Rejoice, all ye who ache for hard-hitting classic indie rock, and let Stuyvesant (pronounced sty-vas-ent) take you on a high-speed spin through the bars and backyards of the Garden State.
The band's 2011 release, Fret Sounds (Dromedary Records), is filled with signature catchy melodies and killer riffs, all backed by an insanely taught beat. The title, a wink to the Beach Boys famed concept album, features unexpectedly tight harmonies, but fear not, this ain't no twee pop, it's more a rollicking road trip to SoCal via DC and the Twin Cities. Guitarists Ralph Malanga and Sean Adams race each other through blistering licks backed by drummer Pete Martinez's driving beat, and Brian Musikoff's nimble bass lines. The surprise here is not how hard they rock, but rather how layered and distinct the songs are--this is not a one-note punk band.
Neal Agneta wrote in The Big Takeover of the band's 2008 self-release, Linden Calling, "… pummeling, heavy duty power-pop prodigiously informed by The Desendents/ALL, and more acutely, the phenomenal '90's era bands that 'descended' from them, like Armchair Martian, Pollen, and Game Face. A zillion times over more smarter and more sincere than the latest batch of ersatz flakes hogging the limelight." Clever lyrics peppered with references to hometown haunts, and a healthy dose of self deprecation are "the type of blue-collar pop and punk-influenced rock-and-roll that drives parties all over the country (well, the good parties at least)", noted Stephen Carradini for independentclauses.com. New songs like St. Cloud, with its irresistible sonic surge, keep the party going with more than just a geographical nod to The Replacements and Hüsker Dü. Bish Dub riffs on the band's 2005 release Ode To Bish, deftly channeling Bad Brains and Clash-era dub.
Stuyvesant's creds read like a who's-who of college rock. Ralph, formerly of Footstone went to high school with J. Colangelo (Amercian Standard, Underdog, Murphy's Law), Matt Sweeney (Chavez), and Ted Leo. Sean was a founding member and singer of Friends, Romans, Countrymen who taught himself guitar when their guitarist quit. FRC notably played with Pavement, Sunny Day Real Estate, Doughboys, and Dead Milkmen. Brian Musikoff played in FRC with Sean back in the day, and is a noted cartoonist having, designed animation for greats such as Scharpling & Wurster, Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, and Andy Shernoff. Pete Martinez, sole proprietor of Hoboken's first and only drum shop, The Drum Den, toured extensively with NYC's Coffin Daggers.
Stuyvesant lifted its name from the liquor store Sean worked at growing up in the Journal Square section of Jersey City. Ironically, only later did they discover that on February 5, 1663, Nicholas Varlett obtained from Peter Stuyvesant a patent for the first brewery in America, located on Castle Point in Hoboken, NJ. Today, Hoboken is home to the most bars per square mile in the U.S. High-energy rock, beer, bars.
