The 2nd Annual Mass Recovery Fest- Day 1 : A Report

The Second Annual Mass Recovery Fest- Day 1: A Report

Last year I put together a free compilation with a bunch of local/touring bands that I really wanted other people to hear. Mass Recovery Fest was something of a two-night release show featuring all the bands (or rather most of the bands) on the compilation. I generally dislike shows that feature an ungodly amount of bands, but armed with 2 PA systems and a hall big enough to create two “stages” the whole thing went smoothly and everyone I talked to had a lot of fun.

This year, I was a little less ambitious and decided against doing another compilation but wanted to put together another two-night celebration, a concert featuring everyone from the area and a handful of bands from out of state.

The week before Mass Recovery Fest, this year, I got a shock in the form of a message from the Scopes Trial’s Chris Londa, who informed me that Day 2 of the fest was actually the same night as the Lunenburg High track team banquet, which was also set to go down at Andrew Hall. After a week of panic and maneuvering, the track team relocated their banquet elsewhere, so if you are responsible for this move, thank you.

Saturday, Day 1, I got to Andrew Hall early to begin the arduous task of setting up for the show. Luckily, Tim Jobin of Sans Heroic helped me set up the second PA and a bunch of friends helped with setting up tables and all that jazz.

The night began with a set from Andrew Mello, my roommate/bandmate/friend. I am familiar with all of Andrew’s songs as a consequence of living across the hall from him but even those who weren’t seemed to enjoy his Daniel Johnston influenced indie-pop clap-along melodies. After a half an hour, Andrew switched to bass and was joined by Streight Angular, Al Polk’s quirky songwriting vehicle which started the dance party while it was still light outside.

Thunder Asunder, who first played Andrew Hall more than four years ago now, christened the other side of the hall with synth and drums. Thunder Asunder has, over the years, gotten smaller in terms of band members but have only gotten better in terms of not-quite-dance avant-garde songwriting.

The Bynars brought the action back to the other side of the hall and played a set of their signature synth-laced upbeat power-pop songs. The Bynars are both tight and inventive, lacing their love of Next Generation era Star Trek with brilliant songs that are both catchy and tight.

At this point in the night, Roebus One from New Jersey, was supposed to become the first person to ever play a hip-hop set at Andrew Hall, but he didn’t show up. I found out why the next day, when he called me confused and hung-over from his Aunt’s house in Staten Island where he woke up with bruised knuckles and the biting feeling that he got in a fistfight with his dad while black out drunk.

So instead, my band Coalmine Canary played. It was our first time playing an “unplugged” set in such a big venue. But everyone came real close and stayed quiet except for a couple of impressive sing-alongs where the crowd sang louder than I did.

Lima Research Society played next. The other side of the hall was decked out in black lights, illuminating everyone’s teeth a neon purple color. Lima Research was fantastic, they had everyone in the hall dancing, and rarely do I see such an elaborate stage show paired with excellent musicianship. It was at this time I went out to my car and realized that my trunk door was no longer fully attached to my van. I tried in vain for a few minutes to fix it but went inside when I heard Horny Vampyre’s fuzzy synth-dance sound fire up in the PA speakers.

I wrote a pretty extensive review of Horny Vampyre’s debut 10” and this was actually my first time seeing them live. They invited everyone to stand as close as possible to them, erasing the performer/audience divide. Everyone who knew the songs danced and chanted, stomping on a stage light in the process and sending broken glass all over the floor which didn’t deter anyone from dancing. I found a broom and dustpan in between songs and they played an electro-cover of Jawbreaker’s “Boxcar” which prompted my good friend Rob Wilcox to walk through the crowd and stare in awe.

Math the Band headlined the show and had everyone on their feet and dancing. The ceaseless energy of both Kevin and Justin translates perfectly through their songs and prompted everyone to keep singing, stomping, and clapping the entirety of their set. At some point, Mike Ellison grabbed me and lifted me up and, to my surprise, no one dropped me and I made my way through the crowd. It was the first time I, or anyone I can think of for that matter, managed to crowd surf at an Andrew Hall show. Math the Band stopped playing but the audience demanded an encore which they willingly obliged with a cover of Andrew W.K.’s “She is Beautiful.”

I went to thank everyone for coming out and someone started chanting, “Speech! Speech! Speech!” which caught on pretty quickly. I jokingly began, “I have a dream…and Mike Ellison was in it…” and continued with, “but seriously, this whole night was amazing. I’ve been to so many shows where people stand cross-armed and aren’t interested in what is going on musically but you guys danced and that is an amazing, albeit rare, thing. Thank you to everyone who came out tonight, I hope to see some of you tomorrow.” I’m paraphrasing of course, I was probably even less eloquent in person.

Andrew and I cleaned up the hall and several people attempted to help me fix my trunk door which I eventually just bungeed shut.

I’ll post about the Day 2 shenanigans tomorrow evening.

If I forgot to mention you in the Day 1 report, look for your name tomorrow.

Horny Vampire 10"

The problem with dance music (electro-pop and the like), for me at least, is that by in large it requires a suspension of intelligent thought in exchange for catchy hooks and dancey beats. Some artists have opted to go a more psychedelic route, MGMT comes to mind, but this feels like cop out to me; ignoring the central issues facing the generation they write songs for. Yet a little band from Dover, NH, Horny Vampyre (yes it’s a ridiculous name) have created a record that is every bit as brilliant as it is pertinent. Their self-titled debut is a dancey concoction of skuzzy electro punk with lyrics that will resound with anyone struggling to get by, both in economic and existential terms, and those who refuse to get down and grow up. Though this band, as well as their label, Hidden Apparatus, seemingly appeared out of nowhere, this is quite honestly the best record I have heard in the better part of a year.

The album begins with the song, “Foreign Home”, which immediately introduces the synth-clap-and-tap electro elements of Horny Vampyre’s music; a mixture of 8-bit Nintendo MIDI, 1980’s Devo, and Atom and His Package-esque synth-lines. The group vocals that define this album come in a minute or so later (there are at least 2 vocal tracks being occupied during every track) with the lines, “And when she goes to her foreign home by the deep boring sea/ she’ll drink cheap wine trying hard to think of me/ and I’ll still be here running this business straight into the ground…” The “here” refers to the dead end town the album’s narrator is perpetually stuck in, despair painted as a landscaped suburbia.

The album pops and beeps into the next two songs, “High Court” and “Rent Money”. The first is an indictment of humankind as being “a miserable mess of secrets/man is a miserable mess of lies,” as well as a personal confession, “And lately I’ve been having trouble looking you in the eye.” “Rent Money” outlines the inequity of low wages vs. the high cost of living and the desire to revert back to adolescence where this problem had not yet presented itself. Mike and Jer (this is all they have listed under band members) both proclaim, “My entire life is split/ between wanting to work here/ and wanting to quit,” and furthermore, “I don’t know about you but I gotta go back to where we lived when we were kids/ to where I first saw you when your clothes didn’t fit.”

Side A ends with, “Think Back”, which expands on the theme of growing up in uncertain times and the inability to really do much about it except look to friends with “big hearts” and “stricken faces” for solace. If Side A functioned as a means to identify the problems facing this generation, Side B is a contentious attack against these problems in the form of a unified front against menial life.

“Drink Deep”, the first track on Side B, is arguably the best song on the album. The beats and synth lines are intoxicating, it is literally impossible to stay sitting down when this song comes on. Then the vocals come in, triumphantly chanting, “drink deep from this goblet of fuck it all/ I wanna remember but I already forgot it all.” You will most likely be first pumping and yelling, “when he saw me smoking he said smoke up smoke up/ when he saw me drinking he said drink up drink up.” In my mind this song challenges Andrew W.K’s “Party Hard” as the reigning champ of best song to party up to.

The next song two songs, “Friendship” and “Our Lungs” are nearly as mind-blowing as the previous. The first of the two declares, “we’re gonna tear this fucking building down,” while the latter worries about growing up and things getting worse, “I’m afraid that all my friends will someday still be working shitty jobs/ that they’re too afraid to quit.”

“Big Life” counters the despair in “Our Lungs” with lyrics about growing up but never losing the drive and ardor of youth, they sing, “When I grow up I wanna burn money do drugs/ never half-ass when it comes to giving hugs.” Maybe it is futile to resist change, in all of its various forms, but this song gives me hope that, while capitalism will continue to exploit far into the future, we may take refuge in both friendship and music.

The record ends in brilliant fashion with the song, “Wet Backyard,” which sums up the major themes of the album in the line, “What’s good for my heart isn’t good for my health”. In just nine songs Horny Vampyre has outlined the grievances of an entire generation and set them to danceable electro-synth beats.

This record is at worst just impressive and at best brilliant, the fact that this 10” is a debut is mind-blowing. My only critiques seem to counter themselves; the vocals at times are not dynamic enough but are always perfect for group sing-alongs and the synth lines can get repetitive but are so good that is seems to be worth the repetition. If you don’t have a record player, it’s worth buying one just to play this record.