[ATTENDED: August 26, 2017] Sheer Mag
A few months ago I had tickets to see Sheer Mag at the Unitarian Church. I bought the tickets to see the band Marge who was opening–I had only seen one song of theirs in an earlier show and wanted to see more. Well, I wound up not going to that show. Since then I’ve come to appreciate Sheer Mag a lot more.
So when I saw they were having a record release party at Union Transfer, I thought it was time to fix my missed opportunity.
My college aged self would have loved that I had gone to 3 album release parties in one season. And my current self thinks it’s pretty cool, too. But honestly there’s not much going on at these “parties.” For this one, Sheer Mag didn’t even have CDs of the new record (vinyl only). But I did get a cool poster, so that’s okay.
So while the “party” part of the night was a bit of a let down, the show certainly wasn’t.
Sheer Mag are unsigned (which I didn’t realize) but have huge buzz around them. They self released their new album (technically a debut since their previous release combined their three EPs). They play a terrific swagger-filled hard rock (comparisons to many riff rock bands of the 70s abound). And they are fronted by bad-ass singer Tina Halladay whose gritty voice sounds quite a bit like some of high-pitched male singers of the era.
The difference is that Halladay is brash and (many of) their songs are political and overtly feminist.
They played 8 (of 12) songs from the new album and five songs from their EPs (2 from I and III and 1 from II).
There’s nothing terribly flashy about the band (even their banner was hand drawn)–except that they had three guitarists and a bassist on stage (a nice mirror effect).
Then there’s Halladay. She isn’t flashy either, but she has incredible presence and all eyes were on her as we listened, rocked out and wondered what she’d say next (or if she’d smile–I think she did once). I’m not sure if that’s her natural stage demeanor or if she was angry (the reason for that is below), but I wasn’t really sure if she enjoyed herself (we enjoyed her regardless). I did see her in the crowd during Haram, so it was cool that she was rocking out with everyone else).
I was in front of brothers Hart and Kyle Seely (on bass and lead guitar). And that was where the excitement was (except for Halladay of course). Lead guitarist Kyle plays some great riffs and his hands are all over the guitar. He plays his riffs and solos with ease. Bassist Hart isn’t too flashy although occasionally he gets some good bass lines and even a funky moment or two.
The other side of the stage had the third guitarist (whose name I never heard) and main lyricist and guitarist/keyboardist/tambourinist Matt Palmer. Behind them all was drummer Ian Dykstra.
They played a new song, two older songs, and then, 
after “Expect the Bayonet” (a really catchy song about protesting the Trump inauguration “I been reading the news and you’ll surely regret/If you don’t give us the ballot/Expect the bayonet.”), she read a statement about the people who were arrested at the J20 protest (and face up to 75 years in prison for speaking their minds). The show had a table about that, about the Philadelphia Socialists and for Princeton University’s (WPRB) radio station (which sponsored the show).
Some of their songs are simply rockers “Just Can’t Get Enough,” “Pure Desire.” But there are also some really powerful songs like “(Say Goodbye to) Sophie Scholl” a really catchy sing along which I never would have guessed was about the anti-Nazi political activist who was executed by guillotine in WWII Germany.
The crowd didn’t seem to mind what the songs were about as there was slam dancing galore. I was lucky enough to be just out of the line of fire. Although when the singer from Haram (who I noticed was standing right next to me) was shoved a bit he took no crap from anyone.
There wasn’t a lot in the way of backing vocals (you might expect them given the band’s sound). It wasn’t until very late in the show that the microphone stand that was hanging out in front of the Seelys came into use as the sang the rough chant of “Turn It Up” (on “Turn It Up”).
Tina thanked all of the opening bands for coming out, singling out Haram for praise. But she was also really angry that some bozo shouted “Speak English” at them while they were playing their set (sung in Arabic and singer Nader spoke entirely in Arabic). She was really mad and said that if anyone show any kind of discrimination or racism at my show you are not welcome.
Their set was quite short–only about 45 minutes by the time left for the encore.
They came back and played two more songs, one was new and then they ended with their first single, “What You Want.”
They played for about an hour and were done by midnight. Again, I wasn’t sure if there would be anything “special” about tonight’s set–I gather not. I wasn’t sure how much they would play (they have only released about 80 minutes worth of music).
But that was four bands in 3 and a half hours. A night packed with music and really great songs.
Sheer Mag really impressed me–I’ve had several of their songs in my head even days later–an I haven’t even gotten the CD yet.
SETLIST
Meet Me in the Street [Need]
Fan the Flames [II]
Hard Lovin’ [I]
Expect the Bayonet [Need]
Pure Desire [Need]
Button Up [Need]
Just Can’t Get Enough [Need]
(Say Goodbye to) Sophie Scholl [Need]
Nobody’s Baby [III]
Turn It Up [Need]
Can’t Stop Fighting [III]
encore
Need to Feel You Love [Need]
What You Want [I]
Hello everyone