Junior Senior at Knitting Factory

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Any fellow NYCers see Junior Senior tonight (Tuesday) at the Knitting Factory? Any thoughts? I thought they were a little lame at the beginning — at least in relation to the record, which I'm loving — but by the end they were ruling: indie kids clapping, record-bizzers smiling, Fred Schneider allegedly approving. I love that when Junior sings the bits that require actual singing, Senior seems to be having more fun than when he's actually vocalizing, just bopping around and banging his head on those low-ass speakers on either side of the stage, which he did like eight times. Anyways, I liked it!

― Mikael Wood, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 03:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh fuck, I knew there was something I wanted to do tonight!!

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 03:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh fuck, I forgot to watch "Baseball Tonight!"

― hstencil, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 03:42 (twenty-three years ago)

I was there!! I can't believe somebody actually rocked out at the Knitting Factory!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 03:51 (twenty-three years ago)

There always has to be a first time.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 03:56 (twenty-three years ago)

my brother has rocked there plenty of times. they have rock bands there who rock out all the time, don't they? what are you talking about?

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I dunno but if the best thing someone can say about a show is that "indie kids clapped" and "Fred Schneider approved," then I don't think I wanna know.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:35 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah, plus, when it's the other way around is when you know that something is really cool.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:39 (twenty-three years ago)

was going to go but had prior engagements, unfortunately. plus I gotta pack for my trip to Mpls tomorrow

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Have fun out there Matos, I'll put some money on Funny Cide for you.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 04:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Junior Senior = gay eurotrashpop it's OK for indie kids to like! Which of course makes them great! I can't believe that they played the Knitting Factory. That's somehow... appropriate.

― kate, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 08:46 (twenty-three years ago)

maybe the most fun i've ever had at a show. and i had a weird conversation with james iha!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 13:59 (twenty-three years ago)

So how is Mr. Iha doing, then?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:08 (twenty-three years ago)

swell. he was very nice.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Good to hear. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:12 (twenty-three years ago)

scott you mean when Fred Schneider claps and indie kids approve? that sounds even worse. I hate that venue so much. it is like the House of Gloom. every show i've ever seen there has been like an endurance contest between sweat, tinnitus, and some bleak thing that nestles under the floorboards, draining the blood from your veins. for such raw reckless joy to erupt in such a place was surprising to me. we all agreed they could have played the entire set again and we would have stayed.

kate I may be mistaken but the Knit has a difft booker now (is this true?) so the acts haven't been so Wire-centric lately

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:20 (twenty-three years ago)

i know the knit booker. he's been doing it for a year or a year-and-a-half. it's still wire-centric.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I haven't been to the Knitting Factory since about 97/98 so I couldn't tell you if it's changed. Back in my day, they had indie-pop bands like Magnetic Fields and the BJM as well as yer usual Wire-fare. Has that ever not been the case?

― kate, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought they were amazing, "Twist and Shout"/"Push It" climax included; judging from the album, I'd compared their vocals to Happy Mondays (not a compilment) in a *Voice* shortlist, but I was wrong. Live, I realized that Junior's (he's the skinny guy, right?) soul falsetto is GREAT; who his voice and the basslines remind me of now is KC and the Sunshine Band. They TOTALLY pull off that sugar bop in their best songs, as much as any new wave dance band I've ever heard, I think. (They also sound more disco and bubblegum than the B-52s ever did. But it was still cool to see Fred Schneider smiling in his orange Blues Explosion shirt upstairs, I have to admit. For the record {did anybody say this yet?} Junior Senior dedicated their coconut song (one of my favorites) to him. And I guess he earned it.

― chuck, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:36 (twenty-three years ago)

I really need to hear this album. The more I learn about this band the more I'm intrigued. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:42 (twenty-three years ago)

So Chuck, Tracer and I were arguing about this after the show -- Junior was lip-synching to "Move Yr Feet," right? Cuz someone outside the band sings that vocal track...

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh yeah, who Junior Senior also sound like is the Montreal mid-'90s dance-punk band Dede Trake, who have an album in the '90s version of *Stairway to Hell* if anybody wants to read more about them.

And anybody who suggested above that the Knitting Factory is one of the worst places in New York to see live music is absolutely right, by the way. The place is completely claustrophobic, like being stuck in windlowless isolation box in some prison movie, only bigger. Which is why I go upstairs (which is still not so great, but it's better.)

As for lipsyching: I can never tell; I suck at figuring that kinda thing out. But now and then last night, I did get the idea some was going on. (Not that I really care one way or another, of course.)

― chuck, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:49 (twenty-three years ago)

No, I didn't care one way or the other either. Just curiousity.

That might be the first truly great Knit show I've ever seen. I was dreading the gig cuz I knew it was a) a schmoozefest and b) at the Knit. But Jesus Christ... I'm still smiling thinking back on it.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 14:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Cool, I'm glad other people had a killer time, too. I interviewed the dudes earlier in the day yesterday, and they're so nice! I know it's naive and, I don't know, something uncool and uncritical, but I just want people to like 'em. I'm really gunning to head up their NYC street team.

Anyways, I wish I'd known some of you guys were gonna be there. It would've been nice to say hi. Not that I know what any of you humans look like in real life, but...

― Mikael Wood, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I want to be IN Junior Senior, I decided last night...

Was the interview fun & goofy? A friend spoke to them last week out in LA and said they were a blast. Apparently the RZA was at their first NYC show!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:28 (twenty-three years ago)

You know, it actually wasn't that goofy. They were just really sweet. Junior seems to do most of the talking between them; he went off on this long tangent about how Senior kicked him out of the first band they had together — some Britpop/shoegazer thing in the mid-'90s, when everyone else in Denmark only liked grunge. But I was very heartened to see that Senior wears the exact same sort of clothes — visor included — in everyday life that he does at shows and in press photos. Seeing him bounding down West Broadway was fun.

― Mikael Wood, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Junior *clearly* wants to adore me, I mean, it's so obvious. If he grows one of those sort-of "look at me, Kate" Beards then this will be proof positive that he's just waiting to be allowed to paint my toenails.

― kate, Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:43 (twenty-three years ago)

He is really fecking cute.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 4 June 2003 15:57 (twenty-three years ago)

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