There are a lot of reasons to come celebrate the release of issue #3 of Jasper this Thursday night, but probably the best is that one of Columbia’s newest and most electric bands will be playing the party.
The Fishing Journal started as merely the recording project of drummer Chris Powell (formerly of Death Becomes Even the Maiden and The Mercy Shot), who wanted a chance to showcase his original songs and shred on guitar for a change. Powell has an obvious love for the hardscrabble indie-punk of Superchunk, as many of the songs take the full-throttle infectious pop structures mixed with distorted chaos approach and he often sings in a pitch-perfect imitation of Mac Macaughan, but each of the six songs on his debut release (a self-titled 10” record) also demonstrate the dynamic complexity and instrumental interplay more common to post-punk and post-hardcore bands. For a first effort, Powell seems to already have a well-seasoned sense of how to make the lurch and pull of full-tilt rock and roll work to his advantage.
To bring the songs to life, Powell has enlisted local powerhouses Reno Gooch on bass (who also plays in SpaceCoke and The Mercy Shot) and drummer Josh Latham (formerly of The Restoration and You Are Being Invaded By Demons) on the drums. The resulting sonic assault has to be heard to get a full sense of how exciting these songs can be—so we’ll see you Thursday.
For more information on The Fishing Journal and to hear some of their recordings, check out their website http://fishingjournalband.com/index.html.
-- Kyle Petersen