Bowery Boston presents
Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm
This event is 18 and over. Patrons under 18 admitted if accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Please note, backpacks are not permitted.
Tickets on sale Fri. 1/26 at 10AM!
Tickets available at AXS.COM, or by phone at 855-482-2090. No service charge on tickets purchased in person at The Sinclair Box Office Wednesdays-Saturdays 12-7PM. Please note: box office is cash only.
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Minus the Bear
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Over the course of their 15-year career, Minus the Bear have carved out their own unique musical world. This isn’t to say they’re impervious to outside influence. They’ve borrowed components from a wide swath of genres—the brainy clangor of New York’s proto-punk scene, the cerebral buzz of IDM, the poptimist evaluation of hip-hop and R&B, and the grandiose visions of prog rock—but always managed to defy classification. Throughout the first decade of their existence, every new album offered a new musical approach, as seen in the idiosyncratic fretboard gymnastics of Highly Refined Pirates, the glitchy loops of Menos el Oso, or the modernized Fripp-inspired wizardry of Planet of Ice. By the time the band entered our current decade, their knack for reinvention yielded to an emphasis on refinement. Albums like OMNI and Infinity Overhead searched for a middle ground where their myriad of stylistic approaches could all work within the context of a single record.
On their sixth album VOIDS, Minus the Bear started with a blank slate, and inadvertently found themselves applying the same starting-from-scratch strategies that fueled their initial creative process. “There was a lot of change and uncertainty,” says guitarist David Knudson. “I think the general vibe of emptiness, replacement, lacking, and longing to fill in the gaps was very present in everyones’ minds.” Change was everywhere. Keyboardist/vocalist Alex Rose took on a more prominent role in composition and handled lead vocal duties on songs like “Call the Cops,” “Tame Beasts,” and “Robotic Heart,” drummer Kiefer Matthias joined the fold, producer Sam Bell lent a fresh set of ears in the studio, and the band returned to their original label home at Suicide Squeeze Records. Minus the Bear were no longer swept along by the momentum that had driven them for the last fifteen years. Instead, they reached a point where they could recalibrate and redefine who they were as a musical entity. The resulting album VOIDS retains many of the band’s signature qualities—the hedonistic tales of nighttime escapism and candid vignettes of adulthood, the savvy up-tempo beats, the layered and nuanced instrumentation—while simultaneously reminding us of the musical wanderlust that initially put them on the map.
Album opener “Last Kiss” immediately establishes the band’s renewed fervor. An appropriately dizzying guitar line plunges into a propulsive groove before the chorus unfolds into a multi-tiered pop chorus. From there the album flows into “Give & Take”, a tightly wound exercise in syncopation that recalls the celebratory pulse of early Bear classics like “Fine + 2 Pts” while exploring new textures and timbres. “Invisible” is arguably the catchiest song of the band’s career, with Jake Snider’s vocal melodies and Knudson’s imaginative guitar work battling for the strongest hooks. “What About the Boat?” reminds us of the “math-rock” tag that followed the band in their early years, with understated instrumentation disguising an odd-time beat. “Erase,” recalls the merging of forlorn indie pop and electronica that the band dabbled with on their early EPs, but demonstrates the Bear’s ongoing melodic sophistication and tonal exploration. By the time the band reaches album closer “Lighthouse,” they’ve traversed so much sonic territory that the only appropriate tactic left at their disposal is a climactic crescendo, driven at its peak by Cory Murchy’s thunderous bass. Not since Planet of Ice’s “Lotus” has the Bear achieved such an epic finale. All in all, it’s an album that reminds us of everything that made us fall in love with Minus the Bear in the first place, and a big part of that appeal is the sense that the band is heading into uncharted territories.
Suicide Squeeze Records is proud to release VOIDS to the world on March 3, 2017 on CD, LP, and cassette. Nick Steinhardt designed the artwork and layout for all formats. The first pressing of the album is available on 5,000 copies of splatter colored vinyl and 5,000 copies of 180 gram black vinyl. The LP jacket features PMS inks, a die-cut cover with a printed inner sleeve and contains a download code. The cassette version is limited to 500 copies and includes a download code as well.
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The Coathangers
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An all-female garage punk band with an irreverent, fun-loving attitude, the Coathangers play purposefully simple, hooky tunes that borrow from vintage girl group sounds and contemporary teen pop acts as much as the old-school punk and new wave outfits that inform their sound. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, the Coathangers were formed in 2006 by guitarist and singer Julia Kugel (aka Crook Kid Coathanger), bassist and singer Meredith Franco (aka Minnie Coathanger), keyboardist and singer Candice Jones (aka Bebe Coathanger), and drummer and singer Stephanie Luke (aka Rusty Coathanger) — Kugel and Franco were working together in a dress shop that specialized in wedding gowns and prom dresses; Jones and Luke were earning their living as bartenders. While they could barely play their instruments, they were eager to take the stage, and after playing their first show at a house party, the Coathangers soon made their proper stage debut opening for the Hiss, and their sense of fun soon won over hometown audiences.
They also became friends with fellow Atlanta band the Black Lips, who gave the Coathangers opening slots that helped them gain an even larger audience. In 2007, infamous Atlanta punk label Die Slaughterhaus Records teamed up with New York’s Rob’s House Records to issue the band’s self-titled debut album, and the Coathangers were playing out as often as their schedules would permit, frequently gigging throughout Georgia and venturing out on short tours. Their second album, 2009’s Scramble, was released by Suicide Squeeze Records, and by the time they put out 2011’s Larceny & Old Lace, they were playing throughout the country and even toured Europe opening for the Thermals. In 2013, the Coathangers hit Europe again opening for …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, but by the end of the year, they were reduced to a trio when Candice Jones left the group. Undaunted, the Coathangers pressed on as a three-piece as they recorded album number four, Suck My Shirt, which was released in the spring of 2014. In 2016, the Coathangers returned with their fifth album, the well-received Nosebleed Weekend. The Parasite EP followed in the summer of 2017 on Suicide Squeeze Records. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi