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[Above: Cheeseburger]
This year, Paste and friends are helping out CMJ's hardworking, college-beloved musicians with the inaugural Artist Lounge, featuring a bit of swag and lots of bands each and every night of the festival. If you missed last night's opening ceremonies, Paste:Local NYC's Courtney and Sean are here to catch you up on Monday night's performances by Gringo Star, Wild Light, Cheeseburger and Vivian Girls.
[Above: Gringo Star]
Gringo Star
Courtney:..had not arrived at the venue yet. Lame.
Sean: I
had absolutely no problem with these Atlanta natives' jangly brit pop.
If their silver-toned Rickenbackers and the bastardized name didn't give
you a clue, these guys are all about channeling the fab four via an
indie layover. Kudos for the instrumental musical chairs-- multi-talented musicians are never a bad thing. Unless you're the next
band.
Courtney: Wild
Light supplied inoffensive pop rock, heavy on the guitar and nonsense
syllables. Bonus points for versatility, though: The lead
singer/guitarist jumped to keyboards while the keyboardist took over
the bass for the final song.
Sean: I
honestly don't remember much about these guys at all. They were like
that band that you knew in high school who had a member that was a
cousin of your best friend, and the group's major accomplishment was
opening for another band that had a member who was related to another
kid you knew, except he was probably a few years older than you. And
then you went home and listened to Staind. Am I digressing?
Courtney: Judging
by his looks, if Cheeseburger lead singer Joe Bradley wasn't fronting a
band, he'd be driving a semi. Still, the beer-swigging (and
beer-gutted) frontman and his crew of aging, loud rockers were plenty
entertaining, if not particularly, well, good. They also led to the highlight of my night—the moment a security guard pulled me aside to
say, "I would've paid him money to pull his pants up." Me too, buddy.
Sean: We
can all thank Cheeseburger for inciting two audience members into
drunken shenanigans, promptly forcing security to kick out at least 5%
of the audience. Lead singer Joe Bradley's gut was almost as
entertaining as his antisocial antics- the man spit beer at the front
row like an intoxicated cherub. It was about as good a show as can be
had without actually enjoying the music.
Courtney: A
blonde, a brunette and a redhead walk into a—oh nevermind. Jokes
aside, the night belonged to the Brooklyn-based, all-female Vivian
Girls. Even if their vocals were a bit lost in the mix, their
unrelenting, catchy tunes and nimble strumming lived up to our
expectations. Plus, they pulled out the November issue of Paste on stage for some between-song banter advice.
Sean: I
liked the Vivian Girls quite a bit. Unkempt, tussled guitar chords
spiked around lo-fi vocals is a fantastic recipe for authentic punk.
The singing felt a bit tune/toneless in its execution, but without it,
I don't know if they would still hold the same adorably uninhibited
novelty. I also have appreciation for anyone inspired by Henry Darger
and/or Sufjan Stevens.
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I'm at CMJ and am diggin everything about it this year. I'm running out of money cuz i bought a ton of the CMJ merch, but whatever. the marathon is awesome this year!