Big D and the Kids Table brings ska back to River Street Jazz Cafe in Plains on May 3
From a press release:
It was announced today that Boston ska punk band and Vans Warped Tour mainstays Big D and the Kids Table will return to the River Street Jazz Cafe in Plains on Friday, May 3 with punk rockers Blanks 77 and ska trio Disposable, both from New Jersey.
Doors at the Jazz Cafe (667 N. River St., Plains) open at 8 p.m., and the 21+ show starts at 9 p.m. Tickets, which are $15 in advance, can be purchased online via HoldMyTicket.
Big D sold out the venue last year when they played with The Pietasters, so tickets are expected to go fast for this show as well. The band is fondly remembered in the area for frequenting the now-defunct Cafe Metro in Wilkes-Barre, where they once played an acoustic set in the parking lot for over 150 people who were turned away at the door because the tiny club was filled to capacity:
Big D and the Kids Table frontman David McWane has said, “There are people who want to be in a band and then there are musicians.” Once in a while, a group comes along that makes music simply because they have no other choice – they are addicted musicians. For over 20 years, Boston’s Big D and the Kids Table has proven just that, regardless of the band’s poverty. McWane describes the group as “modern American gypsies.”
“The person who put it best is [Warped Tour founder] Kevin Lyman,” he explains. “A friend once asked him if we were a ‘big band,’ and Kevin replied, ‘I’ll tell you this… they’ve been around for 14 years [at the time] and, each year, they’re extremely relevant.’
“Our new record is by far our best yet,” McWane continues. “It’s a bomb! Our energy writing it was incredible. As friends, we had a blast; as musician’s, we knew exactly what we wanted to craft; and as tour mates, we were all on the same page, writing songs that would make the coming tour a slaughtering battle on stage. We love energy, and that’s what we packed these explosive songs with.”
After eight records, including their latest back-to-back albums, 2013’s “Stomp” and “Stroll,” that still holds true.
“I personally prefer shows where you have to prove yourself,” McWane adds when asked which of the band’s thousands of live performances stick out in his head. “The Warped Tours, Reading and Leads, and the Dropkick Murphys tours that we did were exciting because you had to prove yourself. The feeling is similar to when your band first starts out; you get that first-show anxiousness,” he continues.
“When you play shows where everyone loves you, then it turns more into entertaining – and that can be fun, but that’s not where I personally come from,” he elaborates. “I like the underdog shows more because they add spice and kick.”
Armed with music that’s youth-driven, honest speaking, furious, and fun, Big D will undoubtedly get the opportunity in sweaty clubs all over the world, to step up to the plate and prove themselves all over again.
“Lovers of our sound better get ready ‘cause no one’s gonna help them in the front row,” McWane says. “If you wanna relax, head to the back.”
Originally based in Hillside, New Jersey and now living in Denville, New Jersey street punk band Blanks 77 formed in 1990 and was active until 2001, reuniting in 2004 with their classic lineup and continuing onward.
The band – Mike Blank, Renee Wasted, Chad 77, and Tim “TJ” Blank – has maintained a prolific career, releasing three albums and numerous EPs, appearing on numerous compilations, touring Europe twice and the United States countless times, and sharing the stage with other well-known punk acts, such as The Misfits, Rancid, Dwarves, The Business, Bad Brains, The Bouncing Souls, One Way System, Anti-Nowhere League, Anti-Heros, Dropkick Murphys, GBH, The Criminals, UK Subs, Total Chaos, and tons of bands that they were too drunk to remember.
They came up with the name “Blanks” because their minds were blank at the time. After the Blanks got reviewed in a magazine, another band notified them that the Blanks was already taken. ’77, which stood for 1977, the year most punk rock bands started, was then added onto their moniker. Blanks 77 signed with Nasty Vinyl and released their first full-length album, “Killer Blanks,” in Germany. The band then signed onto Radical Records and re-released “Killer Blanks” in 1996 with four additional tracks. In 1997, Blanks 77 came out with their second album, “Tanked and Pogoed,” and 1999 saw the release of their newest full-length record, “C.B.H.”
Blanks 77 are known for their crazy live shows coast to coast and all over the world; any mohawked punk aficionado knows who they are. After reuniting with their original drummer, Chad 77, they played a number of shows around the New York/New Jersey area throughout 2006, including B.B. King’s with the reformed Germs, the Kitting Factory with Bouncing Souls, a George Tabb benefit at CBGB, and the Nail in the Coffin fest in Bound Brook, New Jersey with a host of up-and-coming local Jersey teen punk outfits, just proving that Blanks 77 will always remain a part of the local underground scene.
In 2016, they released “Gettin’ Blasted” on Jailhouse Records, a split with fellow Jersey band The Parasitix.
Watch or listen to NEPA Scene’s interview with Big D and the Kids Table at the 2017 Vans Warped Tour in Scranton here.
