New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu


?>

 

Makin Waves Record of the Week: Gatherers' "We Are Alive Beyond Repair"


By Bob Makin

originally published: 05/31/2018


Bayonne-based Gatherers have released “We Are Alive Beyond Repair,” their second LP for Equal Vision Records and fourth studio release overall since 2012. In support of the new album, Gatherers have embarked on a national tour that brings them June 6 to The Saint in Asbury Park. Photo by Kelsey Hunter Ayres

If you took The Cure and Radiohead, stabbed in them in the hearts and guts, sprayed their blood and entrails all over the floor and let their fans wrestle in them, Gatherers would make the perfect soundtrack. Too intense? Well, Gatherers are a brutally intense, beautifully morbid band.

On “We Are Alive Beyond Repair,” their fourth studio collection, third LP and second full-length for hard-core legend Ray Cappo’s Equal Vision label following 2015’s “Quiet World,” the Bayonne-based five-piece are super tight and technically superb. This especially true of bassist Matt Popowski, whose fat fluidness adds greatly to many of the 11 tracks. I also love the way guitarists Rob Talalai and Anthony Gesa battle each other, like two opposing war planes crashing into the sea at the same time, while drummer Adam Cichocki holds their creative chaos together with the precision of a machine and the soul of Babatunde Olatunji.

But at the front and center of Gatherers is vocalist, lyricist and synth player/sequencer Rich Weinberger. He matches the band’s range from melodic to pummeling with equally varied and dynamic vocals, dark to light keyboard patches, and eerie, gloomy insights that recall the inventive minds and tortured souls of Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Wolf and Sylvia Plath.

Like Toothgrinder vocalist Justin Matthews, Weinberger has this incredible ability to go from high-pitched sweetness to low guttural growl. The best example is “Ann Liv Young” in which he goes back and forth in those vocal styles within seemingly impossible seconds of each other. Yet, he also can pull it off live.




Advertise with NJ Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for info



“Lambs to the Chapel” also mixes it up, going from a frightening, blood-curdling final verse into a hauntingly acoustic conclusion. Other standout tracks include the closing “Starve,” which features a beautifully expressive ending that sounds as if Weinberger is pleading with someone who is holding a gun to his head.

The single, “The Floorboards Ate Breathing,” mixes the synth-driven, guitar-echoing alt-dance vibe of mid- to late-80s The Cure with Edgar Allan Poe’s sense of the macabre. The gruesome, eerie tune was inspired by a 2007 HBO documentary about a wife, who after years of domestic abuse against her and her son, snapped and killed her husband with a hammer.

The equally emotional “Every Pain In Monochrome” draws its sad, violent story from British author Virginia Woolfe, who took her life by filling her pockets with stones and walking into a river. Similarly, for the eternally morose “Infinity & Gloom,” Weinberger draws his inspiration from and pays tribute to sad lass Sylvia Plath, an influential mid-20th century poet.

 

Great as this record is, Gatherers are even better live, especially Weinberger use of sequencers. A two-month national tour kicks off May 31 at Riverwalk in New Hampshire. Northeast dates include June 2, Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, Mass.; June 3, Fete Music Hall, Providence, R.I.; June 4, Café Nine, New Haven, Conn.; June 6, The Saint, Asbury Park; June 7, Mercury Lounge, New York City; June 8, Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia; June 9, Metro Gallery, Baltimore; July 18, Mohawk Place, Buffalo, N.Y.; July 19, The Sinclair, Cambridge, Mass., and July 21, Amityville Music Hall, Amityville, N.Y.

 




Advertise with NJ Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for info



 

Bob Makin is the reporter for www.MyCentralJersey.com/entertainment and a former managing editor of The Aquarian Weekly, which launched this column in 1988. Contact him at makinwaves64@yahoo.com. And like Makin Waves at www.facebook.com/makinwavescolumn.




New Jersey Stage is proud to be the home of Bob Makin's Makin Waves column since 2017. His Song of the Week column comes out every Friday. He also writes an Album of the Month and Interview of the Month as well.

FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Indigenous

Indigenous

Wednesday, July 16, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
217 E. Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087
category: music


 

Straight

Straight No Chaser - SUMMER: The 90's Part 2

Wednesday, July 16, 2025 @ 7:30pm
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: music


 

Bria

Bria Skonberg

Thursday, July 17, 2025 @ 7:30pm
The Morris Museum Back Deck
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music


 

KC

KC and the Sunshine Band

Thursday, July 17, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC)
30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, NJ 07631
category: music


 

The

The Hit Men: The Ultimate Rock Concert

Thursday, July 17, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC)
100 South Street, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music


 


 

EVENT PREVIEWS

City

City Winery NYC presents Sly and the Vine: A Funkadelic Tasting Experience with Vernon Reid of Living Colour

(NEW YORK, NY) -- City Winery NYC presents Sly and the Vine: A Funkadelic Tasting Experience with Vernon Reid of Living Colour on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 at 7:00pm. Join them for an immersive 8-glass wine tasting perfectly paired with the revolutionary sounds of Sly & The Family Stone—featuring special guest Vernon Reid, legendary guitarist and founder of Living Colour. Get ready for a one-of-a-kind night where rhythm meets the vine.



Blue

Blue Curtain presents Fabiola Méndez and Her Band on July 19th

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Blue Curtain's free summer concert series continues on Saturday, July 19, 2025 at 8:00pm with a performance by trailblazing Puerto Rican cuatrista, singer, and Emmy-nominated composer Fabiola Méndez at the Pettoranello Gardens Amphitheater in Princeton.



bergenPAC

bergenPAC presents Hanson

(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) presents Hanson on Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 7:00pm. Over their first 28 years as the band Hanson, brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson have made a significant mark in music.



A

A Brother's Revival: Celebrating the Legendary Sound of the Allman Brothers Band Live at Drew University

(MADISON, NJ) -- Get ready to experience the timeless legacy of the Allman Brothers Band like never before, as A Brother's Revival takes the stage at Drew University Concert Hall on Thursday, September 19, 2025 at 8:00pm. This high-caliber tribute band honors the spirit and soul of one of America's most iconic rock groups with a performance brimming with power, precision, and heart.



Lizzie

Lizzie Rose Music Room presents Griffin House

(TUCKERTON, NJ) -- Lizzie Rose Music Room presents Griffin House on Wednesday, September 10, 2025 at 7:30pm. Griffin is an American singer-songwriter and storyteller. Touring and making records for over 20 years, House has a discography that includes over 13 albums.