The past week consisted of free concerts, meet and greets, music panels with industry professionals, free food, beer, giveaways and most importantly, a chance to miss classes. It’s all thanks to the CMJ Music Marathon, dedicated to showcasing new artists. The festival, which takes place in NYC, hosted over 1,100 bands this year and used over 50 venues in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey.
As a representative of our college radio station,WUSB, and The Statesman, I was lucky enough to attend the festival for the first time, which was a dream of mine since I first heard about some of my favorite bands playing a couple years ago. The badge costs roughly $500 but with our student discount and other discounts, we were able to get down to a little below $300.
The festival ran from Tuesday Oct. 21 to Oct. 25. However, Monday was a special day for me and the fellow WUSB e-board because we were invited to a private party thrown by the Syndicate, one of our promoters who are responsible for the hundreds of CDs we receive each year. The party was thrown in Rebel, a club on west 30th street in Chelsea. The line to get in was extra-long, even though we were on the list. Not a worry, because famous faces like Matt from The Starting Line were waiting on the line with us.
After about a 30-minute wait we walked in and received free stuff at the front desk. By time we got in, though, the music already started. Some highlights – Rival Schools and And You Know Us by the Trail of the Dead (longest band name ever) – played. Truthfully I didn’t really watch most of their sets because I was too busy schmoozing with some industry folks, like my friend Christian McKnight, who is responsible for part of the Bamboozle festival each year, Pat from the Syndicate who ran around like a madman since it was his party, and several members of my favorite bands like the Sleeping, Armor for Sleep, and Midtown.
The party died down close 1:30 a.m., so I caught a 3 a.m. train back to Hicksville to attempt to get some rest so I could head back to Stony Brook early Tuesday afternoon.
Although I missed Tuesday’s opening bashes and performances, I came back in full force, and full rest, for Wednesday. I headed to NYU because they were the official sponsors and I needed to grab my badge so I could use the power to get into all the shows and bypass the lines. I took the F train downtown to meet some friends over at the Cake Shop. It was jam-packed and very sweaty. To any show attendee it was obvious the place was packed way overcapacity, but where is the fun if it was less crowded?
The crowd was diverse in ages – many were in their early 20’s while I did spot a select few that seemed to be in their 40’s. It was interesting to see the amount of people drinking beer at 5:30, which seems like an early time to be drinking, but that’s my opinion. I caught part of Marnie Stern’s set which featured a female lead singer with a backing band that had that raw punk/indie influence that I felt was going to be a common theme for the festival. As soon as the band ended, people rushed to the cold air to cool down from the heat.
Keri, WUSB’s Music Director, Christine, the Program Director, and I met our friend Pat from the Syndicate and his friend Bryan to head to an Indian restaurant. It was fun to watch all the other restaurants try to get you to come in and eat. However, our destination was already known. The place was super tiny and featured enough Christmas lights to fill at least 5 full trees, yet I feel I am still underestimating. The walls were lined with shiny wrapping paper; it was a festive place to say the least. Our waiter kept calling each of us his “best friend.” He even brought out a cake with a candle for a “crazy birthday” for Christine.
It wasn’t her birthday but we got free cake.
Soon after, Keri, Pat, and I headed to Crash Mansion to check out a band called Passenger I picked out randomly from the CMJ pamphlet they gave us. The band played for only a handful of people but made the show well worth it for those watching. They played fun pop songs accompanied by an acoustic guitar with a full electric band, which is my favorite type of music. The vocals were reminiscent of Augustana, another band I checked out earlier in the year. We only caught four songs so we left and walked down to the Bowery Poetry Club.
The poetry club was a much smaller venue that had a coffeehouse in the front and a stage in the back. Roughly 50 to 60 people were packed in the back area. Also a common theme, the show ran a little late so we actually caught a band called Pegasus XL, a band from Georgia that featured Jeff Rosenstock from ASOB and Bomb the Music Industry! fame. They were a fusion of genres – rock, synth, and punk. I like the term ‘dumb rock,’ though not politically correct, because of their stage antics. A lot of their set comprised of making fun of the crowd or themselves.
“Give it up to us for not preparing,” one of the members shouted. “We just literally put our band together.”
The band actually had much of We Versus the Shark, the band I came to see, playing instruments for their set. Because it was running late I had to miss the set by the band I really came to see. I wasn’t disappointed, though, because Pegasus XL was very entertaining with their profanities and stage antics.
Keri and I walked over to the Bowery Ballroom. Unfortunately there was a line to get in, even for those with CMJ badges. We waited in the cold for about 25 minutes until we were let in. Again, everything was running late. We watched a band called Love as Laughter which wasn’t too good. They sang out of key and weren’t too good at playing their instruments. “They are too old,” one audience member said. “They look like dads.”
We left and missed Wild Sweet Orange and ran over to the Canal Room for our final destination to check out friends of mine in As Tall as Lions. Again, the place was running late so we got a chance to check out a band called the Howlies. They were fun rock with punk and pop influence. They had a lot of “woos” in their songs that made you want to sing along. I was fortunate enough to see a lot of my friends since the band is from Long Island.
While I waited, I went to grab a beer, but it was too overpriced – even for New York. ATAL began their set over 25 minutes late. As a whole they seemed tired, mainly because they played a show only four hours earlier in Brooklyn. However, lead singer Dan Negro’s vocals penetrated the packed out room. The rhythm section, bass player Julio and drummer Cliff really kept the crowd moving. At approximately 1:20 a.m. they played a new poppy song that the crowd moved along to even though most seemed exhausted from the day. ATAL finished out their set with two encore songs, including their single “Love, Love, Love.” The entire floor shook for that one and people screamed the chorus (appropriately, “love, love, love…”) into my ear. I then went home in a car with some of my friends to get some rest for the next early day.
I will update my antics from Thursday-Friday tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Filed under: A&E Beat, oh fifty seven , A&E Beat, Anthony Dobrini, CMJ Festival, Music
