Threads, and Cvlt War. Pictures from Knitting Factory are in this post.

The Dwarves kick off a round of dates with Nashville Pussy in early August that will hit the Southwest before heading to California and the remainder of the West Coast. Dates and more pictures from Knitting Factory (sorry, none of Lugosi) are below...

Continue reading "The Dwarves & Stalkers played Knitting Factory (pics)"

by Martin Longley

Er, well, I fucked up slightly. It's my first time at The Bowery Electric and I arrive at eleven, thinking that the gig's happening until midnite. By eleven-twenty, Heavy Trash have fully climaxed, and there's not going to be an encore, despite the crowd doing an extremely good job of baying out over the rockabilly/blues disco. Even so, the Heavy Trash experience is so densely intense that such a brief exposure almost feels equivalent to most other combos playing a full gig. The Electric's an impressively cave-like basement den, and Heavy Trash are completely dominating its intimate space. The gangly Jon Spencer is going for a Mexican Elvis look, testifying down on one knee, or down on the floor, or casting his blank gaze up to the ceiling.

Having witnessed his Blues Explosion several times over the years, this is my first exposure to Heavy Trash. It's a natural evolution back in time to rockabilly, and even rock'n'roll, but fed through the Spencer grater, amped up into a frothing frenzy. He's doing his extended band-introduction speech, but the Spencer mind's going blank and he's being fazed by familiar faces in the crowd-front. All of the band are providing sweet-toned backing vocals, magnifying the cabaret-irony vibrations. Spencer's strumming an electrified acoustic guitar, with Matt Verta-Ray handling the electric-twang soloing. Reverb soaks all, not least Spencer's hiccup-ing vocals. The drums and upright bass pick up their pace and there's a full re-launch into song as the Trash deliver their final frenetic surge. Fortunately, they're playing again at Santos Party House next Tuesday nite...

The Tuesday (10/20) show in question is the Panache/NY Night Train CMJ showcase that is happening on two floors of the venue. Flyer and set times below....

Continue reading "Heavy Trash played Bowery Electric, playing NY Night Train CMJ show at Santos Party House (full lineup)"