TLDR: If you go to only one show this weekend, it oughta be the Pop-Punk showcase on tap at The Brass Rail Friday night, Jan. 26. The bill is stacked with some of Portland’s best up-and-coming live acts — Vices Inc., Gum Parker, Get Out of My House, and Plague Dad – and it’s FREE!!! Doors at 3pm, music starts around 7pm.
Now, the fact is, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, but that’s most definitely not the case here. This is four of Portland’s hottest up-and-coming bands, together on one bill, and it won’t cost you a goddam thing to be there in the room where it happens. In this economy, where absolutely everything is monetized and commodified, that’s something that doesn’t come along every day.
There’s always a lot of live music to choose from on any given weekend in Portland, and you can’t be everywhere at once, which means decisions need to be made. Thankfully, That Portland Sound is here to help with our rock-solid Pick o’ the Week™: our take on which show represents, pound for pound, your best rock value.
And this week’s TPS Pick o’ the Week™ is the show going down Friday night at the Brass Rail in Portland, Maine. Four rockin’ bands – Vices Inc., Gum Parker, Get Out of My House, and Plague Dad – for FREE!
And if you haven’t been to the Rail yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Personally, we’ve not seen the likes of it anywhere else.
At its beating heart, the Rail is a dive bar; indeed, it’s been described by some as, “the best goddam dive bar in the universe,” and for our money, that’s a pretty apt description. It’s a split-level joint, and the bands play upstairs in a loft that opens up on to the main floor below. It’s truly something to behold, and it’s a great place to see a show – plus, it opens up at 3pm, so you can get some day-drinkin’ in before the music gets underway around 7, if you’re so inclined.
And what a show this will be.
Vices Inc., fronted by powerhouse vocals from singer Ellie Langhorn, deliver a sound that’s driven by earworm hooks and tightly crafted tunes. Word is they’ve got a new record coming out sometime soon, and if the shows they’ve been playing around town and beyond lately are any indication, it’s gonna be killer.
Vices is fresh off an east-coast tour, and they’re gearing up to hit the road again next month for another tour that’ll include a couple of dates in NYC. Their set on Friday is the only local show on the books for a while, so it should be something special.
Gum Parker is the latest project from Repeating Cloud Records impresario Galen Richmond, and in the relatively short time the band’s been together, the four-piece combo has made quite a name for itself, playing a show with A. Savage, from Parquet Courts, at the Space Gallery in October and turning in a righteous set at the ARME Boot Camp 2 festival back in August. Their beefy, tuneful sound was born for a joint like The Brass Rail.
Plague Dad cut its teeth on the streets of Portland, busking down on Wharf Street in the Old Port every Saturday night from April into November. Originally a duo featuring guitar and percussion, they’ve added a bass player, and that bottom end really ties the sound together. In the past few months, they’ve been playing a steady stream of club dates throughout southern Maine and beyond. Their sound’s been described as old-timey grunge folk that owes as much to Jimmie Rodgers and the Stanley Brothers as it does to The Minutemen and The Dicks. They’ve got a new record dropping in April.
Get Out of My House is a three-piece, art-core outfit outta Portland, riding the strength of their debut release, God On My Side 4 Ever.
See you there.
The Brass Rail, 1171 Forest Ave., Portland, ME (207) 797-9826, all shows are 21+.
ThatPortlandSound 