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Makin Waves Song of the Week: "Check the Calendar" by Dentist

by Bob Makin
09/02/2022

Dentist’s latest single, “Check the Calendar,” from their brand new album, “Making a Scene,” is the Makin Waves Song of the Week. PHOTO BY GARY STRACK  

The Asbury Park fuzz-pop trio Dentist has released their fourth album, “Making a Scene,” their second for the L.A. indie Cleopatra Records.

The beloved band’s latest single, the 12-song LP’s lead off track “Check the Calendar,” is the Makin Waves Song of the Week.

As the Makin Waves Song of the Week, “Check the Calendar,” also can be heard between 6 and 8 p.m. on Sept. 2 on “Radio Jersey” at ThePenguinRocks.com. If you miss it, you also can tune in any time in the archives at Radio Jersey or MixCloud.

According to the band — vocalist-bassist Emily Bornemann, guitarist Justin Bornemann, and drummer Matt Hockenjos — “Check The Calendar” is about “a summer fling that is beginning in the dead of winter. We were picturing a New Jersey winter where the energy of youth couldn’t be contained even though most people are hibernating. This was one of the last songs written for the album but one of our favorites.”





 

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Emily added, “Covid definitely played a role in the songwriting process and the timeline that everything got done. We wound up with different songs and a different album than we would have otherwise, but believe that it’s better than what we were working on prior to the pandemic. That’s the silver lining that we try to see about the unfortunate situation.”

Recorded at Lakehouse Recording Studios in Asbury with production by the band, engineering by Nick Semanchick, and mastering by Jurgen Engler of Die Krupps, “Making A Scene” touches on love, loss, grief, anxiety, and nihilism — expressing that no matter what happens nothing really matters.

Other singles released prior to the album are:

* “Don’t Let Me Catch You,” which chronicles how hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

* “Let Me Let Go” about a partner so terrible in a relationship that they actually did the other person a favor by making it so easy to let them go

* “Spilled Coffee,” one of the LP’s earliest songs and a live staple. 

Speaking of live, the ever-busy Dentist will be one of the few Asbury bands participating in the star-studded Sea.Hear.Now Festival featuring Green Day, Stevie Nicks, My Morning Jacket, Billy Strings, Cage the Elephant and much more on the beach of the City by the Sea. Dentist’s set will be on the Sept. 17 date of the weekend-long adventure. The other Asbury acts are Lost in Society, The Vansaders, and Dogs in a Pile. Visit Sea.Hear.Now Festival. 




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Dentist also will play Oct. 22 at Windjammer in Brooklyn. For more about the band, click www.dentistband.com. 

Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at [email protected]. 



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.
About the author:

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.


 



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Don

Don McLean & Lee Greenwood

Sunday, November 15, 2026 @ 7:00pm
Mayo Performing Arts Center
Morristown, NJ

Two iconic singers perform their hits and celebrate America’s 250 birthday! Singer/songwriter Don McLean is best known for the classic hit “American Pie,” as well as “Vincent” and “Castles in the Air.” Country superstar Lee Greenwood has seven top charting singles, including “I.O.U,” “It Turns Me Inside Out,” and the patriotic favorite, “God Bless the U.S.A.”

 

Song

Song of the Meadowlark

Sunday, November 15, 2026 @ 2:30pm
Highland Design Farm
Hopewell, NJ

A meditative rock odyssey weaving reimagined contemporary songs, stream-of-consciousness poetry and live painting.

 

The

The Nick Moss Band featuring Dennis Gruenling

Wednesday, November 18, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton, NJ

Blues guitar virtuoso Nick Moss and harmonica wizard Dennis Gruenling have been on a winning streak since they first joined forces in 2016. With relentless nonstop touring and the release of their Alligator Records debut, The High Cost Of Low Living, in 2018, The Nick Moss Band Featuring Dennis Gruenling has been playing for wildly enthusiastic fans and winning over critics and radio programmers worldwide. 

 

Michael

Michael McDermott

Thursday, November 19, 2026 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
Tuckerton, NJ

Michael McDermott’s brand of rock n’ roll brims with the kind of well-honed style and wisdom that can only come from a career on the road and a pedigree in the studio. Effortlessly blending natural folk sensibility, pop hooks, and honest rock, McDermott’s music is as much for the outcast as the congregation. It’s an exploration of the dark corners of life’s journey and it resonates middle class truths through the passionate filter of a kid that grew up on Chicago’s Irish South Side.

 

10,000

10,000 Maniacs

Thursday, November 19, 2026 @ 8:00pm
Mayo Performing Arts Center
Morristown, NJ

10,000 Maniacs – 45 Years of Timeless Music

 

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