Nude Beach found themselves in the middle of an impressive lineup between Zulus and Milk Music at 285 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn on Monday night, July 23rd. Thankfully the newly air-conditioned venue had no trouble keeping up with the sweaty, packed crowd moshing to the classic rock, pop energy of Chuck Betz and company, and the sludgy mammoth crunch of Olympia, Washington’s Milk Music.
Brooklyn’s Zulus were up first, playing in its entirety their self-titled album on Aagoo Records with the help of Nick Chiericozzi and Mark Perro from The Men. Running one track into the next, they were the most experimental leaning act of the night. The massive sound from the guitar heavy band overwhelmed the cavernous warehouse, but maybe that’s what this show was about, the reemergence of that deep distortion sound. Like OM or The Swans before them, they’re mining the depths of where an overdriven amplified signal can ultimately dive. Their impenetrable vocals, delivered with an impressive amount of echo, are a swirling impending apocalypse over the enormous grooves from the primitive bass and drum section. The only pause in the set was to announce that they were playing the b-side before demolishing another wall of noise, the sound of a thousand buildings coming down before the dust settles.
Nude Beach, fresh off their signing to Other Music Records who are re-releasing their full length, Nude Beach II, were up next dissipating some of the hazy doom left behind from Zulus. Lead singer and guitarist Chuck Betz has an impressive amount of talent and it’s been honed playing for years in countless punk bands through high school. Now all grown up, Nude Beach is leaning towards the uncategorizable rock and roll sound of The Replacements Let It Be (QRO deluxe edition review). Putting together a wide array of influences with the same kind of unique front man, Chuck has a distinct vocal that’s somewhere between Tom Petty and Elvis Costello with the musical ability to match. These guys craft concise, guitar driven, melodic pop that comes from growing up on a steady diet of blue-collar rockers. They didn’t calculate this classic sound; it’s their natural conclusion.
If there was any doubt rumbling that beefy guitars don’t have a place left in contemporary indie, Milk Music shattered any objections in their only NY area performance. Borrowing from Hüsker Dü’s (QRO spotlight on) preference towards angry hardcore buzz entrenched with a real melodic foundation, they play with a crushing low end dual guitar section, having carefully honed this late ‘90s inspired sound. Lead singer Alex admits to being a bit of a perfectionist during the recording, but their live performance was loose and agile, driving straight into heavy instrumental riffs having as much of an impact without vocals. With only a single album behind them, they’re off to an impressive start that’s getting plenty of attention too, and like Nude Beach, only in an authentic search for self fulfillment can you end up with tracks like this.
From longhair head banging to the bassist’s wool hat pulled down over his forehead, these guys are living throwbacks to a time when this style was a reaction against any kind of fashion. When wearing long underwear under shorts and plaid lumberjack flannel was because it’s damn cold out and the practice space didn’t have a heater. They’re proof there’s room for this kind of sincere sound and style again, maybe that can grow naturally, unhindered by a singular album driving the tide of GRUNGE. The hardcore t-shirt wearing segment of the crowd agreed, pouncing on the dirty sound that reverberated around the steel airplane hangar space.
Maybe they’re filling the void that Mudhoney and Soundgarden left behind, or there’s still something in Washington State’s water supply that never really went away. Somehow it feels like a perfect fit with Nude Beach. Milk Music, although decidedly different from the laid back solo-ing of Chuck, shares the same mindset, playing their unique path, out to please no one but themselves… and in the process a few hundred fans packed into 285 Kent.
