The Bowery Presents

The Mercury Lounge upcoming shows

CMJ (Late Show)

Team Robespierre
1:00
Screaming Females
12:00
Bear Hands
11:00
Mumford & Sons
10:00

All set times are actual times.
Venue:
The Mercury Lounge
Date:
Wed 10/21
Notes:
21+
Doors: 9:30 PM / Show: 9:30 PM
$12
Mumford & Sons
official website
myspace
Since they formed in December 2007, the members of Mumford & Sons have shared a common purpose: to make music that matters, without taking themselves too seriously. Four young men from West London in their early twenties, they have fire in their bellies, romance in their hearts, and rapture in their masterful, melancholy voices. They are staunch friends - Marcus Mumford, Country Winston, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane - who bring their music to us with the passion and pride of an old-fashioned, much-cherished, family business. They create a gutsy, old-time sound that marries the magic of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with the might of Kings Of Leon, and their incredible energy draws us in quickly to their circle of songs, to the warmth of their stories, and to their magical community of misty-eyed men.

The four friends were playing various instruments in various bands in London throughout the summer of 2007. They were united to perform impromptu renditions of Marcus' earliest attempts at song-writing in front of crowds of friends in sweaty underground folk nights in the capital. They bonded over their love of country, bluegrass and folk, and decided to make music that sounded loud, proud and live - taking music that could often be pretty and delicate, and fill it with enthusiasm, courage and confidence. 'It was a very exciting time, and though we loved it and were in awe of the music going on around us, we didn't consider ourselves contenders in the pretty daunting London music scene. There was never any idea of competition, just pure enjoyment', says Marcus. They loved live music so much that they would practise their sets on pavements outside the venues, and also act as backing musicians for the peers with whom they played.

This sense of playing music for the love of it has continued as the main theme through the band's short history. They booked their first rehearsals in the late autumn of 2007: 'As soon as we sat down together, just the four of us, we knew we had become a band cos what came out was unique to us four as individuals,' says Ben. Out of this session came their first band songs: Awake My Soul and White Blank Page, highlights on their debut album.

As soon as they had their first rough cluster of songs, they hit the road. Straightaway, they won the hearts of their audiences with their harmonies, the way they engaged with their instruments, their bandmates and their crowds - and chased the friendly live reception they got all over the country.

Word spread quickly. The band toured extensively throughout 2008; from a barge-tour of the Thames with eight other acts, through to an island-hopping tour of the Scottish highlands, and a triumphant set at Glastonbury in June, they sold out London's Luminaire in July, only half a year after they got together. Their first American tour followed in support of Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit. A trilogy of beautiful 10' EPs all on Chess Club Records also followed, recorded simply at home. Their eponymous EP debuted the same month as their Luminaire show; Love Your Ground followed in December; while The Cave And The Open Sea arrived in May.

With each release, the music of Mumford & Sons got brighter, bolder and brawnier, with an increasing focus on their empassioned and intimate lyrics. 'What we write about is real, and we sing and play our instruments more passionately cos we feel like we need to. We love honest music,' says Winston.

Their success continued to build, too, with two glorious benchmarks being their place on the BBC Sound Of 2009 Poll shortlist, and their London ICA show selling out in 24 hours.

Then came the time to record their debut album - and then came the extraordinary producer who wanted to work with them. Markus Dravs recorded Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, Bjrk's Homogenic and The Maccabees' Wall of Arms, and he saw similar crossover potential in the Sons. He took them to the legendary Eastcote Studios where Arctic Monkeys, Brian Eno, Tindersticks and Laura Marling have honed their music on its vintage equipment; made the band buy good instruments; set them a daily routine; and encouraged them to try and work even more instinctively, to strengthen their already-powerful musical personality. 'He wanted us just to sound like us', explains Ben. 'He talked about us working on our music's most jubilant and melancholic moments, and make them even more evocative. And over those four weeks, everything came together.'

The album begins with the extraordinary title track, Sigh No More, a statement of intent that references the romantic language of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, as they sing: 'Love it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you / It will set you free / Be more like the man you were made to be.' Amongst darkly reflective tracks such as Thistle & Weeds and ballads like White Blank Page, Winter Winds and Roll Away Your Stone, by contrast, show the band's sprightlier side, the rollicking banjo of the former conjuring up stormy weather that 'litters London with lonely hearts'; the latter a fabulous hoedown about a man unsuccessfully filling the hole in his soul.

As the album moves on, this fervour never dies. Little Lion Man - a track that Zane Lowe named the 'Hottest Record In The World Today' on a recent Radio 1 show - is a rampage about regret and unresolved heartbreak: 'Tremble, little lion man / You'll never settle any of your scores / Your grace is wasted in your face / Your boldness stands alone among the wreck'. And finally, after a wild lashing out in the murderous fable of Dust Bowl Dance, After The Storm arrives, the only track Mumford and Sons wrote in the studio, away from the live stage they knew so well. It stands an incredibly moving final track to an incredibly moving album - the story of a man scared of what's behind and what's before, and creates a considered conclusion to the band's epic debut album.

Mumford & Sons' live reputation goes before them, and now their incredible debut reveals the extent of their magic and majesty on record. Feel the fire in your belly and the romance in your heart as you listen, let your voice break into rapture - and you too sigh no more.
Bear Hands
official website
myspace
"Golden EPs tight four song set is a pitch-perfect pairing of post-punk and indie rock. The energetic guitars crunch with a touch of Ted Leo & the Pharmacists edge (particularly in upbeat opener "Long Lean Queen"), and Raus piercing vocals call up comparisons to another idiosyncratic ironist: Modest Mouses Isaac Brock. But far from being rote, Bear Hands adds complexity and rounds out the more straightforward rock with some melancholy minor chord unease...riveting, devil-may-care rock." -Spin.com (artist of the day)
Screaming Females
official website
myspace
The band—guitarist/singer Marissa Paternoster, drummer Jarrett Dougherty and bassist King Mike—live and breath their hometown of New Brunswick, NJ, and are possessed of the ethos, drive, and spirit that has made the punk greats great during a time when fewer and fewer artists have the gumption to operate as such. Since their 2006 inception, the band have self-released two full-lengths and one 7", contributed songs to two splits, and self-booked over 260 shows, scoring a mass of critical praise and accruing throngs of devotees along the way with both their recorded output and devastating live shows. As their legend grew to epic proportions, Screaming Females were approached by many labels and various industry crackerjacks. All were denied—until 2008, when the band signed to the one label that mirrored their values and championed their hometown, Don Giovanni Records. Now, with their third and most scorching full-length (aptly titled Power Move) in the bag, Screaming Females are poised more than ever to do what they do best, on their own terms, their way.

Power Move is Screaming Females at the top of their game—Paternoster, heralded already as the principal delegate for this era's "new generation of femme shredders", as renowned writer Jessica Hopper noted in the Chicago Reader, is at her bombastic best, firing off gritty, urgent solos and spitting radical magic into the mic that builds upon the oeuvre of those before her (Patti Smith, Corin Tucker, Iggy Pop) and will undoubtedly inform those after her. The rhythm of it all, the rooty grooves and dub notes and post-dance beats laid down by Dougherty and Mike, are iron-strong roller coaster tracks upon which the train careens forwards. A further Hopper assertion: "I don't think anything like her has happened to punk before, and I'm glad it finally has"—the band happens to you; you can't un-hear them, their is no going back to your pre-Screaming Females self.
Team Robespierre
official website
myspace
These five guys are the perfect band to ask to play when you want to turn your broken-down loft or vacant parking lot into an instant party space. Just have them plug in their guitar, bass and keys and watch them go for it. Fun noise will be made, with all members dishing out vocal jabs. Team Robespierre utilizes a whole mess of both machine and man-made beats, and you can certainly dance to their thumps. Just don't confuse this with dance-punk. This is more like punk-dance. You will have a good time at this show. --OH MY ROCKNESS
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