by Hannah Zeitner, staff reporter
On the second Friday of 2016, Brooklyn based bands, LODRO, Surfbort, and Squad Car, along with So Pitted hailing from Seattle, Washington, played the Bedford Stuyvesant/Bushwick venue “Palisades” located at 906 Broadway in Brooklyn, NY.
The band LODRO describes themselves as a “neo noir punk” outfit, and was formed in 2013. They currently have a 7” album and are working on creating one of full length. LODRO is a three piece made up of Lesley Hann, Jeremy Cox, and Turner Halsey.
Surfbort, who have been reviewed before, are still composed of Dani Miller, Charlotte Wimberley, Matt Picola, and SS Powell. This high energy Bed-Stuy tetrarchy are releasing their first 7” album entitled Surfbort on January 20th, produced on Slope Records. In the meantime, they’ve released an official music video for the song “Trash.” They previously only had a demo; “R.I.P Die Old” with songs like “Junk Estate,” and “Trippin Over Babies.”
So Pitted; a band named after a viral video, who come from Seattle, Washington consists of Nathan Rodriguez, Liam Downey and Jeannine Koewler. They describe themselves as “neo wave”, and are releasing their studio album neo in late February. They are influenced by alternative music such as Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, and The Mars Volta.
Squad Car is a fairly new band out of Brooklyn. They have one record out named Eschaton, which was released in November of 2015. Squad Car is made up of Joe Bernardi, Anuj Panchal, Dominic Turi, and Matt Shriffer.
Upon getting off the M at Myrtle Ave/Broadway, it took a good deal of time to find the venue. This reason for this is because if one would arrive at Palisades before they are open, the venue has its gates down and no signs or anything except for the address 906 Broadway spray-painted across the closed gate to infer that it’s a venue. My first impression of the venue once inside was that I loved it. The venue was fairly small and had two heavily spray-painted and stickered bathrooms. The only potentially unsettling factor about the venue is that it is surrounded by the stomping ground of the “Dirty Ones MC” -Myrtle Ave faction.
Squad Car was the first band to go on. They went on a little after 9 PM and they only played a couple songs due to the fact that they’re a new band and the first opening act, but they made those songs count. Each song was delivered with power and their set left my ears ringing and half deaf (that being a compliment). Bands whose music gets you just a little deaf live is a great experience.
The next band up was Surfbort. Hanging around, Dani informed me that she “always gets nervous” before every gig she plays. She let the rest of the band set up and get ready before walking onto the stage from the crowd. Their set was different this time, mostly because of a missing presence. Charlotte, still “recovering from 2015 in outer space”as Surfbort puts it, was filled in by Mike Brandon from the band The Mystery Lights. Nonetheless, Surfbort put on an amazing and energetic show. Dani, wearing a plain white tee with a sharpie statement written across it stating “pro life = pro suffering”, a pink felt-like skirt, and torn up Converse, did what she does best; bounced around the stage and screamed out her songs. Sean drummed until his fingers bled, and Matty headbanged for a good amount of the set. They played songs such as “Trash” and “Trippin’ Over Babies.”
Coming off stage, Dani immediately asks “Did I sound good enough?” She received multiple embraces and reassurances that she did awesome.
“Before every show I get so nervous and say to myself ‘Why do I even do this?’ but then I get on stage and remember exactly why,” lead singer of Surfbort Dani Miller said.
So Pitted came on next, and it was their first tour in the east coast. The singer Nathan, dressed in a large sweater tucked into khaki dress pants with white running sneakers, accessorized with one light up red earring, put a lot of energy into this gig. The songs they played were unique and the sound was loved. Jeannine, hair up in a ponytail and glasses played bass with enthusiasm. It was good to see two bands that night that had female members.
From others, LODRO performed great that night. Loudly; big noise. At the time though, my presence was not there, but I believe they would’ve put on a great set.
“I had never been to a concert in Bed-Stuy before, other parts in Brooklyn like Greenpoint and Williamsburg sure, but being at Palisades was such a great experience. I’ll never forget it,” said junior Nicole Kuliyev.
Overall, this concert was a very fun and extremely exciting time.The experience to be around Surfbort and their overwhelming DIY energy was intoxicating. Everyone attending the concert, both bands and see-ers, were very nice and made the trip into Bed-Stuy very much worth it.
