The Motorcycle Industry @ Don Hill's 4.18.09

Ok so it's been a while since my last post but hey, on a weekend when 17 Again is coming out, you know you gotta fill up your Saturday and Sunday with 4 viewings with an option of a 5th.....

Topical huuuuumor.

The other funny thing was that I was riding the subway from Jay Street with two persons who turned out to be friends of the drummer, Ryan Barnes. Who doesn't he know in this fair city? The bartender at Don Hill's shot the shit with me a bit about Dag Nasty as well.

Anywho, so I finally got to catch a short opener set from these guys who I wrote about a while back and they did not disappoint. The only real difference was this time there was much more bulk to the sound due to electric guitars (Don Hill's levels weren't quite so good but no worse for the wear).

With a small amount of the usual banter and a lineup switch (the bassist had one of those old Midtown shirts that I own as well, which was funny), they got right into it with Mr. Langan's disaffected yet righteous vocals, two flannel shirts, and a whole lot of distortion. I kind of liked the acoustic guitar previously used on many of their tracks, however in a live setting pumping up the songs was not a detrimental move on their part. Some neat little guitar ditties and a solid presence (I don't think I've seen Sambas since 2002), these NYU students have a formula that works well: catchy, big chords that are instantly listenable and engaging. It's just all very new school maybe, as if they took parts of a straight up skater hardcore band and slowed the pace a bit. I know other bands have took that kind of pop punk to the max. I know this is going to sound a bit weird, and I could say snotty (in a good way), but think of a really good sneeze, like with all the thick snot/boogers, but you're a fan of it in that Mucus Queen from Billy Madison sort of way. It's a lot of fun and totally bratty.

I spoke with Ryan for a little bit after the show, chatting about NYU, playing in Brooklyn, etc. They have a couple shows upcoming at Retox in East Williamsburg including a show this Friday, April 24th (as of this writing Retox seems to be undergoing a bit of a hiatus after their current slate finishes, hopefully will be back up soon).

The great thing is, you can download their entire album for free on their website: www.themotorcycleindustry.com

For their MySpace, go here. Can you hear that? It's the sound of their friends list almost doubling since I last visited them.