In support of their debut EP, “So Tight,” Asbury Park-based punk girl-group Tight Lipped will play June 29 at Otto’s Shrunken and July 24 at Bowery Electric, both New York City, and Aug. 17 at Bourre, Atlantic City.
Exotic rocker Joy Vay is in two great punk bands: the veteran TV Tramps, who have released a couple of titles on Asbury Park indie Little Dickman Records, and the new Tight Lipped, whose turn it is with the debut EP, “So Tight.” Seven songs expressed in a succinct 16 minutes live up to the title, offering another fun challenge that made it tough to pick the Makin Waves Song of the Week.
The nominees for Tight Lipped are:
* The opening “Take Me Home,”a desperate pick-up that sounds like the Ramones at their most primal
* The girl fight-like chant of “Do You Wanna?”
* The closing “Can't Afford You.”
And the winner is ... “Can't Afford You,” featuring an irresistible Runaways-like girl gang vocal within a tale about a lover who’s too costly financially, as well as emotionally. Joan Jett would love this tune, and so do I, but I love the other ones too, especially the surf guitar on “T.M.I.” and “Mowgli’s Monster Madness,” which also sports another great girl gang vocal.
“T.M.I.” is from the perspective of a jealous chick whose boyfriend is a player with both girls and boys. The surf flourish into the second verse is great fun.
A Cramps-like surf guitar permeates the otherwise stoic “Mowgli’s Monster.” That’s followed by the drum tornado “Fascinator” and then “He’s with Me,” a scorcher about the possession of obsession evolved out of a longtime crush
You can enjoy the standout “Can't Afford You” four times daily at AsburyMusic.com, as well on Makin Waves’ Spotify & YouTube playlists. And you can check out Tight Lipped — who include original bassist-vocalist Samantha Slick, new lead guitarist-vocalist Lauren Blue Fox (Speed Queen) and new drummer Jamie DiPelli (The Droogettes) — live in New York City on June 29 at Otto's Shrunken Head with The Live Ones and Not All Heroes and July 24 at Bowery Electric with Supersuckers, as well as Aug. 17 at Punk Rock Beach Bash at Bourre in Atlantic City with Despised, Houston & the Dirty Rats and much more.
Meanwhile, TV Tramps will play July 12 at the Brighton Bar in Long Branch with Defiance Engine. And as if two bands weren’t enough to keep Joy busy, she has a third, the electronic project Sugar Babylon, who will play Aug. 14 at the Brighton Bar with Daughter Vision and The Holy Circle.
Bob Makin is the reporter for MyCentralJersey.com/entertainment and a former managing editor of The Aquarian Weekly, which launched this column in 1988. Contact him at [email protected]. And like Makin Waves at www.facebook.com/makinwavescolumn.
