The Aquarian Weekly » piston driven

North Jersey Notes: James Arlowe And The Ruffian Circus And More!

Tim Louie — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:52:16 +0000

JAMES ARLOWE AND THE RUFFIAN CIRCUS—Freehold, NJ

I recently received an email asking me to give a listen to James Arlowe And The Ruffian Circus from Freehold, NJ. I did give them a listen and I have to say that these guys are pretty amazing. James Arlowe And The Ruffian Circus is just pure rock ’n’ roll. I can’t even put them into a sub genre. They just rock! I logged onto the band’s website, jamesarlowe.com, to hear songs like the groovy “Letters To Caroline,” the rocking “Into The Tempest,” “Oh White Devil” and, my favorite track, “Bethesda.” Normally,…

North Jersey Notes: Updates

Tim Louie — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:36:59 +0000

I haven’t heard from the boys of Killcode in a little while. Well, until now, that is! The boys rocked the Highline Ballroom in NYC last week for the first time, but most importantly, my bro and singer Tom Morrissey told me that Killcode is currently in the middle of recording their first full-length CD with producer Stacy O’Dell, who is also working on the new CD from my bros, Panzie*. The Killcode CD is still untitled as of now, but I’m sure once songs are ready to be heard, you’ll be able to hear them at myspace.com/killcode.

Speaking…

North Jersey Notes: Hands On The Stereo, The Compulsions, Piston Driven and more!

Tim Louie — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:30:01 +0000

HANDS ON THE STEREO—Maywood, NJ

Now, you can’t get any more North Jersey than Maywood, NJ, and when I came across Hands On The Stereo on ReverbNation, I felt that they would be a perfect fit for this column. They’re music was modern and at times anthemic, especially their song “Can’t Stop Kids Like Us,” which reminded me a little of All-American Rejects. Hands On The Stereo’s music is actually pretty heavy, with a punk/hardcore edge. The band describes themselves as a happy hardcore band. A few standouts for me included the songs “Tara,” “Party Baker” and “Time Machine,”…

North Jersey Notes: HMS Revenge, Rochelle Park, NJ

Tim Louie — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:23:32 +0000

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 influence on all of the songs and maybe even Jeff Buckley or Jimmy Gnecco influence on them, as well. Bottom line is these guys were awesome! Singer Rick Warren’s vocals were very powerful, yet soothing a la Thom Yorke on songs like “125,” “Entwined,” and “Sell My Skin.” Also being…

North Jersey Notes: Ghost And The Big Sky, West Caldwell, NJ

Tim Louie — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:55:13 +0000

I recently received an email from Ghost And The Big Sky guitarist, Patrick Bitbol, warning me about a CD package that he was mailing to me at The Aquarian offices. Unfortunately, I haven’t been up to the offices in a while, but I wanted to give Patrick’s band a listen. I thought that Ghost And The Big Sky was pretty good! They had this psychedelic rock feel to them, yet the music still felt bad ass. This was evident in songs like “Like A Bullet” and “Stone Cold” with its classic rock feel, but dirty guitar riffs and bad ass…

North Jersey Notes: A Balance Between, Lyndhurst, NJ

Tim Louie — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:04:54 +0000

I recently stumbled across a very cool band from Lyndhurst, NJ. They were filled with great vocals, heavy guitar riffs, intelligent songwriting, and memorable tracks like the rock radio friendly “Burn To Shine,” “Some Time Out,” and my favorite, “Break.” Oh, and the band name is A Balance Between. You know that there’s a good groove in there somewhere when a band can get your head boppin’ after a listen or two. That’s the way that I felt after giving A Balance Between a listen.

Rising from the ashes of a stale North Jersey music scene back in the summer…

North Jersey Notes: The Doughboys

Tim Louie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:11:36 +0000

If you play in a Jersey band, have you ever wondered where this New Jersey music scene evolved from? Well, my guess is that this scene evolved from bands like The Doughboys. I recently received an email to give them a listen because their song, “Black Sheep,” was labeled as “The Coolest Song In The World” on Little Steven’s Underground Garage station on Sirius/XM radio. I went and gave them a listen and thought that they reminded me of the American version of the Rolling Stones. Their music had a classic rock feel, thanks to the tinny guitar sound of…

North Jersey Notes: Progressive Dementia

Tim Louie — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:00:58 +0000

I thought that I’ve seen it all when it comes to live performances, but apparently I haven’t. A band called Progressive Dementia has recently risen its ugly head across my attention span, and just when I thought that Ape Fight was the weirdest band that I’ve ever met, in walks Progressive Dementia. They remind me of Meat Loaf and a Broadway play having sex and their offspring being Progressive Dementia. Seriously, the song “Cameltoe” is so freakin’ weird, but the lyrics are hilarious, which really drew me in to listen to more. The song “The Crab Lies Down On Broadway”…

North Jersey Notes: Daredevil Squadron

Tim Louie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:00:07 +0000

DAREDEVIL SQUADRON-Brooklyn, NY

The Aquarian’s own Patrick Slevin recently turned me onto this band out of Brooklyn, NY. The name of the band is Daredevil Squadron, and I think they are awesome! They only had three songs posted on their MySpace page, “Forgotten Son,” “Black Lounge,” and “Out Of The Sun,” which are not on CD yet. In fact, the recordings on the MySpace page were a result of the band’s second rehearsal ever. The songs were very reminiscent of early ’80s metal ala Iron Maiden and AC/DC.

Daredevil Squadron is a new band from Brooklyn, NY, that combines flawless…

North Jersey Notes: Only Living Boy

Tim Louie — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:45:00 +0000

I was recently turned onto this band out of Hackettstown, NJ, called Only Living Boy through an email from a friend of mine. They’re a great band with some excellent songwriting skills. After listening to songs like “Worthless,” “My Friend,” and “Homesick,” over and over again, I thought that Only Living Boy kind of reminded me of Pearl Jam a little bit. I don’t mean older Pearl Jam, but the kind of band Pearl Jam turned into, which is a more blues rock sound with softer undertones. Okay, I guess you can call it folk rock!

Lead singer, guitarist and…