Here I was assuming, like the plain person that I am, that Bowery Ballroom or Public Access T.V. would cancel their show. Yet, as I went to check and saw a huge “F**K The Snow” on their Facebook, I knew the show would go on as planned (lol!). Yet, their brunt affirmation was also a sign of their personas and style. Public Access T.V. lit the stage like a forest fire, and burned down any sight of civilization near their wild nature. I know that is a vivid picture, but I could not help but grasp their lively, rebellious vibes at their PACKED Bowery Ballroom show.
Did I mention how plain I am? Yes, I presumed the show would be cancelled, yet as I saw the huge mass of youth inching closer to Bowery’s stage, I was humbled. When you see a man hanging by his feet from the second floor railing of a club while singing in perfect pitch, suddenly a blizzard, feels like something you can walk through for a show. With a night already filled with great acts like, The Britanys, Public Access TV’s entrance was buzzing with adrenaline. When your predecessors are good, you know your headline has to be MIND-BLOWING and it was. Public Access T.V. come off like the guys that were “too cool for school”. The ones that everyone admired for their carefree attitude towards life, and snow, while the rest of us bit our nails through finals. Again, a vivid description, but their auras of uninhibited punkers who will fight those that cross them and cross those that ignore them is attracting to viewers’ inner coyness. When you see their brash bravado hit the stage, you cannot help but return to your “highs-chool nerdy days” and wonder what its like to be “the rebel without a cause”. Yet, Public Access T.V.’s music shows that everyone has a social cause for feeling like an outcast, especially in this Trump Presidency. (I still get shivers when I say that!)
Their casual demeanors are just affronts for men that adore their guitars and lyrically ponder whether anyone can ever “fit in”. Whether it is “fitting in” with society or your own skin, everyone wants a sense of inclusion. Even the person that yells, “Screw The World!”, secretly wishes that in some nook of this globe they felt the warmth of belonging. Though their words and styles add surfy rhythms and beach-esque synths to punk’s more anarchic noise, their blend is merely a representation of the outer shells we build to keep together our inner mess. Playing songs from their debut album Never Enough, each track had a correlating theme of not only feeling different from lovers and others but also feeling dejected. Sometimes, we are not questioning whether we want to be connected with life, as much as we challenge whether we can be? With drum and guitar melodies that flow surprising clear for a band sheerly inspired by punk’s tensed sonics, Public Access T.V. has to be one of the most watchable bands New York can call its own. Yes, this group is an Made in NYC, and once you hear the light, wavy vocals of lead singer John Eartherly, you will be proud that they are. For More Information On Public Access T.V. Click Here.
