LONG BRANCH, NJ—I’ve been writing North Jersey Notes for almost nine years now, which I still find pretty nutty, but when a show with a lineup like this comes to the Jersey Shore, you can bet your ass that I was going to be there! The Brighton Bar in Long…

I just received an email from Nick Dowe of the band Last Red Ember asking me to check out his band. Of course I will check out any band that has the balls to ask, so, I logged onto the link that Nick sent me to Last Red…

I know that I’ve mentioned this band many times before in my Update section, but I just realized that I’ve never featured them in this column. Now that they actually have decent recordings up on their websites, it’s time to feature them. The name of the band is…

I was recently told about this band out of Montvale, NJ, called Salvage. So, I had to give them a listen, and to be brutally honest, I have no idea what I feel about this band. They’re not bad, but I also would not be rushing out to buy their…

I recently received a text message from my bro, Luke “DJ Cloak Dagger” Rizzo, brother of Soulfly guitar wiz Marc Rizzo, informing me that he’s hosting another one of his Metro Art Expos at Mexicali Live in Teaneck, NJ. The Metro Art Expo was created by Luke back in 2008…

My bro, Adam Hirschman of the band Kosmic Daydream, sent me an email last week to tell me about this great new band that the Kosmic ones recently performed with at The Clash Bar in Clifton. The name of the band is Ninth Paradigm, and they’re a Prog-Rock instrumental band…

Since I’ve been spending a lot of time down here in South Jersey, but write about North Jersey bands, it’s only appropriate for me to slip in a South Jersey band every now and then. A couple of weekends ago, I stopped down at the Seaside Music Festival in Seaside…

Dan Monda, drummer of the band HMS Revenge, recently emailed me saying that he would “really, really, really, really appreciate it” if I would check out his band. I did just that, like I always do when bands email me, and I loved it! I heard a really heavy Radiohead…

I recently rehearsed with one of my many bands down at Soundwaves in Union, NJ, when head engineer Kenny Helmstetter introduced me to a couple of the guys from Freedom Comes Friday. I met guitarist Tim Giunta and bassist Dennis Frazier, Jr. who were quick to give me their self-titled…

I recently received an email from avid North Jersey Notes reader, Johnn Ventimiglia, telling me that he loves reading the column and that he appreciates that I keep readers like him updated on new bands on the Jersey music scene. Well, thank you, Johnn, for reading every week! That wasn’t…