The CMJ Music Marathon rages on in New York this week. Punk rock up-and-comers Big Ups will be performing at The Bowery Poetry Club on Oct. 22 along with Math The Band, Gary Lucas & Gods and Monsters and more.
Formed in Sept. 2010, the band played their first show atop singer Joe Galaragga’s apartment building since no venue would book them. Since then, booking agents and fans have wised up, and over the past year the group has played bars, basements, kitchens and backyards all over NYC.
A shotgun blast of sugary, guitar-driven punk rock, the band performs with a zeal for both fury and fun rarely blended so tastefully. Tracks such as “HI 5,” “Down For Pizza” and “Calvin & Hobbes” from their self-titled debut reveal the band to be happy-go-lucky, post adolescents living the youthful, carefree lifestyle that makes NYC such a popular destination for talent, young people.
But these whimsical, capricious little odes to fun obscure the other half of the story. “Stressed/Pressed,” “This Place” and “No Plan” reveal the dark underbelly of modern life for the young. Overwhelming social pressures and the apathetic, grey eyes of these city streets follow the band around every corner, as they wail and rasp so hard the music may as well be trying to break through your speakers and rush like a bullet-train to oblivion.
The Bowery Poetry Club is located on 308 Bowery, NYC. Doors open at 7 p.m. For more info on Big Ups visit them online at facebook.com/wearebigups or check them out on Bandcamp at bigups.bandcamp.com.
