Out on the road with the Fighting Jamesons.....

Our lead guitarist Geo Bauman.

We kicked off May with a pleasant return to McGrath's Pub in Dalton, Pennsylvania. We had a great time, as Dalton is a beautiful mountain town, and the owner Jimmy is a huge fan and highly hospitable towards the band; he and his staff treat us like kings, every time we visit his place is something to look forward  to. The next day we played nearby in Scranton, Pennsylvania for the Scranton Celtic Irish Festival as well. It was a great festival set inside, with a multiple stage layout; we were really stoked to be headlining it and hope to return to it again.

Niagara Falls, NY.

Following that, we did a make-up date at the Rapids Theater in Niagara Falls New York on May 18th, as our original date back in March got snowed out by the blizzard at the time. Rapids is truly a blast, its an incredible venue full of history, charm, and style. The building is massive, the sound in the room with its immaculate mural ceiling is incredible, and the owner and the staff are the greatest any band could hope to have the pleasure of working with. It used to be an opera house and still has a very neat intricate look to it on the inside. Also, as we found out on the ghost tour last time- apparently it's haunted and was once even featured on the  TV show Ghost Hunters. Luckily while we were there I also got to take a quick peak at the falls for the first time, definitely an impressive sight to see.

at 9 Irish Brothers Lafayette, Indiana.

Shortly after the Falls, we came back down for a street festival in Rockville, Maryland. The event had a great layout with several stages spread across the area with multiple blocks shut down, completed with numerous vendors lined up in between. Following that, were several dates playing for the independent 9 Irish Brothers chain again in Lafayette, Indiana. We were really excited for them to have us back again after having us last March, although the new location was delayed its grand opening, we played the other two locations for three days and had an excellent time. We're looking forward to whenever we do return and the new location when it is ready, but in the mean time we had a blast playing the other locations.

Next up in was Rehoboth Beach, Delaware at the Dog Fish Head Pub, where the beach crowd was definitely a fun bunch of people to play for, they were ready to dance around and have a great time; we gave a killer set and were glad to finally make it a stop along our route. It was particular interesting since it was a new stop for us, and we always love exposing our music to new audiences everywhere. The next day was Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey for their 42nd Annual Monmouth Irish Festival. It was located near the horse races, it was a nice family oriented event; with both traditional Irish acts and more fusion groups such as ourselves.

Last stop for the month of June was the Fairfield County Irish Festival, it was a wonderful large outdoor event, with 3 beautiful tent stage setups, food and beverage stands, topped off with a nice roster full of a variety of different acts-- both music and dancing groups. During the day we were lucky enough to have some down time to watch some of the other groups, pipe bands, and some dancing, before setting up on the main stage to have the honor of closing up the night as headliner. We'll be hitting the road again in July, and in the mean time are cooking up some ideas for some new original material. 

D.C. Hardcore film, "Punk the Capital" on Kickstarter + from my vinyl vault: Faith's, "Subject To Change + the First Demo"

DC punk/hardcore film: Punk the Capital

When I first heard that there was a film being made that will be tackling the history of punk/hardcore in Washington D.C., I  totally flipped out!!!! I'm a huge fan of punk & hardcore in general; specifically the D.C. scene and many of the groups on Dischord Records that were very involved and integral parts of it.

As a kid/teenager, I was incredibly inspired by this scene. I spent all weekend usually with a small group of friends jamming to early D.C. hardcore bands; we'd play covers of Government Issue's, "Bored To Death", "Asshole", and, "Hour of One",  the Faith's, "You're X'd!" and, "No Choice", the Teen Idles, "I Drink Milk", S.O.A.'s, "Draw A Blank"and, "Gonna' Have To Fight"-- the list goes on! At that particular time we were too young to drive to go to many shows ourselves, much less play anywhere at that point in time-- we just hung out all weekend, and took turns switching instruments; teaching each other any new covers we learned, printed out the lyrics and all took turns doing vocals for a couple covers each, etc. Even though we weren't a serious band at the time and didn't gig, it was such a great time, and also provided the insight necessary to develop in order to be in bands that went out and played later on.

Faith's, "Subject To Change plus first demo" LP.

So naturally, when I discovered that they were having a Kickstarter to help complete the project, I was super excited and ready to contribute. In my choice of contributing $40 to the completion of this film I not only get to go to a private screening at the Black Cat for it, but also later will receive it on a 2-disc DVD. Perhaps most importantly, in a neat small way-- I get to give something back towards the scene that was a huge inspiration to me and one of the principal reasons I decided to play music in the first place; by contributing, it helps ensure this music will be properly documented as it rightfully should be.

I've also been happily immersing myself in the reissues Dischord has put out of some older and previously never officially released material; most recently being Faith's, "Subject to Change plus first demo. I just ordered this about a week ago, and it just came today right in time for all the excitement and hype of this film, as members of Faith are some of the many people interviewed in the film, as revealed in a trailer that has been posted.

Back of, "Subject to Change".

On this particular re-release of, "Subject to Change" the original 8 tracks that consist of that album are all put on to side A. The only thing excluded is the ridiculously long and exhausting looping laugh that was at the end of the record. Instead, now side B contains all of the bands first demo, which after being remastered; sounds full of new life and perfectly captures the intensity of the group in their earlier stages as a band. For a demo, its surprisingly incredible quality; its just as great quality-wise and just as impressive as the other side of the record, despite being a demo.

What's really exciting about, "Subject to Change" was that for this particular album the group had expanded their line-up to now also having Eddie Janney on second guitar, which really added to the dynamics and brought a new sense of melody into their sound. The contrast of this stylistic change with the demo featuring just the single guitar of Michael Hampton on side A is interesting and shows the groups growth and change of direction, its still furious relentless hardcore, but the melodic undertones of the additional guitar did make a significant change compared to the average run-of-the-mill hardcore bands that unlike Faith don't stand the test of time.

Inner sleeve cover w/Eddie Janney

What sets aside the D.C. hardcore scene of that time and Faith was the incredible songs that these bands were writing. Musically these groups certainly had similarities being within the genre "constraints" (for lack of a better term) of hardcore; however, the spirit and energy of the D.C. hardcore scene of that time will probably never be matched or surpassed. These groups, and Faith in particular proved themselves a force to be reckoned with, by presenting unique song structures into hardcore along with a sense of melody (see the song, "Untitled" for example). The lyrics were also incredibly passionate, and thought provoking.

Back of inner sleeve w/lyrics.

You could pick up your finger and randomly point to any song on the lyric sheet and find an intelligence that is quite contrary to the stereotype often expected of hardcore. "Untitled", "In Control", and "No Choice" are all just a few shining examples. Behind a great hardcore band is a great frontman-- in this case Alec MacKaye. The guy not only penned the groups incredible lyrics, but his undeniably unique tone to his voice and remarkable stage presence (if you youtube some live footage, you will definitely see!) created a channel for the energy of this relentless hardcore sound to travel.

I'm extremely thrilled that I'll be attending a fundraiser at the Black Cat this Tuesday for Punk The Capital that will have a Q & A with the filmmakers Paul Bishow and James Schneider, and hope they succeed in documenting this incredible moment in punk music. For any of those as equally as excited for this film as I am, here is the Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1137256310/punk-the-capital-straight-from-washington-dc