The Bowery Presents

The Mercury Lounge upcoming shows

Bryan Scary & the Shredding Tears
10:00

Jersey Band
9:00
Gemma Ray
8:00

Venue:
The Mercury Lounge
Date:
Mon 1/04
Notes:
21+
Doors: 7:00 PM / Show: 7:00 PM
$10
Tickets
Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears
official website
myspace
Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears like things big. While they are, first and foremost, a pop band, the Brooklyn-based quintet leaves no stone unturned, mixing elements of psychedelia, classic rock, indie, and prog into their sonic stew. The group has earned glowing comparisons to legendary icons—The Beatles, The Kinks, The Move/ELO, Queen, XTC, Yes, and Frank Zappa, amongst others—as well as contemporary stars—including The Flaming Lips, Ben Folds, and Of Montreal—all within its first year of existence. Combining classic pop melodies, inventive chord structures, elaborate vocal harmonies, dazzling musicianship, and a quirky lyrical concoction of clever wordplay and outlandish third-person narratives, Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears are poised to claim their own spot in the rich lineage of pop music.
Jersey Band
official website
myspace
erseyband plays Lungcore - A new genre that infuses a horn-driven band with heavy metal values

What does a screaming hardcore metal vocalist have in common with a jazz trumpeter? For Jerseyband, they are one in the same. The band's unassuming trumpeter, Brent Madsen intermittently pulls the horn from his lips just long enough to let out his version of an ape on a rampage. One moment, Madsen screams, "Move my carrot!" and the next, your head is spinning because Jerseyband has already exchanged the gates of hell for a jaunt in Peewee's Playhouse. Backed by drums, electric guitar, and guitar synth, Jerseyband's horns (three saxophones and a trumpet) cut through meaty arrangements that shock their audiences into submission. Enthusiasts have compared their sound to Mr. Bungle, Zappa, and Meshuggah but one thing is clear; this band is best categorized under their own genre of horn driven metal called Lungcore.
Gemma Ray
myspace
"The Harmony Rocket" Gemma Sighs, clearly in love "is a life changing guitar." It's got the most amazing pickups. this very instrument was recently cradled, plucked and shaken by her before being dropped against an amp in a feedback finale at a Mojo sponsored show at London's Union Chapel Church. "It just sounds so great when you beat the fuck out of it." She breams. "But I know I cant because I've got other gigs to do. I have to be restrained."

On wondrous new album "Lights Out Zoltar!" Ray shows restraint by "squeezing all my ideas into a three minute pop song. Being honest a 10 minute indulgent wig out is my default position." The ideas include 50's pop, country, blues, 60's girl-group dramarama and latin/lounge exotica, all with a steely modern resolve making Essex raised Ray a true alternative to the wan psych-folk of today's lady-pop troupe.

A stroll in the National Gallery reveals her as a sharp dresser and a sharper thinker with minor OCD tendencies ("If I don't look at that painting once more, I'm disrespecting the painter"). Gemma Smith, as she was born, recalls her childhood fascination with dinosaurs and making robots out of magnets. "But then songs become a vehicle for your obsessions." Alienated in Essex, she found allies who turned demountables from haulage vehicles into a rehearsal space, wired upto a car mechanics workshop for power. "We practically lived in those rooms" she recalls. "That's where I discovered music, drugs (laughs), and learned how to play guitar backwards. It was all quite Sonic Youth and experimental. "She has a rocking P.J. Harvey band phase as Gemma Ray Ritual, selling handmade CD's at gigs before admitting she was solo by nature and 'vintage' was her true voice. "I love the restraint of '50's music. Even when it broke into Rock n Roll. It's still concise pop songs." she declares. "Different eras appeal to me, but when it gets to 1975 nothing much appeals to me in terms of style and sound."

"Lights Out Zoltar!" which followed 2008's official debut "The Leader", is named after the fortune teller in Victorian arcade machines. This is her "comic book villain statement against superstition. If I feel superstitious but science wins out on this album."

As it did in her own life when, in 2005, she fell ill with chronic fatigue syndrome. "I was only able to record "Zoltar!" with the help of hypnosis tapes." she explains, "which became a scientific aid to my brain, and gave me lots more energy when I needed it. I'd say I'm 80% better now. I had to find a way round it - I wasn't going to spend my whole life in my pyjamas."

- Martin Aston 07/09
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