[DID NOT ATTEND: March 1, 2024] Well Wisher / Tetchy / Big Girl
I saw at a rather late hour that THICK was going to be playing Asbury Lanes. When I realized it was the same night as the SOMA show in Asbury Park, I wondered if I could do both.
And, logistically, yes I could. So I bought a ticket to the show and then wondered how many of the five bands playing tonight I would miss.
I calculated that I might see some of Well Wisher, which was cool because they were interesting (actually, all five bands were interesting). But as it turned out, the SOMA show went about 20 minutes later than I thought it would and I wound up walking in on the final chords that Well Wisher was playing before the got off the stage. I had to run to the bathroom, so I didn’t even see them. But at least I was there for all of the Teenage Halloween set.
Big Girl, is a theatrical indie rock band. They put me in mind of Sloppy Jane, but with a more angular guitar sound. Their blurb says
Big Girl a New York project conceived by vocalist and guitarist Kaitlin Pelkey, is a fierce and captivating 6-piece rock n’ roll band. Big Girl’s music is expansive and cathartic, combining indie-rock vulnerability with irreverent punk energy. Their harmonically adventurous songs are filled with delicious lyrics, and athletic guitar playing, driven by soaring vocals – sometimes a chorus of them.
“The larger than life sextet, led by wild front-woman Kaitlin Pelkey, knows how to command a stage and quite frankly any room they occupy with their wonderfully electric and often times frenetic live sets.” (Full Time Aesthetic) Three singers head the stage with circus-like choreography, and vocals that oscillate between the grave tones of a preacher to the sass of a schoolgirl. Guitars tremble and wail while drums crackle and burst in improvised interludes before seamlessly checking into a groove.
I listened to some of their songs and liked them and then got tired of them. But I’ll bet they put on a great show and I hope to see them live someday.
Tetchy is also a little offbeat. Their songs lurch and dive, with unexpected riffs and off-kilter vocal lines.
Tetchy’s music doesn’t so much create a sound, as it creates a place. A place to radically feel. Somewhere that trauma is laid bare, smashed to pieces and then reconstructed through audacious freedom and unabashed pleasure. Perhaps the defining aspect of the burgeoning Tetchy lore is that vocalist/guitarist Maggie Denning is, “someone who has very big feelings”. From the band’s earliest releases, her songs have been repositories of visceral emotion; from unshakeable heartbreak and soul-crushing grief to delirious joy and brazen lust.
I enjoyed what I heard from them and would like to see them do some of this stuff live.
Well Wisher received high praise from teenage Halloween who said that Well Wisher was the best band here (I wondered what THICK thought of that).
Originally started as a solo project for NJ songwriter Natalie Newbold (current bassist in The Front Bottoms), Well Wisher has taken shape as a full band with Lucas Dalakian (formerly of Romp), Lynsey Vandenberg, and Matt Viani.
“That Weight”, the latest album from New Jersey group Well Wisher, is a cathartic burst of catchy, feverish punk rock that addresses the heaviness of personal trauma without being suffocated by its gravity. As the record progresses, the jumpy, visceral instrumentation emphasizes the tender introspections that Newbold’s writing weaves into these songs. The result is something both cathartic and therapeutic; art that will make you want to thrash and jump around with tears of acceptance and future growth.
The songs are wild and jumpy with an overall warmth that comes from Newbold’s vocals. Once again, they are probably a lot of fun live.
So, yes, I did enjoy my evening at the Church and I’m glad I went, but I definitely missed some good stuff at Asbury Lanes tonight.
Leave a comment