The most exciting thing that happened on our journey from Baltimore to New York came when Joel ordered lunch at a seemingly convenient Taco Bell that was almost wholly inaccessible due to the wonders of the New Jersey Turnpike. We ended up abandoning that order and getting Taco Bell elsewhere.
That is to say: It was a boring drive.
We arrived in Brooklyn via the Holland Tunnel — now featuring congestion pricing! — and, astoundingly, found free parking right next to Berlin Under A, the night’s venue. It’s very cool to have to go down into the bowels of a building to play a show, and Max and I were especially excited to see more friends who live in the Big Apple.
First, though, Joel and I set out to find a place to do some work. This was shockingly difficult for a city of 10,491 coffee shops and cafés. We found two spots that had no tables and then one that specifically bans patrons from using laptops “due to inevitable changes.” We finally found Black Cat LES, which was full of other similarly minded laptop users. After that it was time for a brief soundcheck and dinner with Victor Jones and Marcus Dembinski, who would be playing with us on the bill.
Felix Tandem Tour Fact for True Fans #12: Marcus Dembinski is one of Max’s closest musical collaborators and played drums on Felix Tandem’s debut EP, Okey Dokey. He and his wife, Aubrey, hosted us last time we played in Manhattan and did so again this time. Thanks a ton, Marcus and Aubrey!
Punk Jimmy, despite the name, plays pretty straight-up rock and roll featuring bluesy guitars and the occasional old-time, down and dirty piano part. We had fun during his set, and I especially had fun meeting up with college friends Tianzhen (who lives in Boston but happened to be in New York for the week) and Sara (who lives in New York and happened to be in New York for the week).
FTFTFTF #11: cole from north carolina he like people there.
Playing New York is always a big deal for a band from our neck of the woods. Max, a somewhat-native New Yorker, was especially excited to play in front of family and coworkers from their normally remote job at SiriusXM. We took the stage a bit before 9 p.m. and settled in for a set of loud, Felix-y Tandem-y dance rock.
Seriously, it was so loud. I’m not sure what was going on with the onstage monitors, but all the three of us could really hear was my bass absolutely thumpin’ (derogatory). I spent a lot of the set tap-dancing on my pedalboard to try and make it less noisy for us as we were playing, but it apparently sounded nice out in the audience. It was a bit of a weird show! It was fun!
Victor Jones’ set was wild. We knew from warmup that he had a dreamy, dancey sound featuring lush synth tracks and Marcus on drums, but I guess I was surprised by the sheer amount of gusto he put into everything he did onstage. My favorite song was “Shoulder Song,” which at times felt like a worship song for people who “LIKE! MEAN! WOMEN!” and “SOFT! MEN!” We had fun.
There was an open deck DJ night right after our set, which means the dramatic horns of Earth, Wind & Fire’s “In the Stone” were the soundtrack for our last bit of post-show merch sales. We hit the road to Marcus’ place in White Plains after an easy enough load-in, met his cats, and got some sleep for the last push of tour.
In the words of New York mayor Eric Adams, there’s only one word to describe our time in New York: “New York.”