I have been so pumped to write this one- Jake McKelvie and the Countertops were my door to the DIY scene, therefore becoming the door to most of my friends in college, and therefore the door to who I am today. I have followed this band all over the upper east coast. I’ve seen them literally countless times, and each time I danced so much I thought I would start flying. I don’t know what it is! This band brings JOY! I can barely write while I listen because I keep stopping to sing along. 500 words won’t do justice to the way I feel about this band, but I’ll try.
Let me set the scene. I’m a junior
in high school. I’m depressed, I want a way to be ~different~ from my friends. Enter
the cool new guy from Maine. We the same English class that year, a class in
which I often would start laughing so hard out of no where that I would end up
sobbing in the bathroom, trying to compose myself. That year I was overrun with
emotions, and I had no idea how to deal with it.
The cool new guy invited me to a
show he was helping to host at a friend’s garage. It was on a Tuesday night,
and although I’m sure my parents would have been fine with it if I had asked
them, I decided to sneak out. I told my parents I was watching the Bachelorette
at a friend’s house (a weekly occurrence), and got into my car in sweatpants. I
drove to the show, changed my pants, put on makeup, and walked in alone. Turns
out, two cars full of Maine punks had come down for this show. I knew two
people out of everyone there. No one knew where I was or what I was doing. It
was awkward and cold as hell, and I was thinking about leaving early.
But when Jake McKelvie and the
Countertops came on, the thing that blew me away was the crowd’s reaction.
Earlier that night, the cool new guy had moshed straight into a pole, causing a
dramatic head wound that soaked into the collar of his shirt. But the thing I
remember most about that night was the way everyone started slow dancing and
singing along to Oh, the Ghost, a song off JCM+Tops’s first album. It seemed
like everyone was friends, everyone knew each other, and I wanted that so
badly. I wanted to be part of a community that I had chosen, not one that was expected
of me[1].
A lot of the people in that room
ended up changing my life. I became a part of that community in my own way.
Jake McKelvie follows me on Instagram and recognizes me when I turn up at his
shows[2].
They just came out with a new album which is quickly becoming one of my favorites,
but Solid Chunks of Energy is the album that altered the course of my life. I
love the onslaught of wordy lyrics, I love the bass runs and the drums. I love
that I have gotten to dance with my friends at their shows, and I especially
love that they have the line “it’s not too late for me to touch your virtual
body” in one of their songs. This band fucking rocks.
I highly suggest you listen to this
album, especially the track Aside From Your Hair. You can listen here.
[1] I
want to be clear that all throughout this part of my life, my OG friend group
stuck by me despite how insufferable I was being. Every one of my friends came
with me to a show at some point. Even if it was never their thing, they remain
some of my Best Friends. Me going to punk shows was an attempt to differentiate
myself from them, but not out of a dislike or a shame to be associated with
them.
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