S.H.S. Show Review - Stormshadow Reunion

There was a special night just for us old heads at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick last night...
As previously posted, as soon as I heard that Don Giovanni reissued Stormshadow's record, I knew a hometown reunion had to be coming up soon.

I saw a lot of familiar faces, such as Tom from The Assistant and Capacities, and Jay from the Insults.... plus a number of other people I just couldn't place exactly. Most likely all were Rutgers students in the 98-01 time period like myself. These were the days before 'Ask a Punk,' which refers to basement show locations not being shown on flyers, due to police crackdowns in the mid to late 2000's. I really don't have the 'social butterfly' type of personality, so I basically just soaked it all in.

The Court Tavern had closed for about a year and had recently reopened with a new owner, Mike Barood, in February. Although I was very pleased to hear this mainstay of local music venues was not lost, I was apprehensive about what might be changed. Those fears vanished as soon as I stepped inside. For the most part, the original vibe has remained. The jukebox and games are still there. There have been some aesthetic upgrades, but other than the backdrop in the basement - other stickers, paintings (the one on the side particularly) and graffiti were intact. This is important - if the 'dive bar-esque' appearance is shed for a faux swank, we would surely have local bands shying away from there. That mean old ticket guy is gone, but hey, good riddance!

Here's a familiar street...

I missed Luckless, the opening band unfortunately... but I arrived just in time for Plastic Cross. Plastic Cross is a newer band with ex-members of classic hub city hardcore acts Kamikaze, Fanshen, The Degenerics, The Scarlet Letter, and The Measure [SA]. I was a little worried that their set might be a little tame, due to the polished production on their record. Fortunately this was not the case! They were raw and very much engaging with the crowd. 

The Scarlet letter actually played next as the guitar player remained on stage. They are such a unique band... playing mosh parts, pure punk, and almost poppy hooks at times. It's like a roadmap for all the sounds on our radar back in late 90's New Jersey. 

I saw Brick Mower once a few years ago, also at The Court Tavern, and I would say they improved quite a bit. Three EPs and two full lengths have been released since then, and the band has been touring with Black Wine. They play a type of punk rock that's intermingled with indie rock, similar to Dinosaur Jr or Superchunk. Very down to earth stuff though. 

Finally, Stormshadow took the stage, with the very raucous crowd egging them on. I heard someone call Sue 'the matron saint of punk,' which seems apt. They opened with Forty Ounces & The King Of Smoke, which I captured on my iPhone (battery was dead on the main camera!)

Stormshadow truly deserves all the praise they have recently received - we would not have many of their contemporaries, local bands or otherwise, without their legacy.You have to love their signature male/female vocal aspect over pop punk and hardcore. Throughout the night Sue showed us just how much fun we could have again, and also had plenty of moments to let us know how much she appreciated our support. Take a look at my other pictures below and be sure to catch the Match & The Moth as well, which has 4/5ths of Stormshadow as its membership.  

Check the bands out:

http://stormshadow666777.bandcamp.com/

http://plasticcross.bandcamp.com/

http://brickmower.blogspot.com/