Seven Mary Three/The Refreshments/Brian Kirk

Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ

Poe was supposed to perform but she got sick.

Here's a contemporaneous review I wrote for injersey.com:

Seeing a show at The Tradewinds while the summer is in full swing--when everything is open and place is humming with people--is sort of like the Jersey Shore's answer to Disneyland. With the waterfall, fountain and faux rock formations, and the multiple bars, building facades, and all the colors--it gives a show an extra festive dimension.

The crowd was thick at The Tradewinds for the Seven Mary Three concert, and many of the audience members looked ready to get hit with a loud dose of rock 'n' roll. Likely if any band could make the crowd forget the festive environment, Seven Mary Three would be it.

But despite the pumped fans, Seven Mary Three gave an uneven performance which was merely adequate--with high and low points which were both higher and lower than most concerts.

Lead singer Jason Ross has an annoying tendency to scream lyrics, even to the detriment of the material. In some songs (particularly in the singles "Cumbersome" and "Water's Edge"), the aggressively-hoarse style works well; other times (like when the band played the slower "Roderigo") it gives Seven Mary Three's songs a metal-cliche feel that damages the pained introspection of the lyrics. When Ross goes over the top, it makes one long for the restraint he displayed on the album.

The band kicked off their show with the drilling guitar and vocal punch of "My My" (with Ross singing part of the song through a microphone filtered with distortion, as on the album version). Lead guitarist Jason Pollock was playing on a silver-speckled guitar which was dazzling in the spotlights.

The audience was plainly thrilled to see the New Jersey return of the band, and cheered enthusiastically. Ross acknowledged the reception following the song by
proclaiming "Jersey's always been good to us." He teased the crowd by suggesting that the band normally wouldn't play "Cumbersome," but they might perform the hit
single for such a good audience. Instead, though, the band launched into "Water's Edge," which also received a tremendous reaction (particularly to the line "this ain't no fucking game," familiar to many by hearing a censored version on the radio, which received whoops from some in the venue).

After "My My," "Water's Edge," and the above-mentioned version of "Roderigo," Ross
announced that "being the sellouts that we are," they have a song featured on the
soundtrack to the upcoming feature film The Crow: City of Angels. "I haven't seen the movie yet," Ross cautioned, "so I can't vouch for it. But I've heard the soundtrack, and it's pretty good." They then played that song, "Shelf Life."

Seven Mary Three kept the show flowing smoothly with other American Standards album tracks like "Devil Boy" and "Margaret," but the highlight of the show came next when Pollock, bassist Casey Daniel and drummer Giti Khalsa left the stage, leaving Jason Ross alone with his guitar to do a slow, heartfelt cover of U2's "Running to Stand Still." With a rarely-displayed subtlety, Ross did an excellent job handling the words of Bono, right down to the "ha-la-la la-de-day" chorus. Pollock stepped in halfway through to help out on harmonies and some additional guitar. It was an exceptional rendition.

Returning to album material, they eventually did do "Cumbersome," but after that one,
many people started hitting the exit. Though "Cumbersome" was rousing, and was
followed by the terrific song "Punch In Punch Out," the rest of the band's performance was uninspiring. An encore cover of The Doors' "Back Door Man" was
fun, but Seven Mary Three had lost quite a few audience members by then.

Opening for Seven Mary Three was Tempe, Arizona, band The Refreshments (Poe was also scheduled to play, but an extremely last-minute difficulty caused Poe to cancel; local staple Brian Kirk was hastily substituted to begin the evening). The Refreshments, touring in support of their Mercury Records debut album Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy, are a great live band, even if you're not wholly familiar with their songs.

The Refreshments are a traditional four-piece rock 'n' roll band with entertaining
lyrics, and you get the impression watching them perform that they're enjoying the hell out of playing. Lead singer Roger Clyne sounds vaguely like Kevn Kinney (of
Drivin' 'n' Cryin'), and he enthusiastically thanked the audience for their
applause after each song. Brian Blush adds a blistering lead guitar to the band's songs (to steal a line from Paul Westerberg, some of his solos were hotter than a urinary infection...). All of the guys in The Refreshments seem very polite and friendly--later in the night, Brian Blush was wandering around the Tradewinds, beer in hand, chatting amiably with whoever noticed him--which wasn't too difficult, since he was still wearing the cool black cowboy hat he wore onstage.

The band tore through pretty much all of the songs on their album, including "Banditos" (the memorable single noteworthy for its narrating criminal use of
"Jean-Luc Picard" as an alias with the non-English-speaking border guard), "Suckerpunch," "Nada," and "Girly." Besides "Banditos," the crowd most seemed to enjoy the band's cover of "867-5309/Jenny." The band apparently also has fun playing this song--during the guitar solo, Roger Clyne pulled out a bottle of soap bubbles and let loose a few.

The Refreshments are definitely a band to watch (just look at the success of
follow Arizona band Gin Blossoms a few years back...). And if you see them live, it's worth your wait to catch their final sliver of a song--an unnamed but great
country-rock instrumental. It's a perfect way for the band to cap off their set.