Last week, three of us from the crew found ourselves together in NYC, chasing bottles and harassing strangers to distract us from our homesickness. We wanted to shoot, but no one would lend us gear, and we knew it would be a logistical nightmare carrying equipment across town. “Nobody does nothing for free.”
Through a series of bizarre connections, we scored the audio gear we needed. Young Prisms, an up-and-coming shoegaze outfit from San Francisco, happened to be playing that same evening at Glasslands in Brooklyn. We met the band at their show and they were totally down to shoot, but they needed to leave NYC by 2pm the next day, so we scrambled to find a location in our drunken stupor. Jordan managed to line up a time at an old art commune where he used to live in south Brooklyn, and we were good to go.
The house was built in 1912 and is one of the most unique places we’ve encountered in the city. It was originally owned by the first black gynecologist in Brooklyn - his wife purchased it with lawsuit money after she got hit by a motorcycle (she ran into the street in a fit of hysteria after seeing her husband fucking one of his patients). Anyway, sometime in the last few decades, the house was converted to an assisted living home, and then into a sanctuary for artists, musicians, and other refugees. And for a few hours, it became our set.
The next day we lugged a ton of gear to the shoot. On the subway. Anyone who’s ever had to carry gear through the subway knows that it’s a terrible experience. When we got to the location, the entire block in front of the house was being re-paved. Motherfucker. The band was forced to park two blocks away, and we hustled to move their gear inside. As we raced across the street, hauling equipment and avoiding death by taxi, we all longed for the Utopian simplicity of the West Coast.
Young Prisms set up and performed “Eleni,” a subtle piece of garage psych-rock that gave us a little taste of foggy West Coast haze. This is definitely one of those bands that slowly reveal themselves through the course of their songs. Underneath those layered waves of reverb and distorted vocals, Young Prisms are branding their own version of the classic surf riffs and drum beats of ’60s pop, carving out a comfortable musical space somewhere between a trip through a limitless hypercube and a laid back day at the beach.
Young Prisms are set to release their new LP “Friends for Now” on Kanine records January 18th.
Special Thanks To Richie Adomako, John Thayer, and Gary Thompson
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