I’d been anticipating this show for a while, so after work I got some Chinese food for dinner and took my time strolling downtown to Lit Lounge to check it out. Literally the heart and soul of pop-punk, this lineup was probably one of the heights of the NY punk social season. Despite advertising, the show didn’t start until about 9, which was fine and gave Matt P. and I plenty of time to start pouring liquid courage down our necks. Keep this in mind as it’s a prevalent theme throughout the night.

Downstairs, Short Attention begin to play. Composed of (from what I could tell) Mike Erg and one of the members of the Steinways, among others, Short Attention kicked the night off with a bang. I never really thought that an ode to cabbage could kick so much ass. Their short songs are just bursts of awesome and incredibly funny. The crowd at the front of the stage had already started hardcore singing along. If you get a chance, check them out.

Up next was The Measure (SA) from New Jersey. One of my new favorite bands right now, they played a great folk-tinged punk set, closing with the fantastic song “Union Pool”. They’re definitely a band to make the effort to check out, so be sure to look for an upcoming interview with them by Matt in Razorcake. Unrelated to the band, I also drank most of my beer for the evening during and immediately after their set. At least I think that’s when I did.

The next band up was The Unlovables, who are fast becoming one of my all-time bands. They’re sugary-sweet pop-punk goodness, and you haven’t really lived until you’ve sung along to “Today’s The Day (I Finally Kissed You)” with you head bopping and your feet tapping like mad. They have a new album, Heartsickle, coming out April 17th, though the last one Crush Boyfriend Heartbreak is also fantastic. Get your hands on both of them ASAP.

A sidenote here; Try and avoid dancing like crazy when you have a beer in your hand and are wearing a heavy coat and hooded sweatshirt because it’s still winter outside. You just end up a sweaty mess. I thought I knew better about properly dressing to avoid this, but I guess not. The warmer-than-usual New York night didn’t help much either. On we go.

About this time I went outside to grab a breath of fresh air. I think I discussed random things that seemed terribly important, but in hindsight were probably just funny nonsense, with Mitch Clem. Mitch is best known for his webcomics Nothing Nice To Say and San Antonio Rock City, and had also designed the flyer for this show and had something to do with putting it together, I believe. Funny guy, very funny.

The Steinways, another awesome pop-punk band were up next, who continued to keep a crowd who was, by now drunk and sweaty, still dancing like crazy. Their album Missed The Boat features artwork by the illustrious Mr. Clem. It’s a hamburger Viking on a cliff. Anyway, The Steinways, like every band that night so far, rocked the house. Along with The Unlovables, they make me incredibly proud to be from Queens.

By this time, the basement/stage area of Lit Lounge is packed to the gills. Even though it’s a Wednesday night in a town that to many, seems to have abandoned good old-fashioned punk rock for bad metal-influenced hardcore and hip indie rock, you wouldn’t know it at that moment when the drummer for The Measure was crowd-surfing and trying to hang like a sloth from an overhead pipe.

The Ergs. Holy shit. I don’t really know what to say. First off, having already played in two bands that night as well as singing along to others up front, Mike Erg is fucking champ. He gave one hundred and four percent right there, give or take a few fractions of a percentage here and there. Suffice to say, the kind of chaos where everyone’s best friends and hugging, the best kind of chaos you can only find at a punk rock show, eventually took over. “Magical” isn’t quite the right word. “Awesomest to the extreme” is more apt, albeit grammatically incorrect. Their new album Upstairs/Downstairs comes out on May 1st, so get ready for that.

Oh yeah, and I had somehow managed to step on a giant sliver of beer bottle that had embedded into my shoe (which I thankfully pried out of my sneaker at the end of the show), and was still drunk when I woke up the next morning, having taken almost 2 hours to get back to Queens.

It was totally worth it.

Here are a few pictures;

Tags: Short Attention, The Ergs, The Measure [Sa], The Steinways, The Unlovables, show review //