The Bug Club and Tea Eater at TV Eye
The Bug Club concluded their US tour with a two night stand at TV Eye in Ridgewood, NY. On the first night, they were joined by Leroy the Poet on Monday, December 15th, and by Tea Eater on Tuesday, December 16th.
During the evening of Friday, December 12th, I visited one of my oldest friends working at a bar after a concert and heard The Bug Club’s “Lonsdale Slipons” and immediately loved what I heard. I used my phone to identify the song and quickly visited Oh My Rockness to update my account to receive an email alert for the next time they were in town since I discovered they live in Wales. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were having two shows in a few days and tickets were still available, so I listened to their albums over the weekend and bought a ticket for the Tuesday show. Their songs were witty, extremely catchy, and I regretted not discovering them sooner.
Tea Eater opened on Tuesday night after 8PM. All band members arrived on stage in costume, to be later joined by another person (who was also tasked with selling their merchandise) that donned a dog mask and crawled on all fours and danced while the band played on stage. Although it seemed pretty random at first, Tea Eater soon played “Little White Dog (in a Gated Community),” when it made complete sense. For “I Am A Bug,” bug eyeglasses and antenna headbands were handed to audience members to wear. Before leaving the stage, Tarra Thiessen brought out a homemade vegan red velvet cake to celebrate the end of The Bug Club’s tour before ending their set with “Butter.”
At 9PM, Sam Wilmett (guitar) and Tilly Harris (bass) of The Bug Club took the stage and were backed by Tom Rees on drums, who produced their latest album, Very Human Features, and last year’s On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System (which features the very first Bug Club song I heard on Friday night) which were both put out by Sub Pop Records. Tilly thanked everyone in the audience for coming and resisting the very tempting karaoke event happening next door the same night. The band blazed through their set list, performing for an hour and half, with the band taking occasional breaks to hydrate and talk to the audience. Some audience members behind me up front did some light moshing and dancing to “War Movies” and “Quality Pints.” Before ending the show Tilly asked us to buy their merch so they wouldn’t have to FedEx stuff home to Wales and I’m pleased to report that I did my part and headed home with three of their releases on vinyl.