After spending many months cooped up in practice space working on new material, it was time to dust off the RV and take a mini tour to New York City for the week of the CMJ Music Marathon. Most commonly described as a smaller/Northeast version of Texas'South By Southwest, CMJ Music Marathon is a week of some of the best up and coming and established acts from around the world that gather in NYC for a week of shows, industry panels, and rock and roll debauchery.
Our week was anchored around our showcase at the Bowery Poetry Club on Friday evening. The night was extra special because also on the bill was one of our favorite Boston bands; The Honors. Aside from putting on a stellar set (as usual) The Honors came to our rescue when Brandon (singer/guitarist of The Honors) offered up his semi-hollow body axe to Keith mid-set after Keith broke a string. Thanks to Brandon's rock n roll instincts and lightening fast reaction time, our set didn't miss a beat.
The show was a great success. The venue was packed with eager concert goers looking to discover some new music along with some of our loyal NYC fans. Also in the audience, our pal Hilary Hughes from the Boston-based publication The Weekly Dig who we haven't completely annoyed yet, because she still pops up at our shows across the country. "I go to Wandas shows knowing that I’ll get a consistently superlative set" - Hilary Hughes, The Weekly Dig.
theWANDAS CMJ 2010 - Beast of Northeast Photo Booth - Michael Basu
The theme of the week seemed to be friendship. Even in a city with 9 million people, within an hour of picking up our badges, we bumped into our buddies Ezra Huleatt (singer of Black Taxi) and comedian Ben Kronberg somewhere between Greenwich Village and The Lower East Side. Aside from the pleasant surprises we also went to see some of our favorite Boston groups, Mean Creek, McAlister Drive and Bodega Girls; all putting on great sets. The week couldn't have come to a better climax when we saw back to back sets of our pals from the Montreal outfit The High Dials and NYC's own Akudama. A great ending to a great week.
Cheers,
Ross