but he may also be the most genuine person ever to make a living wearing said cargo pants. for a while i've relentlessly harolded his band's, 2009 release "fluent in stroll" as the best record i had heard since brand new's "the devil and god are raging inside me." and maybe it's time some reasons were given as to why this record, as well as this band, are some of the best in music right now.i've never been a lucky person, but i will say my luck in regards to concerts has been fantastic. upon the release of both of the above-mentioned records, both bands seemed to find western new york as a hot-spot for the subsequent tours. i managed to catch brand new 5 or 6 times touring in support of the devil and god, and i've caught big d 4 times sense stroll's release.
now the two albums and the two live shows are incredibly different. one is the most emotionally havoc-inducing album i've ever heard while the other is the most upbeat. and brand new's live show is filled with artsy light shows and is very art-first, band-interaction-second. big d's shows have/had a bit of a light show and a film projection for a while, but their shows are unpredictable and just absolute fun. they don't give a fuck on stage. well, that's not true, they do about one thing, making sure they put on a damn good show.
a few mo
nths ago i saw them at SUNY fredonia, it was a free show, and it got shut down about half way through the set. well, it was supposed to have gotten shut down, but in the words of brian klemm, the new guitar player, "there were like 600 kids there, what were we going to do? just stop and leave them disappointed?" the band played until they shut the power down. the last half of noise complaint was nothing but stage diving, david mcwane lost in the crowd, and horns and drums (as all the electronic instruments had lost power). there was no alcohol allowed at the show for obvious reasons, but the guy i ended up standing with managed to sneak a few in and we gave one to dave....one of the best decisions i've ever been a part of.fastforward to last thursday, the scene is rochester, ny, at the water street music hall. we roll into rochester with a case of pbr in the backseat and pull into the cheapest parking lot i know, about 2 blocks from the venue. we have some beers, and load up my buddy's leather jacket with extra (yup, same guy who snuck them into fredonia). we're walking to the venue and who do we see? brian klemm standing outside a convenient store. does he recognize us from fredonia? not at first, but after a few seconds reminding he absolutely does. just as cool of a guy as he was when i was heckling him about having to fill sean p rogan's shoes (former guitar player) during the setup at the last show. we get to the venue, after having to run back to my car. who do we run into again? brian klemm. this time he initiates the conversation. i end up talking to him again the entire time he's setting up his equipment, this time not heckling, but talking about gear and guitar choices and roommate situations (he lives with reel big fish's aaron barrett). i was trying not to sound like i was interviewing him but i ended up asking questions about sean leaving (yup he's done for good), where dan stoppelman is (long time trumpet player sat out this tour cause he was "burnt out") and the next record (which they're writing in june).
show goes off. great show, really heavy on the old songs unlike the past few shows plus a brand new one that's to be on a split 7". LAX closes the set and a ton of people end up on stage (scene of my first ever stage dive....i usually hate when people get on stage cause they never know when they've overstayed their welcome, so i got off quick). during the show dave said something about buying the tour manager a shot after the show. of course, my buddy jumps at the opportunity and basically drags him off stage. i buy brian a shot for being such a cool guy. after some banter we end up with an invitation to drink beer while the band is packing out.
and so began the coolest musical moment of my life, the one that really cements this band as one of the most genuine and coolest in music.
we're standing on the sidewalk while the band is up on an elevated loading-dock-type platform. we're shooting the shit and trying not to act TOO much like excited fans, and they tell us to come inside so they don't have to look down on us. and this is the whole band, everybody is coming over to talk to us. and they're all really really cool people. we exchanged stories, drank beer, and hung out like friends. at one point i even got dave's girlfriend in trouble and i tried my best to smooth the waters (which dave simply replied "i'm just going to give her shit, ya know, like you'd give a buddy"). i helped them search for ryan's phone (sax), brian gave me the chords to "known to be blue," we talked favorite live songs, the idea of pressing how it goes on vinyl (they're considering), and talked about the new album. apparently it's going to be a thrash punk, ska, and stroll record with some more folky stuff on it. dan and paul (trombone) are supposed to be on it even though they haven't been on the road.
however, there was some stuff that bothered me amongst the night of absolute awesomeness that i was a part of. while talking to steve (bass), i mentioned how a lot of the stroll songs were missing off the set. and what followed was a lengthy conversation about how the reception was very mixed and it was unsettling for himself and the rest of the guys (some were quicker to admit to it than others). at one point steve went as far as to say "it's frustrating, the reception is divided and the guys who don't like it are VERY vocal about not liking it. i hate going on like punknews.org and reading 'oh go kill yourself, your album sucks.'" i didn't know what to say, i had already told them how important the album was to me, but all i could think was this band that laid it all out there and made a truly unique album is letting stupid mindless critics get the best of them, and i wish that wasn't how it was.
i mean, these guys are your DIY band, they live on the road, play free shows, and will drink beer with you after the show like you guys are long-time buddies. i don't know if it gets any better than that. i don't know if there's more i could ask for out of these guys. i mean, the old guitar player used to post guitar lessons on youtube for their songs...that's awesome. these guys deserve to be huge, but instead they're losing members like wildfire and they're stuck playing the smaller room of water street. and i can't help but think the reason sean left and dan got burnt out is because of the reaction to fluent in stroll. i hope not because it is a truly amazing record.
there is no better band out there right now, and the live show i saw at the town ballroom back in november, the amount of fun i had at fredonia, and how cool these guys were in rochester just proves it time and time again. not to mention they always answer their fan emails...who the hell still does that these days? they've been doing it for as long as reel big fish, but without the major label and the "sell out" big hit. instead their "big hit" is a song telling the west coast snobs to fuck off and that they'd rather work for everything they have.
yeah, that's the song that says "fuck" like 25 times. that's their "hit." but we'll keep on doing our best, even though our lives are a mess. these guys are so good at what they do and they deserve so much more.
a pic...cause it happened.
