Gowanus Music Club featuring The Vote

It's 3 o'clock on Sunday. I am drinking a lager, watching a four-piece band of combined age 36 rock out at The Bell House. It seems that in Brooklyn the army of musicians, though sizable, is not enough for inter-borough domination. To speed up the donkey, organizations like "Gowanus Music Club" are now growing fledgling musicians in underground labs and training them in musical Skinner Boxes. I am not sure as to the size or severity of this operation, but the Sunday show at The Bell House was packed with talent, proving that to let these kids out of their cages once a month is the best way to set the bar high and make adult players in the Brooklyn Hipster Army feel shamed and inadequate.

Six tiny bands performed, with players aged from seven to sixteen years. I recorded the second band, The Vote. From The Vote, guitarist Owen Algrant is among the youngest, still a stage 1 fledgling at 7; his brother Angus on the skins is a veteran at 10. Lead singer Lucas Berger, also 10, is the spitting image of Marcus Congleton from Ambulance LTD - just in miniature. This makes me suspicious that the organization is actually using DNA from rock stars, probably collected without consent, to splice and dice these kids to spec. Bassist Shannon Crutchfield, 9, was holding it down exceedingly well on Bass with a cool, unorthodox over-hand style, probably a result of some new experimental bass-player splicing.



This version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" features Angus on the mini-Martin, which apparently excited him sufficiently to shatter one of his drumsticks on the first beat. This seemed to amuse him. I played the drums as a kid, and I didn't break a stick until I was 15. That's some freakin' angst! Once he was back in his groove, Owen and Lucus coolly traded solos, Shannon hammering along all the way.

And I have to point out Owen's OBAMA T-shirt.



Although The Vote was all kids, some of the instructors from GMC jammed with the bands on other numbers. It was one of the most amazing shows I have been to in a while. Congratulations to all of the kids and young adults from all of the bands. I can't wait to see what you do in the future. I know it will be great.