TOY made their NYC debut at Glasslands with Feathers and Young Boys (pics), play Mercury Lounge tonight
photos by PSquared Photography; words by Bill Pearis
TOY @ Glasslands, 1/9/2014
All you could see was hair. Like true shoegazers, UK band TOY stayed hunched over their instruments for most of last night’s Glasslands set (2/9) with frontman Tom Dougall coming up for air occasionally for vocal duty. Mostly though they vibrated on the same harmonic frequency, hammering at their instruments on a motorik groove.
This was TOY’s first New York show, though they’d tried to come twice previously only to be felled by visa issues. It was worth the wait. They were genuinely terrific from opening salvo “Left Myself Behind” through to the uber-krauty title track of their new album Join the Dots which closed the night. If you have any kind of proclivity for this sort of thing (anywhere from Swervedriver to The Horrors) they are definitely worth seeing.
NYC gets another chance tonight (1/10) at Mercury Lounge, it’s a late show (doors 10:30) with likeminded locals Spires on first. Tickets are still available, but apparently not many left. The band will then play a handful of other North American shows, and then will be back over in May for Austin Psych Fest. All dates are listed below.
Before TOY were Austin’s Feathers who are stopping in NYC for a couple shows before jetting to Europe for a few dates opening for Depeche Mode. The band, sporting a new line-up backing creative head Anastasia Dimou, looked the part and have some catchy songs in the black-clad synthy vein but the band was a little green and it showed — but the harmonies were on.
The night started with local band Young Boys. On record they’re in the gloomy, martial-beat school of post-punk; live their Cramps/Birthday Party side comes out. Shambolic to say the least, but platinum blond frontman is a rabble-rouser and natural frontman.
Pics of Feathers and Young Boys’ Glasslands sets, plus more of TOY, below..
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DJ Brandon from Crocodiles
Young Boys
Feathers
TOY
TOY – 2014 Tour Dates
Friday, January 10, 2014 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
Saturday, January 11, 2014 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
Monday, January 13, 2014 Montreal, QC @ Divan Orange
Tuesday, January 14, 2014 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 Detroit, MI @ Lager House
Thursday, January 16, 2014 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
Saturday, January 18, 2014 San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Sunday, January 19, 2014 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo – Part Time Punks
Friday, May 2, 2014 Austin, TX @ Austin Psych Fest
