CMJ shows don't usually involve a parterre box, but last night, the Walkmen, the Wrens and Frida Hyvnonen were treated to space in the Skirball center at NYU, which, as one of the Wrens quipped, was a nice change from the average "seedy dive bar." In spite of the haute venue, the Wrens and the Walkmen delivered their songs with a whole lot of grit and rock 'n' roll spirit. And while the Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser caterwauled his way through their repertoire, his voice rarely dropping below a jagged wail, it was the Wrens who exhibited the most rockin' attitude of the night by climbing amps, ripping out guitar strings and throwing them offstage, and making a genuine connection with the rabid crowd. At one point, frontman Charles Bissel commented, without any hint of irony or cynicism, that he would gladly play in the students' dorm rooms. Soon after, an overexcited fan in the front row flung himself onto the stage and rolled up in the fetal position before leaping up to grab the mic out of Bissel's hands and wail away on his own. Rather than punch out the fan Jeff Tweedy-style, Bissel pulled the rest of the front-row fans onto the stage, where chaos, kissing and shirtlessness ensued amongst the spastic horde of students. Before the show, we caught up with some of the Walkmen to see how CMJ treated them this year. CMJ: So, are you just playing the Marathon this year or going to other shows, or what? Matt Barrick: I am just playing. I actually don't know much about what's going on, unfortunately. I live in Philly now, actually. I guess I know the Shins are playing tonight but I have a feeling we're not gonna get in. It's like a madhouse, you know? I feel like that's how it is at CMJ when there's a good band playing... Pete Bauer: Yeah, I would like to go see the Shins, but I don't know if that's an option or not. CMJ: What sort of CMJ experiences have you had before? Barrick: Hm, did the Walkmen ever play CMJ? I think we did... Well, I know that my old band played at the Continental, and that was like a madhouse. I guess it's a pretty small club though. Bauer: Yeah, the Walkmen played CMJ! We played at three in the morning at the Bowery Ballroom, and everyone thought it was going to be a terrible idea, and I thought it was a good idea and it turned out great. And I was real boozed up and everybody had a blast. A good time was had by all. CMJ: You just put out a covers album, rather, a cover album of Harry Nilsson's Pussy Cats. So how are you going to play those songs live? Presuming you're going to play them, that is. Barrick: Well, honestly we haven't done it too much. We were considering doing a couple of shows that were just all the new songs, and we still might do it, but it's still kind of a really involved process. There's so many guests on the record, and there's a string section and horns and other people, friends of ours... It would have been a really big production. And a lot of people sang on it from other bands, so it would be hard to get everyone together and organize. We wanted to spend more time working on new songs. But we might... Well, we'll probably do one song. CMJ: There are so many new bands that come to play CMJ this time of year, which is often their first time playing in New York, so perhaps you could offer some guidance to them? Barrick: Hm. Stay in school. Or go back to school. (Laughs) You know, I cannot imagine being in a touring band and playing New York. It sounds so difficult. You know, living there you can get used to it, you go to the show, but when you're touring in big cities like New York, it's such a pain. Bauer: I don't know. Don't see Cats, it's terrible. Horrible. CMJ: What about Stomp? Bauer: Oh, that's horrible. Even worse. CMJ: Plans for the future? Parties this weekend? Barrick: Well, we are working on songs, so we've got a bunch of new ones were gonna do, and we're trying to figure out where we're gonna record and hopefully we'll start that, you know? No, no parties. I just had a daughter. Well, my wife just had a daughter, so I'll be spending time with the family. www.marcata.net/walkmen
