"It's Friday the 13th, what could possibly go wrong?," Ryan Jarman said before he and his brothers Gary and Ross played a note together returning to New York City as a trio. Ryan, who looked like Johnny Ramone's clone wearing a leather jacket, ripped jeans and a bowl haircut, would attack his guitar to strum the first note's of the opening song, "Chi-Town," which immediately through the audience in a free-for-all. The last time The Cribs played the Big Apple they were backed by former Smiths and Modest Mouse guitarist, Johnny Marr, Marr who joined the band in 2008, recorded one record with The Cribs and then left in 2011. Now The Cribs are back in their original fraternal three-piece form and are just as exhilarating as ever.
While the band opened their set with a majority of songs off their forthcoming album, In the Belly of the Brazen Bull, showcased to the crowd what they can expect from their hyper-charged new record. While The Cribs broke out in 2004 with British bands like Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines, Bloc Party and others from the early 2000's British guitar rock revival, they have now seemed to separate themselves from that scene and stand on their own. The Cribs seemed to have taken more influence from American punk and garage rock like The Ramones, Nirvana, The Kingsman, The Stooges and New York Dolls. While the audience embraced the new songs, it was the favorites that really got the customers going, songs like "Man's Needs," "Cheat On Me," "Hey Scenesters!" had people crowd surfing and pogo-ing. "We used to have another guitarist in the band. So I have to play all of his guitar parts and my parts, so that makes me a fucking great guitarist," Ryan said to the audience before kicking into a slew of songs off Ignore the Ignorant, the record they recorded with Marr. As the crowd chanted "Johnny! Johnny!," Gary said, "Yeah, there used to be four of us, now it is just us." The band have no hard feelings that Marr left, but clearly loved the fact that they got to play with him. While Gary managed to do both guitar parts without a hitch, what was amazing about seeing The Cribs both with and without Marr is how much energy they display on stage, each and every single time they perform. If Gary could have climbed the walls, he would have, he would jump off any piece of equipment that was in his range and even at points jumped into the crowd and surfed himself. His Ross could play his kit standing up all night, which he did at some points, he would have, the Jarman brother's know how to have a good time and know how to put on a show, plain and simple. In the 75 minutes they were on stage, they left a mark on Brooklyn, and in true punk rock fashion, no encore, just the real deal.
It was a Friday in New York and in a week that saw Springsteen, Kraftwerk, Pulp, Alabama Shakes, play to rave reviews, The Cribs capped off a week of incredible performances and can add their names to the list of bands that took this week of April in New York by storm.
Last month we spoke to Gary Jarman as part of OFFICIALLY A PODCAST and discussed The Cribs new album. Take a listen to the interview below: