Review: Julie of the Wolves & Injecting Strangers @ Haymarket

Just about 3 months after Cincinnati's Injecting Strangers first show, They found their way to Louisville Feb. 8 with The Teeth and Julie of the Wolves. To anyone familiar with these three bands it might seem like an odd pairing; regardless it is nice to see twin-city scheming between Louisville and Cincinnati that may form into something like the 1990s Rock N' Roll railway between Louisville and Chicago that brought many great bands here and gave Louisville musicians a chance outside of town.

In a forgotten storage building behind the Haymarket Bar is where bands play when they play at the Haymarket. It is very bizarre, but no more than The Haymarket its self.   The Teeth played first, i'm not sure why, perhaps hospitality for the out-of-towners, either way I missed their set again. this marks the latest in a long line of failed attempts of me trying to see them live, i have really enjoyed their newest LP and it is well worth a listen for anyone who enjoys post-garage..

Injecting Strangers played second, and i made it just in time for their very long and drawn-out sound check. It was a little painful, and maybe unnecessary as the sound equipment at Haymarket has somehow  made a  Miraculous recovery since the fun but ill-fated New Years Eve show, when everything that could go wrong   did go wrong. Watching Injecting Strangers uncomfortably fumble with their equipment I thought 'god, they're young.' and just then a girl next to me looked at them and said "God, I'm Old." So I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder, either way I completely retracted my thought the very second they stopped with the fart and titty jokes and dove straight into their set. They played with the gusto of veteran rockers and with the stage presence of vaudevillian legends. Lead Singer Richard Ringer has the makings to be a great entertaining personality; embodying just the right amounts of a Birthday Party era Nick Cave and pre-Beautiful World Mark Mothersbaugh.   To the best of my knowledge they played all three tracks from their short but finely crafted Nightmare Nancy EP: available for free download here, or as a free CD at their shows that comes with a bonus track..  they did mention wanting to play Louisville regularly. I recommend that they do.

injecting strangers @ haymarket

Richard Ringer: The Birthday Party & Devo's escaped love child.

Last up was the incomparable,  and possibly unappreciated Julie of the Wolves, as I was completely surprised that there wasn't more people to witness the unabashed rock they exhume without even trying.
Maybe rock isn't appreciated the way it was a decade ago, or maybe it had something to do with the entire Derby City Roller Girls team showing up in the main building for a fashionable get down.
Regardless the crowd that stayed was in for a rock infused show starting with their super catchy Create/Destroy, the title track to their solid new LP. read logan's review here. Carrie Neumayer and company can scream and crush with the best of them. I hope they too hit the stage in Louisville again soon.

Julie of the Wolves

2/8: The Teeth, Julie of the Wolves, Injecting Strangers

This Saturday two of Louisville's best, The Teeth and Julie of the Wolves, are meeting up with one of Cincinnati's strongest up-and-comers, Injecting Strangers, at the Haymarket. Doors open at 9 o'clock and admission is $5. Come on out for a wild time and all the Star Wars memorabilia you care to see!

Review: Injecting Strangers (Cincinnati) EP

            

            Injecting Strangers is a five-piece band from Cincinnati releasing their debut E.P. “Nightmare Nancy” today. They’re made up of Dylan Oseas and Peter Foley (formerly bass and guitar players for Automagick), Chase Leonard of Easy Breezy, Aaron Disney (Talk Mouth), and singer/songwriter Richard Ringer.

                

                The 3 track EP opens with “Lucky,” a wise guy greaser tune about a mustachioed leader of a tough-as-nails future brigade.  The whole EP falls in line with the band’s just-after-Halloween release date with fanciful horror subject matter with bits and pieces of playful blasphemy and curse words sprinkled throughout. “Nightmare Nancy Pt. 1” and the concluding track “Nightmare Nancy Pt. 2” fallow a mysterious narrative about Nancy, her father, and a doctor who falls in love with Nancy. Reading like a traditional murder ballad from the perspective of the doctor, everyone dies in the end but the details are all fuzzy to imply that only Nancy knows the whole truth.

               

            What’s cool about this band is that, like Ringer’s solo stuff and Automagic’s live show, the sound they achieve is fast, big, and somewhere in between weird and goofy. Definitely someone worth looking out for in the future.

Injecting Strangers Promo from Kyle Howland on Vimeo.