On the Road Again
Live Review

CMJ Music Marathon
New York City, New York
Sept. 3rd-6th, 1997

It was like a nightmare - 500 bands, 4 nights - in the busiest city in the world. Welcome to New York folks.

With my CMJ badge in hand, myself and my two companions stormed through busy NYC streets, dodged rush-hour traffic and even managed to squeeze in a bit of shopping during the 1997 CMJ music seminar. The seminars and trade show lacked in appeal for the most part (boring discussions and panels, not to mention a small assortment of trade show applicants), but the live shows these four days would make us forget of the seminar's 'blahs'.

While we were exhausted after a 12-hour train trip from Toronto to NYC, we did manage to catch a few bands opening night. They were the eclectic rock outfit Ouiji Pigs and ex-Corrosion of Conformity frontman singer Karl Agell's new southern rock outfit Leadfoot at the small, but comfortable Continental Club. Though we did see numerous other acts over the next few days (Heavy Water Factory, Stillsuit, Jack Off Jill, System Of The Down, etc...), the show stealers at this year's CMJ had to be British reggae/hip hop/metal outfit Dub War They smoked like rabid Bad Brains meets Fishbone.The quartet blew the roof off both shows that I saw them perform at. Stunning.

Powerhouse electronic/metal/atmospheric band Hanzel Und Gretyl rocked the Downtime club on closing night with a deafening blast of intensity and absurdness. Theatrical space rock with a metal riff, samples and industrial edge were thrown in for good measure.

Like I mentioned above, the seminar was weak at times but rarely did I lose interest in bar hopping and enjoying the live acts my first time there. I'm already packed for next year.

- Adrian Bromley