“This is the second stop on our Jersey City tour,” announced Tree, leader of Any Day Parade before the band got into their set, capping off the 4th Street Art & Music Festival. It’s more than a year now that I’ve been “following” this Jersey City band, praising them to anyone who will listen. The other tour stop was as the finale of Groove on Grove, nicely book-ending the series by being both opening and closing act.
I’ve seen them a few times now, I always make the effort or at least try. They write really terrific songs, are excellent musicians and together produce a unique, infectious roots sound. I love their music. It is witty and intelligent. They lean towards energetic country-rock, yet possess little to no maudlin self-absorption that can be endemic to this genre.
ADP was on tour in the Summer through September, playing gigs in the Midwest and Southeast, rare for a local bar band. One stop was a Lexington Kentucky bar, the first time Tree played in her hometown.
Earlier this year, they changed bassists and before the tour they changed drummers. It’s been a year of change and experience and one imagines, searching for the sound.
When I last saw ADP in May, they were good—shoot, they’re always good—they were trying some new things, particularly in the song, Together We Fall, a dialog song—Tree and Larry Brinkman, the other guitarist, singer and songwriter, trade lyrics, taking the male and female role in this romantic tragedy. They had just put the song out on their second EP/CD and it seemed to swerve into a new, Emo-inspired direction—it was a hard-edged rock outing that ends in a hard-core, blues-tinged crescendo. I will get back to this song.
The comeback from the tour, the first “stop” on the Jersey City Tour, the Groove on Grove set, they had a new sound. The bass player has learned to bounce those notes like a country musician, and the new drummer propelled songs with fills and rolls. I hypothesize they have found the sound they’ve been searching for, or maybe it’s their songs that have found their sound. Tighter than ever, ADP played more as a unit than before, coalescing in a way that makes the whole more than the sum of the parts. In the Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home, the young folksinger leaves the Minneapolis folk-scene for his first visit to Greenwich Village, returns a month or so later and his North Country peers are astounded by his newly attained skills, invoking the old Down to the Cross Roads myth. I had the same thought with ADP. Maybe their recent, extensive tour is their crossroad or perhaps they made a group field trip to that fabled intersection. A leap forward has been made. The twang has been ramped up, the rhythm section drives the songs forward with more purpose. Their inner Creedence is unleashed!
The Grove gig was on Wed. and the Fest gig was on Sat. and the set list was similar. On of their stand-by cover songs is their rousing version of that old war-horse, “Stay A Little, Longer.” It used to be in mid-set, sung by Brinkman. Now, it was the finale, the last song, with Tree and even lead guitarist, J.D. are taking some of the verses. These cats know they have found their sound—or at least got a lot closer to it—and they know they are playing great together. “Stay A Little Longer,” has become a victory lap to end their sets.
The Grove set was good. Never an optimum setting, made even less conducive by unseasonably chilly weather, but ADP soldiered on and entertained the small crowd. The Fest set though, I’ve never saw them better. It was a hot set. Their gaggle of friends, fans and followers—about a dozen or so twenty something’s—pretty gals and skinny guys—formed a semi ring around the stage, and there were dozens, behind them to welcome the band. They opened up with Broken Lamps, a rousing rock & roll ditty from their first EP. Haven’t heard them play this for a while. It rocked, the unmistakable message was delivered: we are in for a special night. As good as Grove might have been, this was something else entirely. The stops were pulled out. The band and the crowd shared an extraordinarily good mood. A home coming celebratory atmosphere pervaded. The relentless energy of the musicians grew, feeding off the enthusiastic audience.
Tree’s voice, brassy and full, seamlessly moved to the higher range. She was simply having a great night voice-wise. She can shout and holler with the best of them, then change on a dime and coo as delicately as a nightingale.
A new song—I didn’t catch the name and though I think I had heard it before, it was not like this up-tempo country rocker (again, Creedence), which also showcased some accelerated lead work by J.D. Now, there’s a cat ready for the big leagues. Another new trick was a country-blues song—a young banjo player was brought on stage and Larry played some stinging slide guitar. The interplay created a nice forlorn mood. When the band went to Together We Fall, the emo arrangement was softened, neatened up, made presentable. The pace sped up, a modicum of adrenaline added. The interplay twixt Tree and Larry resembled the song Jackson (June & Johnny). ADP can play the grunge punk, but it’s better when they countrified up a song some—it is more suited to their strengths and attitude.
The show ended with Stay A Little Longer. I’m never going to love this song, but it sure is an audience favorite. The crowd cheered the high-powered set, acknowledging the triumphant return of local musical heroes. As the song thundered to a crescendo and ADP thanked the crowd and they looked like they were going to call it a night, there was still applause. ADP did something I never saw them do before—an Encore.
Brinkman snatches up the acoustic guitar and sings one of his from the first EP, Hold On Me (a local hit for nearly 10 J.C. residents). Not only have they further refined their sound and were having a really good night, these cats have a new confidence and stage-manship. What ever they had has been made better by hours of practice and weeks on the road, playing for non-hometown crowds and I suspect, winning them over.
Welcome back and show us what you got! October night, sweet and warm. Dozens of neighbors flowing towards Brunswick, enlivened, uplifted and encouraged by the music of Any Day Parade. Fortified! Great music on a Saturday night. No better place to be.
ADP MySpace page here
No comments:
Post a Comment