CMJ DAY 1 - HORSE THIEF, CHIEF SCOUT, SPRING KING + MORE

Being a rookie to the CMJ Music Marathon, I decided to catch as many shows as I could on the first day of the ever growing festival, and it was really super cool. Being that there are so many venues and bands to choose from this week, it can be a bit overwhelming to pick but the handy CMJ app available on all platforms for your phone, makes it less confusing and easy to plan out your day/night and suggest downloading if you’re a bit disorganized like myself.

I will let the photos and videos inserted (just click the links) speak for the amazing bands I saw as this article would be long if I were to delve into each band individually.

First up was a few songs by the local folk-country band, Two Thirds Goat, at Rockwood’s Stage 1 and the small room sounded great and went down smooth like fine whiskey. I ran over to Pianos next to catch Scottish “Sleaze Rockers” Casual Sex and they didn’t disappoint for so early in the day. Next, upstairs at Pianos; I took in a few songs by Glass Gang, who had a mix of styles fueled by dirty and distorted guitar, weird lyrics and an electronic backbeat that reminded me of Sonic Youth on EDM.

After downing a less than stellar coffee, I made my way back to Rockwood Music Hall’s Stage 2 to hear a set from Oklahoma City’s finest – Horse Thief. These dudes blew me away with a set of highly original tunes that had the packed room grooving along to obvious hits – like in this video for “Little Dust.” Horse Thief reminded me of a young My Morning Jacket or perhaps Band Of Horses with intricate and lyric driven songs that you can dance to and also feel good about while doing so.

After making my way on ridiculously crowded F and L trains I found myself at the absolutely packed Brooklyn Bowl, for Georgia’s Chief Scout. I had never seen the large room so filled before 8pm before, being that Cold War Kids were headlining and it was a free show brought the fans out in droves.

It must of been amazing for Trey Rosenkampff-AKA Chief Scout to walk out with his bassist and drummer to such a sight and they did not disappoint for one second. Even with technical difficulties, including a busted guitar cord and a strap falling off, they blistered through their newest single “Run Away From Home” which you can see in this live video. After blazing through a 45 minute guitar driven set, Chief Scout exited to deafening applause and left a mark on everyone.

Rough Trade Records and the United Kingdom’s Spring King was my last stop for the night and with their up-tempo and fun show was a fitting end to CMJ day 1. Spring King was all energy and had a real tight and cohesive sound with all members adding vocals which made for non-stop action.

Article by: Shayne Hanley