Andy Gapin

Having seen Against Me! something like a dozen times over the last ten years, I’ve grown accustomed to what to expect from their live shows. Little, if any, downtime between songs. Not a lot of talking. Impressive segues from one song into another. Energetic crowd. And a setlist that didn’t ignore the old stuff together, but focused on the newer songs.

Last night, Against Me! brought all of that, but it wasn’t those things that made it a great show this time around. This time, they were intense. Against Me! brought a level of intensity few bands could ever even hope to bring for just a single song. They kept it up for around 45 minutes.

A large part of this new intensity comes from new(ish) drummer Jay Weinberg—yes, son of Max. Jay isn’t just a guy behind a set of drums on the back of the stage, he is a driving piece of the band. He is loud and hard-hitting. I was always a fan of Warren, I even doubted that they could find a solid replacement for him when he left, but Jay brings something entirely new to the band. It’s hard to exactly describe it, it’s a level of intensity, but it goes beyond that. He’s a drummer who isn’t just playing music he loves, he’s playing with his favorite band. He screams along to all of the lyrics. He can’t even stay seated half the time. It’s as if the excitement of the music is too much for him to handle. Against Me! never lacked energy before, but the additional energy that Jay brings is simply unreal.

As much as Jay adds to Against Me!’s live show, the biggest change is Laura Jane Grace. This is Against Me!’s first tour with Laura living and playing as a woman. No one would fault her for appearing uncomfortable on stage or not performing to the standards and expectations she had set for herself when she was still living as a man. Any reasonable and open-minded fan would be more than understanding of what she’s going through, even though they themselves are not truly be able to comprehend what the life of a transgender person is like. But if that was Laura last night, this review probably wouldn’t need to exist. Maybe a simple supportive tweet would have sufficed.

The reality is that Laura walked out on stage proud of who she was and free from having to hold anything back. She owned it. And she looked great.

The crowd at the show was a weird mix being that Against Me! is providing tour support for The Cult, a band with a mostly older fan base that has little overlap with Against Me!’s. As such, this was the first time a lot of the people in the crowd had ever seen Laura and I would be surprised if any of them really even knew that she lived as Tom Gabel up until just recently. I could imagine many of them looking at the stage and thinking “what IS that? Is that a man or a woman?”

That didn’t seem to matter though. If Laura cared, you couldn’t tell. She was a force to be reckoned with. Any fan who has seen Against Me! before should have been able to pick up on the fact that her mannerisms and stage presence weren’t much different than they used to be before she started her transition. She still moved similarly on stage…but more. Looking back, her mannerisms on stage feel like hints of the woman she really is trying to come out, but being held back. There’s no holding back anymore. She’s free and it’s very obvious. To simplify something very complex, she looked comfortable in her own skin. A brand new skin that she loves and is just starting to explore. She looked happy.

It’s difficult to put the effect that Laura’s new comfort had into words because you have to see it to truly understand. This comfort brings Against Me! to an entirely new level that very few artists could ever achieve. The emotion is real. The words are real. The sincerity is unlike anything else.

Against Me!’s setlist stayed true to what they’ve always done, it focused on the newer stuff and didn’t get bogged down trying to play more than a handful of old songs. They opened with two brand new songs, which is something few bands can pull off. Both were great. Through the course of the rest of the set, they squeezed in a couple other new songs as well. Again, both great. Each new song was a reminder that this band has never and will never stop trying to move forward. And when Laura Jane Grace wants to deal with something, she’ll say it. She won’t mince words or hold back.

While some fans may have been disappointed in the band’s last release, White Crosses, Against Me!’s performance last night should serve, not just as a statement, but an exclamation that this band one of the absolute best bands making music today. Their sincerity, energy, and raw emotion may not be equaled by any other artist out there.

So after seven years, The Playlist is over. It’s hard to believe that something that’s been a large part of my life for so long is gone, but it’s true. Almost fittingly though, last night’s show was the most fun I ever had doing a radio show. It reminded me of everything I loved about doing college radio, much of which got lost in a cloud of jadedness. Hosting an all new music show was great, but it was often hard to fill the entire show with music I was excited about. There’s only so much great stuff that can come out each week. I’d get to play a few great records and fill in the rest with average records. That was always the biggest struggle, but last night had none of that. Last night’s show was nothing but music I love.

I spent the night before running some really custom queries against our database–you get this luxury when you’re the sucker that wrote the software that the radio station relies on for music databasing and logging. I found the artists that I played the most over the last four and a half years and built a playlist from there. I would have liked to go all the way back to when the show first started, but we were still using paper logs up until the beginning of 2006 and there was no way that I was going to try to hunt those down…assuming they still exist. The playlist I created was over two hours long so I had more than I was able to play, but it was alright, I was able to prune down as I was doing the show. I decided not to order anything, I didn’t want to make a pre-planned show and just sit there on autopilot. Instead, I burned two identical MP3 CDs–works out better than playing everything from a computer–and stuck them in the CD players. I had a list of the tracks and switched between players selecting what felt right at the time and what was going to create a solid flow. It’s the way that I always did my show and I didn’t want to change that. I’ve always been about going with the moment and what songs just feel right together. I feel like I nailed this as well as I ever have last night.

I was lucky to be able to score a second hour for last night. It was the first time in two years that I’ve done a two hour show, but it was great, I was able to fit in 34 songs along with a lot of stories about the last seven years and about the music I was playing. I always tried to talk about what the bands I played meant to me, but it wasn’t easy when much of the music was coming from new artists and not just new albums by artists I already was into. Last night, I was able to tell many stories about the bands and what they meant to me. It was great and it made me remember why joining the radio station was my first priority when I started college nine years ago.

The decision to end the show wasn’t easy, I knew it would come eventually, but I could never bring myself to do it. Once I finally made that decision, it was a tough back and forth between knowing how much I’ll miss it and being relieved that I could end it positively and free up a little bit of much needed time in my personal life. Though, as I progressed through the show, I felt myself becoming sadder and sadder that it was ending. By the end, I was feeling almost like I was going to cry. I knew walking away wasn’t going to easy. So I’m sad that it’s over now, but I do know that it was the right time for me and that the show had an amazing seven year run. I had many dedicated listeners and got to expose them to over 1500 different artists and bands over that time. I don’t know how many different albums I played, but my best estimate puts it well over 2000. To me, that’s pretty impressive. That’s a ton of new music. I can walk away knowing that the show was very successful in doing what I created it to do, push new music.

Over the last week, I’ve learned that beyond doing what I set out to do with The Playlist over the airwaves, I also was able to extend that via my blog for the past few years. I learned that I not only had listeners who looked to the show for new music, but I also had readers that couldn’t listen to the show and instead came here to see what I played and found out about the music that way. So awesome.

So last night’s show was a seriously stacked playlist, there was a ton that I still wanted to play, but I couldn’t get it all in. I dediced to end the show with the band that had the most spins on The Playlist. I was surprised when I found out it was The Loved Ones, but thinking back, I did play Keep Your Heart in its entirety when it came out. I wanted to post a big list of the most played artists, but I didn’t know where to cut it off. I may save that for a future post to milk one last entry about the show here. We’ll see, but if you’re really interested, let me know and I’ll make it happen.

The show wasn’t entirely hiccup free though. Just as I was about to start, the internet in the studio went out and for a while, I had to do the show entirely old school. I had to log on paper and couldn’t look up album info. I guess it was an appropriate reminder during the last show of what it was like when the show first started. It was surprisingly fun. However, this seems as though it may have messed up the beginning of the recording of the show. I haven’t verified this yet, but if it’s true, I will almost definitely cry. It was such a memorable show for me and to not have a recording of it would be seriously upsetting.

I’m staying an active DJ at the station so I don’t plan for this to be the last time I have a radio show playlist to post, but when it comes down to it, only the future knows how much I’ll actually end up subbing shows when needed. So for the very last time ever, here’s the playlist from last night’s The Playlist…

• Cheap Girls – A Lesser Rate – Find Me A Drink Home
• Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – Me And Mia – Shake The Sheets
• Drive-By Truckers – The Day John Henry Died – The Dirty South
• Minus The Bear – Knights – Planet Of Ice
• Spoon – Don’t You Evah – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
• Electric Six – Night Vision – Switzerland
• Tilly And The Wall – Bad Education – Bottoms Of Barrels
• Feist – So Sorry – The Reminder
• Frank Turner – Poetry Of The Deed – Poetry Of The Deed
• Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band – Air Mattress – Outer South
• The Thermals – I Don’t Believe You – Personal Life
• Maritime – Parade Of Punk Rock T-Shirts – We, The Vehicles
• The Pipettes – Pull Shapes – We Are The Pipettes
• M. Ward – Never Had Nobody Like You – Hold Time
• The Hold Steady – Chips Ahoy! – Boys And Girls In America
• The Copyrights – Knee Deep – Make Sound
• The Steinways – Arena Rock – Gorilla Marketing
• Against Me! – Thrash Unreal – New Wave
• Murder By Death – Rum Brave – Red Of Tooth And Claw
• Coconut Records – Microphone – Davy
• Neko Case – The Next Time You Say “Forever” – Middle Cyclone
• The Lawrence Arms – The Revisionist – The Greatest Story Ever Told
• Radiohead – 15 Step – In Rainbows
• Okkervil River – Pop Lie – The Stand Ins
• Lucero – I Don’t Wanna Be The One – Rebels, Rogues, And Sworn Brothers
• She And Him – I Was Made For You – Volume One
• Bryan Scary – Macedonia Hotel – The Shredding Tears
• Lemuria – Pants – Get Better
• The Measure [SA] – Portland – One Chapter In The Book (A Collection Of Standard Waits And Measurements)
• The Gaslight Anthem – Orphans – American Slang
• Rilo Kiley – The Moneymaker – Under The Blacklight
• Mclusky – She Will Only Bring You Happiness – The Difference Between You And Me Is That I’m Not On Fire
• NOFX – Seeing Double At The Triple Rock – Never Trust A Hippy
• The Loved Ones – Living Will (Get You Dead) – Keep Your Heart

90.3 The Core

Last night’s show wasn’t anything too special, but it was a solid one nonetheless. The only gripe I had was that the new Against Me! and Gaslight Anthem records weren’t out for play yet so I had to play songs from my iPhone to avoid sticking with the singles. That wouldn’t have been a problem, but I haven’t gotten around to buying either album yet–I might not actually buy White Crosses–so the versions of the songs I played were from the leaks and of much lower quality than I would have liked. The leaks don’t sound awful on my phone or in the car, but they both sounded incredibly flat over the radio. Oh well.

Here’s the list!

• >Walter Schreifels – Arthur Lee’s Lullaby – An Open Letter To The Scene
• >The Gaslight Anthem – Orphans – American Slang
• >Blitzen Trapper – Laughing Lover – Destroyer Of The Void
• >Deer Tick – Choir Of Angels – The Black Dirt Sessions
• >The Henry Clay People – Slow Burn – Somewhere On The Golden Coast
• >Broken Social Scene – All To All – Forgiveness Rock Record
• >The Frontier Brothers – Burning Panties – You Should Start A Band
• >Skybox – Morning After Cuts – Morning After Cuts
• >Ty Segall – Bees – Melted
• >Against Me! – High Pressure Low – White Crosses
• >Setting Sun – Into The Wire – Fantasurreal
• >Shoe. – Weight Of The World – The Speed Of Life
• >Delta Spirit – Golden State – History From Below
• >Suckers – Before Your Birthday Ends – Wild Smile
• >Here We Go Magic – Old World United – Pigeons

Source: 90.3 The Core

The Playlist last night was not one of my better shows. Everything felt off. The segues weren’t what I wanted, I didn’t really have any life in my mic breaks, and trying to work the Crystal Castles request in with the music I had picked out was a disaster.

Oh well, they can’t all be winners.

• Love Is All – Never Now – Two Thousand And Ten Injuries
• Gaslight Anthem, The – American Slang – American Slang
• Crystal Castles – Untrust Us – Crystal Castles
• Fanfarlo – Finish Line – Live [EP]
• Tallest Man On Earth, The – Troubles Will Be Gone – The Wild Hunt
• Hold Steady, The – Our Whole Lives – Heaven Is Whenever
• Mynabirds, The – Give It Time – What We Lose In Fire We Gain In The Flood
• Kaki King – The Betrayer – Junior
• Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy And The Cairo Gang – The Sounds Are Always Begging – The Wonder Show Of The World
• Minus The Bear – Animal Backwards – Omni
• Laura Marling – Blackberry Stone – I Speak Because I Can
• Manchester Orchestra – I’ve Got Friends – Live At Park Ave -
• Roky Erickson With Okkervil River – Birds’d Crash – True Love Cast Out All Evil
• Murder By Death – You Don’t Miss Twice (When You’re Shavin’ With A Knife) – Good Morning, Magpie

Source: 90.3 The Core

I got to play new Minus the Bear, Hold Steady, and Gaslight Anthem on the show last night. I’m glad we got this stuff in the station now since I don’t normally like to play leaks on the show. I guess it’s not really a big deal, but I kind of feel weird about it.

Other than that, the show was pretty solid. It was fun and I kept all my mic breaks really short.

• Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist – I Was A Teenage Anarchist [Single]
• Minus The Bear – Into The Mirror – Omni
• The Press – Fine China – INTEOTWIJTEOAE
• Jonsi – Animal Arithmetic – Go
• Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy And The Cairo Gang – With Cornstalks Or Among Them – The Wonder Show Of The World
• Gaslight Anthem, The – American Slang – American Slang [Single]
• Codeine Velvet Club – The Black Roses – Codeine Velvet Club
• Manchester Orchestra – Tony The Tiger – Live At Park Ave
• In Tall Buildings – Walking Man – In Tall Buildings
• The Hold Steady – Rock Problems – Heaven Is Whenever
• Fanfarlo – Finish Line – Live [EP]
• Kaki King – Sloan Shore – Junior
• The Mynabirds – We Made A Mountain – What We Lose In Fire We Gain In The Flood
• Roky Erickson With Okkervil River – Goodbye Sweet Dreams – True Love Cast Out All Evil

Source: 90.3 The Core

Good show last night, nothing really worth mentioning, but it was an all around good show.

• Drive By Truckers – After The Scene Dies – The Big To Do
• The Like – Wishing He Was Dead – College Radio Sampler
• Night Driving In Small Towns – Get Free – Serial Killers
• Undersea Poem – Bacocho Sunsets – Undersea Poem
• Fanfarlo – Finish Line – Live [EP]
• The Whigs – Automatic – In The Dark
• Title Tracks – No, Girl – It Was Easy
• The Press – Fine China – INTEOTWIJTEOAE
• She And Him – Over It Over Again – Volume Two
• Murder By Death – As Long As There Is Whiskey In The World – Good Morning, Magpie
• Roky Erickson With Okkervil River – Birds’d Crash – True Love Cast Out All Evil
• Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy And The Cairo Gang – The Sounds Are Always Begging – The Wonder Show Of The World
• Roadside Graves – Jail – You Won’t Be Happy With Me
• Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist – I Was A Teenage Anarchist [Single]
• The Fall – Mexico Wax Solvent – Your Future Our Clutter

Source: 90.3 The Core

Good show last night! I had a lot of great new stuff to play again even though much of the playlist this week was the same as last week’s. I think I had my mic breaks dead on with where I wanted them to be and I was really happy with my music selection. The amount of new stuff to listen to lately has been crazy. I can barely keep up with what’s officially been released in the past month or so and the upcoming releases that have leaked. Gaslight Anthem, Murder By Death, Minus The Bear, Hold Steady, Against Me!, Drive-By Truckers, and She & Him. And that’s just a few of the bands taking up all my time right now. So much great stuff to listen to. Anyway, here’s the playlist from last night’s show…

• LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls – Drunk Girls [Single]
• Murder By Death – Foxglove – Good Morning, Magpie
• Jason Collett – Love Is A Dirty Word – Rat A Tat Tat
• The Mynabirds – Give It Time – What We Lose In Fire We Gain In The Flood
• The Like – Wishing He Was Dead – College Radio Sampler
• Roadside Graves – Everything – You Won’t Be Happy With Me
• The Whigs – Kill Me Carolyn – In The Dark
• Drive By Truckers – Drag The Lake Charlie – The Big To Do
• Elliott Smith – No Name #3 – Roman Candle (reissue)
• Title Tracks – Hello There – It Was Easy
• She And Him – Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Skeeter Davis Cover) – Volume Two
• Seabear – In Winters Eyes – We Built A Fire
• Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova – I Know You – One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels (Reissue)
• Roky Erickson With Okkervil River – Goodbye Sweet Dreams – True Love Cast Out All Evil
• Tom McRae – Told My Troubles To The River – The Alphabet Of Hurricanes
• Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist – I Was A Teenage Anarchist [Single]

Source: 90.3 The Core

Last night’s The Playlist was possibly the most insane edition of the show that I’ve ever done. You’ll see what I mean when you take a look at the playlist from the show. I think I can safely say that I’ve never played that many established (indie) bands on one show ever. The show was kind of too epic for its own good. I struggled to keep up and to fit it all together. There was so much more that I wanted to fit in, but nothing else really stood much of a chance. And because I was struggling to fit so much in, my segues from song to song didn’t flow as well as they normally do.

On a related note, I blasted the monitors in the studio while playing I Was A Teenage Anarchist and I have to be honest about the fact that I gained a huge level of appreciation for that song after doing so. Maybe this new Against Me! record still has more to offer. We’ll have to see.

• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo
• Drive-By Truckers – After The Scene Dies – The Big To Do
• Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – Even Heroes Have To Die – The Brutalist Bricks
• Title Tracks – Found Out – It Was Easy
• Seabear – Wolfboy – We Built A Fire
• Against Me! – I Was A Teenage Anarchist – I Was A Teenage Anarchist [Single]
• Rocky Votolato – Fragments – True Devotion
• The Weakerthans – Tournament Of Hearts – Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre
• Murder By Death – Yes – Good Morning, Magpie
• MGMT – Song For Dan Treacy – Congratulation
• The Apples In Stereo – Told You Once – Travellers In Space And Time
• LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls – Drunk Girls [Single]
• Bright Eyes/Neva Dinova – Happy Accident – One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels (Reissue)
• She And Him – Home – Volume Two

Source: 90.3 The Core

Last night’s show wasn’t too shabby, I kicked it off with a Gorillaz track again for something like the third week in a row, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

I’ve been listening a lot to the new albums from She & Him, Against Me!, and Ted Leo recently. I’m still totally in love with She & Him’s Volume Two, but Against Me’s White Crosses has only slightly grown on me. As much as I try to love it, I only feel lukewarm about it. There are songs I like a bit, but overall, it feels like the kind of album that I would be more positive about if it was from a different band. The Ted Leo record is kind of the opposite though, I think I’d like it less if it were from any other band. It’s a bit too polished, but for some reason, I’m not that bothered by it.

I finally got my hands on the new Murder By Death and Drive-By Truckers records as well. I’m about three songs into Drive-By Truckers as I type this. Not bad so far. Murder By Death’s Good Morning, Magpie feels like a solid record from the few times I’ve listened to it already. Not as good as Red Of Tooth And Claw, but still a nice offering.

Alright, back to last night’s show. It was the first show in a while where I didn’t get a listener request. I was almost disappointed by it, but overall, I was pretty happy with the show. I know the Weakerthans song I went with from the new (and probably unnecessary) live album was kind of the obvious choice, but it’s a great song either way.

• Gorillaz – Glitter Freeze – Plastic Beach
• MGMT – Flash Delirium – Flash Delirium [Single]
• Go Find, The – Running Mates – Everybody Knows It’s Gonna Happen
• One For The Team – Every Little Thing – Ghosts
• Postelles, The – White Night – White Night [EP]
• Weakerthans, The – Plea From A Cat Named Virtute – Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre
• Family Of The Year – Stupidland – Songbook
• Archie Bronson Outfit – Chunk – Coconut
• Whigs, The – Automatic – In The Dark
• She & Him – Over It Over Again – Volume Two
• Frightened Rabbit – Nothing Like You – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
• Drink Up Buttercup – Gods And Gentlemen – Born And Thrown On A Hook
• Rocky Votolato – Red River – True Devotion
• Ted Leo And The Pharmacists – The Mighty Sparrow – The Brutalist Bricks
• Liars – Scissor – Sisterworld

Source: 90.3 The Core

Unfortunately for everyone, there was no edition of The Playlist this week. I was suffering from what I’m willing to say was the worst allergy day of my life and couldn’t make it to the station. I could barely open my eyes. Though, it at least prompted me to finally make a doctor’s appointment so that I can get the ball rolling on determining whether or not the suffering I’ve been going through lately is because of a newly developed cat allergy or something else.

Anyway, I finally made my first t-shirt purchase of the year last night. I can’t remember that last time I went this long, but I’ve been trying to save money for the wedding and such. Plus, I really have no where to store these damn things anymore. However, Threadless is running a $10 sale that’s good an all shirts. It’s a pretty awesome sale, actually. I had to take advantage. I’ll post pictures of the shirts when I get them.

I’ve been listening to the Against Me! album a bit more and it’s definitely growing on me. There are a lot of parts that I like a lot, but I’m still not digging about half of it. There are few bands that could put out an album that I’d put this kind of effort into liking, but I really want to like this.

Lastly, Saturday is free Rita’s day and I’m planning on doing the tour again this year. But I plan on correcting the mistakes that were made last year. We’ll spread it out of a larger portion of the day, eat a real meal in the middle, and get sugar-free flavors at a few of the stops to help ease the sugar overload. It’s going to be intense though. We’ve been swapping proposed maps back and forth and it looks like we’re shooting to double the amount of locations we hit last year. I’m sure I’ll post about it all afterwards, but I’m a little scared!

PS: Yes, I called it “water ice.”