EVIL EYE PANDAS—Union City, NJ
I recently received an email from Evil Eye Pandas’ drummer and manager, Adam Debonka, asking me to give his band a listen. The only problem was that the only tracks that Adam sent me to listen were YouTube videos of the band performing their songs “Gypsy Disco Inferno,” “So Much to Be Said, With Nothing Said At All” and “Battered” live. It’s really tough to judge how good a band is without a good recording, but what I did get to see didn’t sound too bad for live recordings. The tracks were alternative rock—there’s no doubt about it.
Evil Eye Pandas is made up of five guys, all from the North Jersey area. There’s singer John Lopez, guitarist Harvey Martinez, guitarist Derick Clavijo, bassist Hector Fadraga and drummer Adam Dabonka. These guys have been playing in other bands for years and are not really strangers to the North Jersey/NYC music scene. Adam told me that he’s been in many bands through the years, but with Evil Eye Pandas, he feels that these guys are by far “the most talented group of musicians” he’s ever played with. He also went on to tell me that the band members all have full-time day jobs, and they only get to play live roughly once a month, so they really try make their gigs a little bit more memorable.
Evil Eye Pandas are just finishing up their very first EP, We Are Not Evil, which will be released through Matate’ Records, and should be out sometime this Spring or Summer. For more info on Evil Eye Pandas or to find out where they’re playing next, you can log on to myspace.com/evileyepandas.
NORTH JERSEY NOTES UPDATES:
The Dirty Pearls are in the middle filming a music video for their new single “Who’s Coming Back to Who?” off of their upcoming debut full-length CD, Whether You Like It or Not. The single comes off the heels of The Dirty Pearls’ success with their song “New York City Is A Drug.” To learn more about The Dirty Pearls and their upcoming CD, Whether You Like It Or Not, log onto thedirtypearls.com.
Tim McMurtrie and his Tripsquad Productionz will be putting on another amazing show over at Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ on, of all days, April Fool’s Day. This will be a very unique show, though. Tim will be pitting local Metal versus local Rap in what he’s calling “The April Fool’s Day Throwdown”, and it will feature Circle of Insanity, Legionary and Knollwood representing the Metal side while MissTerious with DJ Blizz, B. Grimm, Animal, Goods and StressWon representing the Rap side. This should be an interesting show with a very interesting crowd. For tickets, log onto dingbatznj.com.
That’s all for now! If your band is from North Jersey, and you want some exposure, send your press kits to Arts Weekly, c/o Tim Louie P.O. Box 1140 Little Falls, NJ 07424, or you can email me at tim@theaquarian.com, where you can also let me know where you’re performing next!
Just remember: we’re all in the same boat, so every little bit of exposure counts!
Tim Louie is the Author of S**t Happens.
NJN Concert Calendar:
3/23—Steve Brown—The Copper Bottom, Florida, NY
3/24—Steve Brown and Dennis Zimmer—The Firehouse Eatery, Rahway, NJ
3/25—King Kelly/Thank You Scientist—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
3/25—Steve Brown—Grasshopper Too, Wayne, NJ
3/26—Charetta—Mulcahy’s, Centereach, NY
3/26—Piston Driven/Magus Beast—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
3/26—Betrayus/Audacity—Freehold VFW, Freehold, NJ
3/30—Steve Brown and Dennis Zimmer—Senorita’s Mexican Grill, Clark, NJ
3/31—Charetta—Mulcahy’s, Wantagh, NY
3/31—Steve Brown and Dennis Zimmer—The Firehouse Eatery, Rahway, NJ
4/1—Betrayus—7 Days Bar and Grill, Union Beach, NJ
4/1—Knollwood/Legionary/Circle of Insanity—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/8—Long Gone Day/Lowdown/Dollhouse Murder—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/9—Incognito Theory—The Warehouse, Staten Island, NY
4/10—Scarlet Carson—The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ
