[ATTENDED: December 5, 2017] Polyplastic
I was pretty excited to see Wolf Alice and I’d never been to Wonder Bar before.
It was a rainy, miserable night in Asbury Park. I found out that despite there being no one in the parking areas, they still charged for parking. So I drove a few blocks up and parked for free. But by the time I got myself situated, I was about ten minutes late for Polyplastic.
I didn’t know them at all, but I was pretty delighted with what I heard. They are a relatively new band from California. They don’t have a record out yet, but they do have stuff on soundcloud.
Wonder Bar proved to be pretty small, but with a good sound system and great sight lines. I found it vastly superior to The Stone Pony, but with far fewer bands that I’d want to see on the docket.
When I arrived, there was space near the front, so I got up close to the bassist, Emily Ibarra, and watched her great bass lines for a few songs. She sang some backing vocals as well. After a few songs, I moved to the other side closer to the lead guitarist/singer Charlie Ellis. Just as I moved he was fastening his guitar strap when the whole thing crashed to the ground. He was a good sport about it and we had a good laugh
The band formally consists of just the two members, but there were two other people on stage as well. Only Charlie and Emily wore the hand silk-screened pants that are somewhat officially connected to the band.
I was there for about five songs. Each was better than the previous. It was the penultimate song, which I don’t know the name of, that rally won me over. I loved the bass line in it. The final song was their new single, “Car Accident.” And then they were done.
I chatted with them briefly after their set and they have plans to have a formal release soon.
They were a great opening band and I hope they do well.
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