Photos by Stacie Joy
On Monday night, the Bowery Palace hosted a sold-out release party for Bob Bert's debut solo album, Beach Bongo Bloodbath.
But the evening felt less like a record release and more like a tribute to Bert's four-plus decades in music. Friends, collaborators, and bandmates from across his career — including stops in Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, Chrome Cranks, Knoxville Girls, Bewitched, and the Wolfmanhattan Project — filled the room for what amounted to a live-action retrospective. (He also celebrated a birthday last week, so there was also a cake.)
Despite his longstanding presence on the downtown music scene, Beach Bongo Bloodbath marks Bert's first release under his own name.
Released by Bar/None Records, the album trades guitars for bongos, percussion, keyboards, and theremin, resulting in a strange, playful, and unorthodox collection of originals and reimagined covers.
Bert took the stage multiple times throughout the evening, which unfolded like a downtown This Is Your Life — with old friends, former bandmates and fellow musicians paying tribute through stories and songs.
The bill at the venue on the Bowery (formerly the Bowery Electric) included reunions featuring Chrome Cranks, Knoxville Girls, Bewitched and the Wolfmanhattan Project.
Genre is Death (below) and the Skull Practitioners played short sets devoted to Pussy Galore and early Sonic Youth material, with Bert joining in on several songs.
Genre Is Death's Ty and Taylor — longtime admirers of Pussy Galore and early Sonic Youth — performed a brief set of songs associated with Bert's past, including "White Noise," "Halloween" and "Pussy Stomp."
And one last shot of Bert, where many fans first came to know him: behind the drum kit.
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