NYC Scene Report – Bad Mary, Power Trash, & Awful Din

This week’s NYC Scene Report takes a look at three bands I’ve seen in recent weeks at various indie music venues in the city. As many of you know, I’m a professional concert hopper, and I love discovering artists this way. When I see a bill where I know only one band, I find it exciting, because there’s a chance I’ll be leaving as a fan of someone new. Three bands that have captured my attention this way are Bad Mary, Power Trash, and Awful Din.

* Bad Mary is a punk rock band from Long Island, and I saw them when they opened for one of my personal faves, The Dollyrots, at Bowery Electric back in July.

To say Bad Mary are high energy would be an understatement, as the foursome – led by powerhouse vocalist, and all around force of nature Amanda Mac – grab hold of the audience from the very first song, and never let go.

In addition to being high energy, they’re also incredibly fun. In other words, Bad Mary are both a great band, and a great time.

If you’re in the audience, I’d advise you to keep your head on a swivel, because Amanda tosses out various trinkets, and stickers, like a “mother f*cking ninja,” to quote one of their songs.

By the end of their set, I think everyone in the crowd who hadn’t heard Bad Mary before became a fan. I know I did, and I have a fresh new Bad Mary t-shirt in my collection to prove it!

* Power Trash was a discovery of mine last October, on the night before my birthday to be exact. The bill at Arlene’s Grocery was originally supposed to include a buddy of mine who was on tour, but by the night of the show the entire bill had been changed, with Power Trash now being part of the lineup. I still had my ticket, and I was ready to hear some bands I’d never heard before, so I hopped on a train, and made my way there.

Power Trash rocked my face off – not literally, that would have been bad – and I left the show knowing I needed to see them again. When they had another show at Arlene’s last month, I was front and center.

The NYC-based band once again crushed it with a high energy set that featured lead singer Pierce Lydon looking, sounding, and performing like he’d have fit right in on the stage at CBGB at the height of the punk rock explosion. With vocals, and enthusiasm equally large, he worked his way into the crowd a number of times, including having the entire audience squat down in order to have us all rise at the same time during a song.

Every member of the band had a chance to shine, and none of us caught our breath until the end of the set.

* Brooklyn-based rockers Awful Din were the headliners the second time I saw Power Trash, and being that I’ve written about them here before, I was excited to see them live for the first time. Plus, it was a chance to see if Awful Din’s lead singer and I are actually alternate universe versions of each other. It turns out we do look a lot alike, but the universe didn’t implode with us being in the same room at the same time.

Awful Din started their set with a rock cover of “… Baby One More Time,” and it was brilliant on a number of levels. Pretty much everyone under the age of 45 knows the lyrics to the song, and because of that, once people realized what was going on, everyone started singing along. Even if a person was there for a previous band, they were now paying full attention to Awful Din.

The band then launched into their original music, which is fantastic. Whether you want to call it pop-rock, pop-punk, emo, or something else altogether, it’s relatable for a lot of folks, and it’s damned good.

I know I’ll be in the crowd for another one of their shows in the near future.



Side Note – You may have to crank up the volume on the video below.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.