The Gripweeds at Arlene's Grocery - Rainbow Quartz Showcase - October 20, 2007

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I've always loved The Gripweeds. Driving psychedelic pop, great songs, a drummer (Kurt Reil) who sings and plays insane drums at the same time (think Keith Moon with a great voice!) You also have two incredible guitarists (Kristin Pinell and Rick Reil) and bassist Mike Kelly holds down the bottom. This is the kind of band that makes you proud to be from Jersey. Along with Bill Kelly's Black Hole of Rock'n'Roll, this is the finest thing to come out of the Garden State in a long time.

The Gripweeds don't seem to be playing around that much...so when I saw they were the headline act at the Rainbow Quartz show at Arlene's Grocery, I went to see them. As always, I am never disappointed. Maybe one of these days I'll even get a shot of bassist Mike Kelly...he always seems to be lurking in the shadows.

The Gripweeds are: Kurt Reil- vocals, drums; Rick Reil- vocals, guitar; Kristin Pinell- guitar, vocals; Michael Kelly- bass, vocals.

Three 4 Tens - Arlene's Grocery - Rainbow Quartz Showcase - October 20, 2007

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If you like real psychedelic garage rock, you are going to love Philadelphia's Three 4 Tens. Check out Three 4 Tens songs and videos on their MySpace page.

Three 4 Tens are:
Joe Tagg - Vox - Guitar, Jamie Mahon - Vox - Bass, Mike Ambs, Drums, Joe Candidi - Lap-guitar

The Capstan Shafts - Arlene's Grocery

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I ran down to Arlene's Grocery on Stanton Street because I wanted to meet my friend Jim Kiernan of Brooklyn's Windsor Terrors. Jim had invited me to the Rainbow Quartz showcase at the Delancey a couple of years ago...I've always been a fan of garage/psych/pop. I've been a photographer for many years, but that show was the first time in years I'd decided to photograph live bands (one of the benefits of the digital age...you can get instant feedback).

Anyway, I got there a little early...ended up talking to a guy in front of Arlene's...while we're talking, the bass player for a certain Brooklyn band walked by and informed me that his group was doing a special 9pm show down the block. Told him maybe I'd be able to get over for the show...then went back to talking to the guy I'd just met. So I ask him, who are you with? He tells me "the band playing here at 9pm"! Oops...sorry! Anyway, we got to talking more, turns out he is Andrew from Rural Electric. I get to hear that his band is backing up mystery man Dean Wells (aka The Capstan Shafts), it is technically their first live gig, and I'm sold! The fact that Rainbow Quartz put out the original 4 tracks impressed me...I knew I had to hear this. No guilt at missing the 9pm show of **********, they'll be around. You just don't get a chance to hear something like this everyday.

Anyway...I'm glad I stayed...it was incredible. I could tell it was the first time Dean and the band had actually played together live before...but it was perfect. Lots of 1-2 minute perfect punky pop songs...my first thought was that they sounded like a lo-fi version of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. I was able to get my hands on some mp3s from the show...and they've been in heavy rotation on my iPod for the last week. Some of the highlights were "Lauren Behold", Little Burst of Sunshine, Bluejean V. Debs (hey...Eugene V. Debs is actually on my "who have you always wanted to meet" list. Yeah, there were a few flubs...but that just added to the charm of it all.

You can listen to songs from The Capstan Shafts on MySpace.
The Capstan Shafts is Dean Edward Wells and is from Vermont.
Rural Electric are Andy and Alan and Andrew and come from the backwoods of Maine. Check them out too...some great songs on their MySpace page.