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Participants in the previous year’s CMJ events, The Presidents Of The United States Of America, are indeed back in action. On the road in support of the self-produced “Love Everybody,” the Seattle-based trio wrapped up their U.S. tour with a stop at New York City’s Irving Plaza. Now featuring touring guitarist Andrew McKeag in the fold, vocalist/bassist Chris Ballew and drummer Jason Finn put on a live show that can best be described as “one of the best you’ll see all year.” Sure, the group does their hits and brings out the fan favorites, but the members seem to be able to read one another so well that spontaneous extended versions of songs – with built-in covers, audience chants, and otherwise witty banter – are to be expected and flawlessly executed. Even if The Presidents did begin as a novelty act, songs like “Lump” and “Mach 5” absolutely stand the test of time as pop-rock anthems. Besides, you will rarely find a band that is able to bring an entire concert crowd down onto its knees during a cover of “Shout” … Y&T is best known for “Summertime Girls,” but Dave Menketti and crew – featuring Phil Kennemore, Leonard Haze, and John Nymann from the classic lineup -- are still out there delivering the goods around the world. Beyond recent guitar-oriented solo releases from Meniketti, “Unearthed Volume 2” is the latest from the quartet, as featuring previously unreleased demos between 1974 and 1989. With Twisted Sister’s Mark “The Animal” Mendoza among the concertgoers, one must hope that it does not take another 10-plus years for the quartet to return to Long Island… A few nights later at
the same venue as Y&T, Farmingdale’s The
Crazy Donkey, Allister
came through town as the headliner of the annual Drive-Thru
Records Tour with Day
At The Fair, Houston
Calls, and a reunited Fenis
TX filling out the bill. In support
of the just-released “Before The Blackout,” Allister
played a set that mixed in “Blackout” tracks with
most of 2002’s “Last Stop Suburbia” -- one song
from 1999’s “Dead Ends And Girlfriends” was
also thrown in for good measure. Top-notch, radio-ready pop-punk
any way you look at it. An alternative approach to vocal instruction, “The Zen Of Screaming” is an entertaining and informative video from Melissa Cross. A teacher who has worked with Andrew W.K., Thursday, Slipknot, and Melissa Auf der Mar, Cross educates you in ways that your old choir teacher wouldn’t dare to. But as promised in the press release for this DVD/CD, there is “tour-bus humor” and “backstage commentary” to be found beyond said instruction… Hella may have a limited fanbase as a noise-oriented, Nintendo-inspired instrumental duo, but their new CD-EP/DVD release “Concentration Face/Homeboy” features an especially interesting documentary that’s nearly three hours in length. Chronicling a 2004 tour of Japan for the group – comprised of guitarist Zach Hill and drummer Spencer Seim -- performance footage is mixed in with narrator-free sight-seeing and visual-art collages. While not easy to watch in one sitting, I have never seen such an honest portrayal of an English-speaking band on the road in a non-English-speaking country. Although dizzying at times, you actually feel as if you’re up-front watching a show or walking down busy city streets, only without the jet-lag. If you have news to report
for the next edition of Moving In Stereo, press
releases © 2005 – Column used with permission from Darren Paltrowitz. All right reserved.
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