Three Of Frederick’s Best Ring In 4/20 With A Hometown Heater
Toker Or Not, This Show Is Sure To Be Smoking
A gig that I’ve been anticipating for a few weeks now is tonight, so I pull into a nearby parking garage about 40 minutes early. I perfect my makeup, adjust my camera settings, jam out to the bands featured tonight for a little bit, and then I get to stepping. Down the parking garage stairwell and around the corner is a popular local spot, Cafe Nola. Known for its great food and chill vibes, I’m really excited to be here for a show finally. I show my ID to the mustached man who’s sat on a barstool by the door and make my way inside to the already full venue to find a spot to make my own.
The stage is already pretty much ready for showtime, there seems to be some sort of issue that’s being worked out as I observe a few band members turn knobs and rush around, exchanging questioning-type expressions. Finally, whatever was wrong is right and it’s time for music.
New Clarity goes first, playing songs from both their old and new EP. Each band uses Weed Coughin’s drums, which are bright emerald green with a huge Weed Coughin logo on the kick on a black background. It’s a nice-looking drumset. We have Michael on guitar and lead vocals, and Lew on the drums. They’re missing their bassist tonight, Aidan, who’s in a couple of other bands (Black Locust is one of them and god, they’re so f*cking good.)
Anyway, the room is dim and pretty full, Cafe Nola, while having a really lovely and homey feeling, is not the most spacious place but we’re making it work. The stage is a few inches off of the ground with an AC unit on the wall above where the drums sit (I am sure I speak for all drummers when I say thank god for that). There’s a set of strip lights that are laid across the drum set, lit up magenta (I feel like green would have been more appropriate but maybe these don’t change color.)
I kneel in the middle of the floor space at one point and get a bit of drink spilled down my back. I ignore it and keep taking photos. New Clarity delivers a slamming set as usual. I’ve seen these guys a few times now, they even played a Title Fight cover gig not too long ago and nailed it. I get to hear my favorite song by them, “At Least I Have Something To Write About” as well as two runners-up, “Brighter Days!” and “Dead Ops Arcade”, both featured on their new banger of a record. The guys also performed some music not on streaming services, one that I thought they said was called “Daniel”. It’s called “Dingle”. Listen, it was loud as hell in there and one of my earplugs was missing its filter so my detail hearing was off tonight.
Between sets for New Clarity and Gatwick, some guy in dinosaur pajamas showed up. Tail and all. He started inspecting the stage and the equipment that was in his line of sight until the next set began.
Up next we have a three-piece alt-rock band out of Frederick MD, Gatwick (all the bands tonight are from right here in Frederick).
Drummer vocalist Josh of Gatwick is sporting a hot pink cast on a broken hand. He’s drumming one-handed and singing. I was already impressed last time I saw Gatwick perform, I feel like it’s not very often you see the drummer taking on lead vocals. But with a broken hand too? Damn. His energy and talent are unaffected by his broken wing.
Gatwick brought nothing but the best, the people were screaming and wooing for New Clarity but the room was quaking for Gatwick. I have to be pretty careful taking my shots because one wrong step and I’m sure to catch an elbow.
It’s two-step central in here, at one point a drink got spilled in the middle of the pit and caused a fall. In the ol’ good music spirit, everyone stops and helps up their fellow show go-er. Gatwick plays one of my favorite jams, “More Than I Could Chew” as well as “Pillars Of The Sun” another go-to of mine. “More Than I Could Chew” is constantly stuck in my head and I listen to it A LOT. I highly recommend you check it out, it’s amazing.
The lights dim and turn red halfway through the set, and it adds to the already banging atmosphere. Normally I would be annoyed by the red light (photographers, you get it) but there are only two and they’re pretty spaced apart. It’s not interfering with my photo quality at all. Gatwick closed out their set with a banger titled “The Garden” and the pit dissolved as Weed Coughin started getting set up.
I take a seat for a few minutes and notice a guitar pedal board on the floor in front of the stage. Both the other bands were confined to the stage but Weed Coughin is stepping outside of the literal box and setting up right on the floor. A few test strums and frontman James lets us know that it’s Weed Coughin’s New Year’s Eve. This show is a Countdown to 4/20 after all, so there’s plenty of talk about smoking and partying tonight and Weed Coughin is on the theme.
They kick things off with a jammy, super groovy intro, and then jump right into a song called “In The Ring”. Weed Coughin is a 4 man band, several of them are employed at a tattoo shop right up the street and have the ink to show for it. James has his shirt off, which is typical for him, and he’s sporting several Maryland-themed tattoos, including a huge crab piece on his chest.
Weed Coughin keeps the energy of the evening up, the crowd is just as electric as they have been all night. The energy at this show is something special. Don’t let the marijuana enthusiasm fool you, everyone here is dancing and having a blast. The guys ask the crowd to remind them when it’s about to be midnight because they have a surprise for us.
Before I know it, it’s 11:59 and one of their buddies in the front row is making a hand signal to let them know it’s about that time. What is the surprise, well, they play an appropriate cover called “Up In Smoke”. You may be familiar with the tune if you’re a Cheech and Chong fan. I forgot to mention that as Weed Coughin prepared the stage for their set, some audio from Cheech and Chong filled the room.
The guys sing a few more songs, one about cheap whiskey and another about not-so-cheap whiskey. They stop to point out the bottle that they wrote about, it sits up on a shelf behind the bar. My hearing is pretty shot at this point and I don’t drink much myself, so I unfortunately cannot provide the name brand of said whiskey.
It has lots of hoots and hollers though, so I have to assume it’s pretty popular. Weed Coughin ends their set with a brief speech, thanking the other bands, reminding the crowd to tip their bartenders, and lastly saying “Let’s get high”. By now, it’s after midnight so it’s 4/20 and weed is legal here in the great state of Maryland.
I’m pretty beat so I don’t stick around for the after-party, but wow, that was a show to remember.
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