photo credit Ziggy Merritt

By Ziggy Merritt

Long defined by its commitment to providing a space for the underground punk movement in Philadelphia, for a few years now Kung Fu Necktie has fostered one of the more truly diverse lineup of musicians living in and touring through the city. Friday night was no different, showing off its more indie pop sensibilities with the east coast debut of Private Island touring with Harts and Future Generations.

photo credit Ziggy Merritt

Hailing from Southern California, the sextet combines the visceral energy of indie stalwarts such as Young the Giant or Local Natives and improvisational surf rock stylings that weave in elements of jazz and R&B. It’s easy enough to grow tired of the influx of indie pop as many who attempt to define themselves within the genre are unable to escape a quick comparison to someone else’s sound. Private Island manages to climb out of that hole, with a live act that speaks to their infectious and good-natured vibe, while still maintaining their own streak of transformative artistry.

With a series of singles and two EPs behind them (2014’s A Good Look and 2016’s Sunbreak), the outfit managed to run through much of their discography. Few if any tracks did not immediately amp up the crowd with “Bear Hands” and “Don’t Call Me” drawing the most vocal response. Both tracks saw vocalists Christian Lum and Michelle Guerrero set fire to the cool summer night with passionate, sonorous grooves that easily filled up the room.

The night also featured the debut of their new single, “Juvenile.” Soaked in summer, the track conjures up images of hot California nights, capturing the essence of spacey, retro-wave. It veers off into a bolder, more risky direction that sways closer to the realm of R&B.

photo credit Ziggy Merritt

photos by Pedro Anguila

Singer/songwriter Daniel Martin Moore didn’t always know he wanted to become a musician when he grew up, but always had a love for music and singing.  “When I was a kid I never imagined I’d become a professional musician. It’s not until I was in my early 20s that that thought ever crossed my mind,” Moore explains.

After a stint in the Peace Corps, Moore sent an unsolicited demo to Sub Pop Records, which eventually led to him being signed and releasing his debut album, Stray Age, on the label. It was an experience that changed his life and allowed him to become where he is today.

“I had no idea what to expect or really any concept of what the music business is, and also I was (and hopefully am) still experimenting with sounds, trying to understand recording & developing as an artist & writer,” he says.

Moore went on to release three albums with Sub Pop. In 2011, he opened his own label, OK Recordings. In the early days, Sub Pop had been known for releasing grungy records, but reached for its softer side in signing bands like Iron & Wine, Fleet Foxes, and of course, Moore.

If you listen to his records, his style is very folksy. However, he’s influenced from every type of music he’s ever heard.

“I’m an avid listener of all kinds of music from all over the world.  On this tour we’ve been listening to some Peter Gabriel,” Moore reveals. “My drummer, Dave Givan, is a huge fan of his, and I’m not very familiar with his catalog, so we’ve been blasting that stuff down the highway.”

Moore just released his latest record, Golden Age, in October, and is currently on the road with his band in support of it. “It’s been smooth sailing thus far. We’re looking forward to playing the songs, mostly.  That’s the best part of touring – getting to meet an audience and share some music.”

Catch Daniel Martin Moore live at Kung Fu Necktie on Saturday, November 21.

photo by EA Zimmerman

Dodging rubber bullets while participating in Occupy Oakland in 2011, performing a concert in a cave in Germany, touring with Dropkick Murphys and getting banned by Disney (“the best fucking show I never played”), folk-punk musician Bryan McPherson is one bad ass rebel with a cause.

Melding Americana, folk, alternative and punk into one exhilarating sound, McPherson’s latest album, Wedgewood (released on June 10^th), pays homage to those who influenced him most- Bob Dylan, The Sex Pistols, The Violent Femmes, Ani DiFranco and Bruce Springsteen, as well as the eye opening time he spent witnessing the Occupy movement.

The title, Wedgewood, comes from the wood stove in the hut McPherson was living in while making the album. Located on the Chicken Foot Ranch in the Sierra Nevada foothills, McPherson isolated himself from the outside world for four months in 2013, working on his songs and figuring out arrangements. He then went to nearby Flying Whale Studios, located in an abandoned gold mine, to record the tracks.

“I had been living a minimalist lifestyle for quite some time already,” says McPherson. “I had everything I needed [living in the hut]: food, shelter, friends and music. One thing I missed while being in the mountains was the ocean. I grew up on the east coast, about a half mile from Boston Harbor, so I found myself getting claustrophobic; I need the ocean, the breeze, the sea gulls…but I didn’t miss traffic or driving.”

Photo by John Lacroix

McPherson explains that one of the greatest benefits of working in such a closed off environment is that it created the vibe and sound for his record. “It was wonderful to be able to work on the album all day and hammer out the arrangements. The forests, the trees, hills and canyons are all on this record. It’s a wood stove album, a campfire album; the smoke and fire are all in there.”

On Wedgewood, McPherson was able to spend all of his time exclusively working on the record. With no day job to go to, he could work on arrangements and performances all day, concentrating on creating an album you can listen to in one sitting, rather than making a record of songs that didn’t follow a cohesive theme.

McPherson’s vocals are distinctive; gritty, but comfortable, bringing an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia to his songs. He almost seems to me as a sort of modern Bob Dylan. One track off of Wedgewood I really loved was “Burn It Down”. McPherson explains that he had been attending several protests, including Occupy, and was angry at the government and all the corruption he was seeing.

“I saw the raw deal that people were getting and I thought I was witnessing the beginning of a revolution. I wrote that song in the middle of the night in a London hotel room. I had pretty bad jet lag so I was wide awake. Jet lag is trippy; it’s kind of like doing acid and washing it down with sleeping pills. All of that went into the song; it was just; ‘fuck it, burn it down, burn the whole thing down.’ It’s an angry, ugly, frustrated song. Destruction and fire are not necessarily nice things, but they do lead to rebirth and recreation and revolution.”

Currently on the U.S. leg of his tour, having just completed a trek around Europe, McPherson notes that the hands down best thing about touring is the live shows. When he gets time off, he tries to check out his surroundings, but touring is a lot of hard work and the majority of the day is spent traveling to the show, the day to day operations of being an indie artist and then, of course, the concert itself. “As a result of the shows, you get to connect with the people who connect with your songs,” says McPherson, “it’s an amazing thing.”

Once, while performing a show in France while touring with the Dropkick Murphys, McPherson recalls going onstage to a crowd shouting “Let’s go Murphys!” “That’s basically a fuck you, we want the Murphys, so I just rolled with it. I raised my arms up to make them shout louder, which they did, then I blasted out the first song in my set, full of piss and vinegar and they went nuts. I’ve never heard a crowd so loud.”

McPherson will be at Kung Fu Necktie June 16^th, so at the show, be sure to yell loudly, go nuts and encourage the piss with a tinge of vinegar. Beats going to Disney World anytime.

Jake and Pete Adams are the kind of guys who know how to learn from the past without living in it. There was simply hard rock and metal before things split into doom, death, thrash and more other shades than most of us can keep track of. The Virginia brothers’ band Valkyrie doesn’t mind borrowing from those as the mood hits, but they’re most rooted in that fine classic tradition of loud drums and twin axes. If you’ve long since memorized every scrap of Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath in your library and want something fresh to scratch a similar itch, their new release Shadows is the answer you might not have known you were waiting for.

It’s the band’s first album since Man of Two Visions from the distant days of 2008. Jake Adams explains that they never really went away in the meantime but only slowed down a little. “We have been active as a band the entire time,” he says. “We always play shows. Shadows has been in the works since the last album was finished, but my personal life has been very busy. Since then I have had two children and also started on a teaching career. Pete joined Baroness since then and so he has been gone doing stuff with them.”

Apparently being in two bands makes a good deal for the other Adams, who enjoys the benefit of running free in a different context before coming back to the family. Jake explains, “Baroness is ultimately the more experimental and modern band, while Valkyrie is a bit more traditional-sounding. Baroness brings indie and punk influences… so in many ways Valkyrie is a nice break for Pete.”

The band hasn’t suffered from taking it a little slow – if anything, they’re coming back recharged. “We recorded this in four days and so it retains the rawness of that experience for sure,” Adams offers. “Pete has been more involved with the writing on this one, and many of the riffs were written by us together. I often write fairly simple structures and Pete helps make the songs more dynamic and interesting by adding harmonies or suggesting changes. All of us have input as to the overall feel of a song and it is a joint process.” He adds that they’re also open to drawing on all kinds of elements – besides the obvious early-metal references, “Wishbone Ash, Deep Purple and Jethro Tull are influences that also come to mind.”

It all makes a heavy slice of rock that could still satisfy your stereotypical middle-aged curmudgeon who grumbles that it’s all been downhill since 1973. Shadows even sticks to classic LP length at a solid 42 minutes. If its cover suggests something violent to fit the band’s name, it’s actually positive underneath. Adams clarifies, “The artwork is a red-tailed hawk being attacked by crows, a sight we have all seen in the area we are from. The crows represent the shadows in our lives that we have to struggle against.”

Valkyrie hopes the next album won’t take nearly so long to finish, but for the immediate future they’ll be more busy with a short (and long-overdue) release tour. If you want to satisfy your inner old-school headbanger for a night, come out to Kung Fu Necktie tomorrow night (May 29th) and they’ll provide just the right fix.

A fired-up crowd came out to support Philadelphia band Modern Suits Friday night at Kung Fu Necktie as the band debuted tracks from their new EP, Every Light. From longtime friends to that one weirdly intense dancing girl, everyone joined in the good vibes as Keith Gibbons, Adam Jessamine, Mikal Smith, and Dean Hartley kicked off their effusive set with power rocker “The Road”.

Second cut “Waiting” brought a special guest to the stage in one Fred Mascherino. The former guitarist for Taking Back Sunday, Mascherino has released solo material under the moniker The Color Fred, and produced and recorded Every Light in his West Chester studio. The talented guitarist played a short solo set ahead of Modern Suits, and performed admirably with a shoulder torn in a freak dog-walking accident.

(all photos by Adam McGrath)

The rest of Modern Suits’ performance was full of emotion, as Jessamine walked his tatted hands all over the fretboard and Gibbons thanked the crowd repeatedly in between gulps of air. Tracks like “Home”, “Tunnels”, and “Every Light” were greeted with tons of cheers and applause, and the band’s tight-knit effort proved they are ready for the next step. With plenty of fans, famous or otherwise, Modern Suits is in store for a wild ride.

Also on the bill were Those Mockingbirds, which added a nice twist to their straight-forward rock sound with the addition of keys and violin, and Moxy, which were returning to the stage for the first time in three years. Neither of these acts necesssarily tore the place down, but provided ample support for the impressive headliners. When you’re making your playlists for the week, make sure to add Every Light to the queue.

Mikal Smith

Adam Jessamine

Fred Mascherino

Here are the shows in and around Philly that caught my eye this week. Let us know who you’re seeing with #PhillyConcerts.

Friday, October 10

Iceage @ First Unitarian Church:

The Danish punk band is kicking off a two-month American tour behind their third album, Plowing Into the Field of Love, released this week on Matador Records. With Helm and The Holidays.

Foxygen @ Union Transfer:

The California rock duo of Jonathan Rado and Sam France bring their unpredictable live show to Philly this weekend, showcasing songs from forthcoming album …And Star Power, out next week on Jagjaguwar. With Dub Thompson. Catch the band earlier in the day at WXPN’s Free at Noon.

Saturday, October 11

If you’re not tuckered out from Blocktoberfest, the South Jersey Arts & Farm Festival, or the River City Festival, Saturday night holds even more great bills.

Allo Darlin’ @ Boot & Saddle

The London-based indie pop band is releasing its third album this month, We Come From the Same Place (Slumberland). With The Pretty Greens. Look for our writer Tom at the show and check back for his review.

Jeff the Brotherhood / Diarrhea Planet @ Underground Arts

If you really want to get rowdy on Saturday night, this is the show for you. Both of these bands are known for their raucous live performances. With Left and Right and Hound opening. Look for our writer John at the show and check back for his review.

Sunday, October 12

Monday is a holiday for most folks, so take advantage and get out to a show!

Wheat / Roses / The Shivers / The Skis @ Kung Fu Necktie

I love that bands come down from Brooklyn and Connecticut to play at Kung Fu Necktie in Fishtown. All of the bands on this bill have been following their musical passion for years, but I’d especially like to see the interplay of The Shivers’ Keith Zarriello on guitar and vocals and Jo Schornikow on piano.

Check back next Thursday for next weekend’s concert picks, and no matter what show you see, tell us with #PhillyConcerts!

When I was two years old my mother left me in the backseat of the car while she took the groceries inside. This was in the 70s when doors were easy to open, seat belts weren’t necessary and child car seats were apparently easy to make a quick getaway from. I crawled into the driver’s seat, shifted into reverse and proceeded to demolish the neighbor’s car.

Keith Musil, who directed the “Is What It Is” music video for Brooklyn-based She Keeps Bees, was inspired by a similar story. A friend’s brother had unstrapped himself from the backseat as his mother was driving, unlocked the door and just slipped out as if it was the most natural thing on earth, except for the fact that the car was in motion. Amazingly, no one was hurt, the child was retrieved by a very freaked out mother and a super cool, slightly jarring music video was born.

“When we read the treatment, we thought it was a great idea and it gave us goosebumps,” says drummer Andy LaPlant.

Formed in Brooklyn in 2006, Jessica Larrabee and Andy LaPlant met at a bar (I’ve always wanted to say that). “I was Andy’s bartender,” Larrabee recalls, “and I just kept enticing Andy to come in. I knew he recorded music and I really wanted help with that. I gave him one of my CDs and we started taking the weekends to record stuff, then we released our first album together which was Minisink Hotel and it just grew after that.”

The band’s witty moniker comes from Larrabee’s last name. Wanting to somehow incorporate the word “bees” into the band’s name, she tried everything (“I’ll be a beekeeper!” “A beelady!”), but nothing took until Larrabee just hit upon She Keeps Bees. “It just stuck with me and the more I learned about them [bees], I realized they’re basically the life blood of everything and that’s what music is to me.”

Larrabee taught LaPlant how to play drums and the rest fell into place organically. Now releasing their 4th album, Eight Houses, on September 16th, She Keeps Bees is hitting the road to promote their beautifully ethereal and haunting new album, which features guest performances by Adam Schatz, Molly Donahue, Nicolas Vernhes, Gabe Wax and the formidable Sharon Van Etten.

“This is our first studio release,” says Larrabee. “A friend of a friend introduced us to our producer, Nicolas [Vernhes] and it just felt very comfortable; he wasn’t afraid to stretch our limits. It was hard, but great in the end because we were able to focus completely on songwriting, so it was a nice break for us to just be musicians and creators.”

LaPlant adds, “We’ve never really solicited outside opinions during the recording process before, so it was definitely a learning experience. We had to learn to hear other people’s opinion, but not to take it personally and just trudge ahead.” He laughs, “even though sometimes you may feel like an asshole. It was half existential crisis and half fun.”

Larrabee and LaPlant have known Sharon Van Etten for years, having been neighbors in New York. They would hang out and test songs on one another, eventually contributing to Van Etten’s 2010 album Epic.

“She’s so supportive and her energy is always welcome,” says Larrabee, “and she just happened to be in town when we were recording.”

“Their voices sound so good together,” LaPlant says, “it would have been a shame to make a new record and not have her sing with Jess.”

“Owl” is one of two tracks that Van Etten contributed vocals to and I couldn’t help but be reminded a bit of 90’s groups Mazzy Star and Morphine while listening to this song. The saxophone really punctuates the tune and adds a gorgeous blues-driven depth to it. “Adam Schatz played sax on this song,” says LaPlant. “He came in and played for, like, two hours then just took off.”

Larrabee was inspired to write “Owl” by books she had been reading that really empower one’s soul. “There’s so much suffering and pain that happens to be everywhere right now,” explains Larrabee, “that when it comes to desires, the truest pulls in your life aren’t true to the person that you want to be and if you get everything that you want, is it self-sustaining or is it just a classic mimic of what you really desire in your life?”

She Keeps Bees will be performing at Kung Fu Necktie on September 26th and fans can expect an epic, memorable time. “We’re so excited to get the new songs out there,” says Larrabee, “and we have a new member that we’re taking with us [Adam Eisler] who’s adding textures to the songs.” Eisler will be with the band for the length of the tour “unless we leave him at a truck stop somewhere,” LaPlant jokes.

With a trek to Europe in November, a few more music videos and possibly some new songs on the horizon, She Keeps Bees is keeping busy. I highly recommend you check this fabulous group out because as Henry David Thoreau once said, “the keeping of bees is like the direction of sun beams.”

There’s something about seeing a band on the first night of their tour. The tanks are full and the energy is high. Dead Stars, a shaggy-haired guitar-pop trio out of Brooklyn, brought their best Sunday night at Kung Fu Necktie as they kicked off a series of dates in support of their recently released full length, Slumber (Old Flame Records).

Led on guitar and vocals by Jeff Moore, Dead Stars plays shiny, fuzzy rock that has drawn comparisons to the 90s alternative bands Moore grew up with. With cousin Jaye Moore on drums and John Watterberg on bass, the band has grown steadily more confident in its sound through a couple EPs and appearances at festivals like SXSW.

Dead Stars (photo credit, Adam McGrath)

As the opening slot on what turned out to be a very eclectic bill, Dead Stars made the smart decision to play their fastest, loudest songs at full tilt, blowing through a seven-song, 25-minute set with pace and precision. Just as the new album starts, kick-ass opener “Someone Else” set the hook, followed quickly by seasonal jam “Summer Bummer” (official video featuring Muppet-like characters on the beach here).

Interspersing “Waste Away” and “Fractured” from the 2013 High Gain EP, Dead Stars kept the pedal down, with Moore’s high-end open chords soaring above the driving snap of the backstop. Calm and clear behind the mic, Jeff then thrashed around the stage during his solos, crashing into the wall and wrenching feedback from his amp. The set wrapped up with the excellent “Crawl” followed by “Wasted”, and that was that—a tight, highly enjoyable performance from a band that has the vision and the talent to make a big run at this rock ‘n’ roll thing.

Danse de Sade (photo credit, Adam McGrath)

As alluded to, the rest of the bill was a stark departure from the indie rock of Dead Stars. New York’s Danse de Sade was a full-blown performance piece of sex-fueled goth punk. Complete with feather hat, leather chaps, and black mask, vocalist Le Comte growled dark imagery through a prominent lower-lip bar. The show extended beyond the stage, with a supplicant propping up a large-horned goat head and a fire-eating burlesque dancer wowing the crowd. On top of it all, the six-person band was really pretty tight musically, and the whole package came off well due to the absolute commitment by this gang of devil’s handmaids.

Tibbie X of Gash (photo credit, Adam McGrath)

The lone Philadelphia band, Gash, kept things dark for its set, but with a more traditional hardcore/punk approach. The highlight of the performance was undoubtedly the diminutive lead singer Tibbie X, who launched her small frame into the spotlight at the front of the stage and belted out lyrics from all types of contorted positions. For me, the guitar sound was too harsh, the treble-heavy distortion made worse by some evident tuning issues. Still, a fun, fast ride.

Sharkmuffin (photo credit, Adam McGrath)

Things swung back in the other direction for the final act of the night with Sharkmuffin, Dead Stars’ touring buddies and Brooklyn neighbors. The all-female trio did not back down from the high-energy performances that came before them, and commanded the stage with ferocity. Guitarist and vocalist Tarra Thiessen served as the focal point of the group’s noise-punk sound, hurling her tall frame into a variety of postures as she shredded her guitar with abandon. While it’s clear Sharkmuffin is drawing from a rich tradition of unapologetic women rockers, to me their music is a little too abstract, with songs never fully becoming, well, songs. Each time a track came to abrupt end or a riff trailed off into nothing, I couldn’t help but pine for something more melodic. Nevertheless, the passion is there, and what they do they do well.

All in all, it was a fun, diverse show, and these bands are all worth a follow.

Broods (photo credit, Stephen Tilley)

Auckland-based brother-sister duo Georgia and Caleb Nott, known in the alt-indie world as Broods, are making some major headway in their very young age (as a band and as individuals.)  With a newly released self-titled EP, a New Zealand chart-topping single and a US tour under their belt, these siblings are swiftly catapulting themselves into the limelight, leaving indelible impressions on Oceania and American audiences alike.

It can be a bit jolting to learn that thousands upon thousands of people as far as the other side of the globe are listening to a song that you wrote.  This phenomenon can serve as a pretty stark wake up call indicating that this listenership marks only the beginning of great things to come.  Georgia, one half of the sibling partnership of Broods, can attest to that.  

“It’s amazing that people are listening to [“Bridges”] on the other side of the world.  When you’re writing in your room, you don’t really register that that could be the situation later on.  It’s so weird, but it’s amazing,” she says.  

Like most bands, the formation of Broods came about fairly organically.  Georgia and Caleb did not plan their eventual collaboration and steady rise to stardom, but their duel endeavor came to be rather naturally, as the two come from a musical family and grew up surrounded by music.  “We gravitated toward making music together because we were in the same household. So it started when we were both young, and just kept going until it formed this [band,]” Georgia says.

The name of the band is a double entendre, signifying the kinship of the two musicians as well as the overarching somberness and introspection in their music, mainly lyrically, but a bit instrumentally despite the uptempo backbone to most of their songs. Broods’ self-titled six-song EP, which houses the hit song “Bridges”, was received with open arms both in New Zealand and the US.  This mini record showcases a solid stand up debut effort, boasting tracks built on synthesized beats, pop-driven melodies and poetic, story-based lyrics.  

For a frame of reference in genre, hints of influence from Florence and the Machine, London Grammar, or on a smaller but no less important scale, the electro-pop band Haerts can be heard in Georgia and Caleb’s music.  However,  the duo has been cultivating a style of their own.  Most every aspect of being a band- writing, producing and performing as well as touring- has been a kind of experimentation for Georgia and Caleb, in which they continually learn something new about themselves and each other.  

“I’ve always been a lyrics and melodies person, and I care about what I’m saying how I’m saying it.  Caleb’s more about production and how he’s represented in song form.  But as we’re going on, we’re changing it up a bit.  We’re still experimenting and challenging ourselves,” Georgia says.

Not only has Broods dulled out a debut EP and a music video in the last few months, but they have also embarked on their first US tour.  Playing in front of American crowds was a new, exhilarating experience.  

“It was crazy awesome- we were blown away by all these places that we haven’t been before.  American crowds can get very excited,” Georgia says.  “When we played the show in LA it was such a good welcome into the country.”

The two kindred artists, so to speak, had the pleasure of touring with another brood-of-a-band perhaps well known to those with their ear to the under-the-radar rock circuit- HAIM.  Caleb and Georgia had a blast touring with the LA-based trio of sisters as they swapped stories of sibling solidarity while spending endless hours together touring and making music.   

“Every time you play a show with somebody else you get to learn from their performances and see how they capture a crowd.  We definitely learned a lot from them,” Georgia says. Both bands also bonded over the challenges of touring for extended periods of time and constantly being around each other.  

“It was good to see that [HAIM] was still like that after such a long time of touring together. That’s what Caleb and I aim for- to be close and supportive of each other, even if we’ve been staring at each other for 24 hours on a bus…”

Another semi startling phenomenon that Georgia and Caleb have encountered in their path toward musical fame is making a music video.  They have a beautiful video for “Bridges”, and it seems like more will be in the works.  “It’s pretty crazy to see who has access to our song.  It’s like a little movie with our song in the background.  It’s strange, it makes the next level seem real- we have a music video!”

But with their glowing reception, upcoming record and steady batch of performances in their native country and beyond, the New Zealander brother and sister have still managed to stay true to their music and to themselves.  “It hasn’t gotten to a point where it feels unnatural. We’ve stayed ourselves, but we still get to live our dream, basically.”

Catch the duo on Saturday night at Kung Fu Necktie in Philadelphia