The last Dear Tonight show has come and gone, and a phenomenal hardcore band is no more. Dear Tonight, formed in 2001, broke up this past Saturday after an incredible show at Brooklyn’s Lost & Found bar, surrounded by friends, fans, and great bands. Sets by Attica Attica, In First Person, LNWF favorites The New Dress, and Scream Hello led up to shit totally blowing up when DT took the floor in their usual cacophony of hardcore deliciousness.  I’m sad that DT decided to break up but it was a privilege to have known this band, been around when they were, and to have been there that night.

Click below for a few more pictures.

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Tags: Attica Attica, Dear Tonight, In First Person, Scream Hello, The New Dress, photos, show review by Costa
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The New Dress recently stopped by Issue Oriented headquarters in Jersey City for an interview and to perform a few songs. Check out a video of the duo performing “Where Our Failures Are” below. You can check out the rest of the episode later this month but for now, check out some episodes on our sidebar or at Issue Oriented dot com

Tags: Issue Oriented, The New Dress, video by Matthew
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Red Leader took over the Bowery Poetry Club this past Saturday, putting on one of the best showcases of the week with sets by Fire When Ready, The New Dress, Scream Hello, Dear Tonight, Nakatomi Plaza and the mighty Polar Bear Club.

We got there just in time for The New Dress. As I looked around the room, I saw nothing but smiles in the crowd. There’s no secret about this but we love this band. We think everyone should love this band. It was cool to see them at this show surrounded by all their friends. I was also pleasantly surprised by Scream Hello. It kinda reminded me of a more aggressive Piebald. The dudes seemed really stoked to be there and we’re bouncing around stage like a couple of monkeys (the punk variety atleast).  Dear Tonight were super tight as well and did a freaking fantastic job filling up their short set with some aggressive but thoughtful hardcore. Hey, if Vice is catching up on these guys now, I think it’ll be a matter of time before the rest of the crowds do.

As Polar Bear Club began to play fans bum rushed the front of the stage singing and finger pointing to all the words.  The band’s live show has some fucking awesome power to it.  The band tore through favorites from The Redder The Better EP, one track off their demo, and 2 new ones off their forthcoming release Sometimes Things Just Disappear which is going to be released in the near future.

Check out more pictures after the jump.
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Tags: Dear Tonight, Red Leader, Review, The New Dress, photos, polar bear club, show review, shows by bill
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Red Leader will be taking place in the week long CMJ Music Marathon in NYC with a showcase at the Bowery Poetry Club on on October 20th.  The Fat Wreck Chords showcase is also that night at the Hook with The Lawrence Arms and Flatliners scheduled to perform…but does anyone really want to go all the way out there?

Red Leader Showcase Lineup
6:00pm Fire When Ready
6:40pm The New Dress
7:30pm Scream Hello
8:00pm Dear Tonight
8:40pm Nakatomi Plaza
9:20pm Polar Bear Club

Tags: Dear Tonight, Lawrence Arms, Red Leader, The New Dress, polar bear club by bill
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Where Our Failures Are, the first full-length from Brooklyn’s The New Dress and out now on Red Leader Records, is just great. It’s hard to really find any other way to describe it except “great”. They’re one of my favorite bands and the CD, which includes the five songs from the original demo, gets your toes tapping and your fists up in the air.

With a slightly beefier production than the demo, Where Our Failures Are doesn’t do anything to take away from the rawness of the single guitar, and the twin vocals of Bill and Laura, which is where their real strength comes from. The New Dress mix punk, folk, and just a dash of working-class heroism from the opening notes of “Setting Off Alarms” (one of my absolute favorites of theirs) to their Billy Bragg cover of “I Don’t Need…” to the closing notes of “Two Sweatshirts.” This is just the thing you need playing on the stereo when you’ve got a bottle of whiskey to kill and a couple of friends to help you do it.

It’s from the heart, and what’s not to love about that?

Tags: Album Review, The New Dress by Costa
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