Friday with Finding Fiction: reinventing what’s cool

by Samuel Hernandez

There’s a stretch in the Lower East Side that is holding onto the storied punk rock scene and then there are those that are taking that, applying their hip twist and coming out with something unique. Friday nights should start with a stroll down to Welcome to the Johnsons, a bar right above Delancey. The bar is dim, it’s dominated by large clunky couches, the bathroom is peppered with graffiti and a million anti-establishment sentiments, and most importantly, they’ll serve you up $2 PBR during their happy hour. The cool kids sit up front and chat; the wallflowers hang in the back and watch people miserably play pool on the rec room-style table.

Welcome to the Johnsons is important because it enables Cake Shop, Pianos, The Living Room and all the small venues on Ludlow to put together showcases every Friday night for both local New Yorkers to stop in, and for those out of towners who are coming to support their friends in the band. Cake Shop is jazzy on top, filled with baked goods, records, and a warm inviting feel. And then you step into the basement and it’s a hardcore punk garage scene. The die hippie scum graffiti in the bathroom lends as much credibility as the hanging lights, the foam soundproofing, and the stage that looks like it might fall apart.

Finding Fiction took to the stage to promote their cassette release. Their energy was immediately greater than the bands that had been onstage before them. Ritualistically, they called for shots before the set, placing the empty glasses on the cinder block that holds the bass drum in place. Though they may look like dad rockers, their EP Reinventing Wheels, is genre promotion, unique updating of passionate punk catalogs. Both recorded and in performance, their song “Playing Along” is youthful, an indie rock jam that has been polished to perfection.

Where the other bands attempted to do so much, Finding Fiction has captured the art of simple song writing. Not simple songs, but the art of knowing how much to put into a tune without going over and getting distracting. Reinventing Wheels is filled with the apathy of growing old, singing about life and relationship problems in a mix of Fountains of Wayne style vocals and call and response indie rock.