As they so cleverly state on their MySpace page, “If you’re not a teenager, you are tonight,” Weston, my all-time favorite band from high school, and still to this day, in fact, took me on a trip down memory lane the other night when my brother, my good friend Rosanne and I went into Brooklyn to Europa Night Club to see them play for an all too-short weekend cluster of gigs. This was, sadly, the first time that I’d had the opportunity to see this band that I’ve idolized for so long and they were everything I could have possibly expected and more! Never in my life have I sung so loud, never in my life have I danced so much (so much so that I managed to pee a little, that’s how hard I was dancing, and yes, like a drunken fool I told the band that, as if they would feel complimented by some intoxicated fan pissing her self on the dance floor) and never in my life have I just had such a great fucking time!
Weston is the ultimate, number one, teenage-angst band. If you have a bad breakup, you listen to Weston, if you’re a dorky nerd and no one likes you, you listen to Weston, and if you just like kick ass, old school pop-punk music that hasn’t morphed into some shitty ass excuse for a wanna-be band, you listen to Weston; and if you don’t, well then you really should. How else can I say it; they’re just so good! When my girlfriend Roe and I heard they were coming to town we were so thrilled because she had never seen them either; and when I called my brother up for some directions, because I’m apparently a moron and can’t look up the train schedule to Brooklyn, and he asked who I was going to see, I told him it was Weston and he instantly said, “I’m in!”
It’s sad, but I really don’t think that they get as much attention as they deserve. Though I’m focusing on more of their past efforts because I love them so much, their 1996 album, Got Beat Up, on Go Kart Records, is one that will forever remain a legendary record in my book. I don’t really have that many albums that I truly love; there aren’t many CDs that I can just listen to straight through and not skip one song, but Got Beat Up sure as hell is one of them! And on this dreamy Sunday night, April 6, 2008, they played, along with some newer tunes that were equally amazing, almost the entire, if not the entire, Got Beat Up record that I fell in love with so long ago. Everything from “Superstar” to “Heather Lewis” to “Just Like You” to “Retarded,” they played it all!
That wasn’t the only highlight of the evening, however. It certainly sits high as my favorite part, but luckily we didn’t have to sit through a bunch of crappy bands while we were awaiting the one we really came to see. The three of us got there just as the second band was finishing up, so I didn’t get to hear much from them, and I honestly don’t even know which band they were of the two that we missed. It was either Scream Hello or General Miggs, but even though I only got to hear the last little bit of their set, they sounded great so I’m sure it was a kick ass performance. The third band, though, that came on just before Weston, caught all of our attention immediately. Love Automatic took to the stage and instantly amped up the crowd. They were loud and energetic and Brent, the lead singer, has a great voice. They sounded really, really good and when I found out they aren’t signed yet I was actually pretty shocked. Brent told me, however, that they just finished mixing their new EP and that it should be released shortly, so be sure to check it out when it becomes available!
So as the night went on I just had more and more of a great time; maybe a little too great, I didn’t get home until almost 5 a.m. and I was in pain the next day at work – but it was worth it! We stayed after the show and hung out a bit with the band, had some cake for Jesse’s birthday, and my brother Ricky and I, lame as we must have sounded, were actually buzzed enough, or flat out drunk enough for that matter, to ask James (vox/guitar), if they would play Ricky’s approaching high school reunion. Could we seriously have acted like any more of a couple of losers? I think that would probably be the biggest high school reunion that Nutley High has ever seen, because not only would the class of ’99 go, but every single Weston fan in town would for sure show up; and there’s quite a decent amount of us! I wonder if the guys from Weston know the guys from Bigwig. They’re from Nutley originally, so maybe they’d want to play too! You never know…
I think I’m starting to get ahead of my self, I need to stop. Its okay to dream but come on…either way, all I wanted to say was that this was probably one of the most satisfying shows that I’ve ever been to. I had the time of my life and came across a great new band that I didn’t know about. I got to have some yummy cake and meet the dudes from a band that I love! You can’t really ask for more than that….
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