Baby’s All Right | Brooklyn, NY | March 10, 2019 | Words & Photos: Cortney Armitage |
It was a cold night in Brooklyn: very cold. Getting off the J train and walking to Baby’s All Right on a Sunday night wasn’t on my top 10 list of things to do, but this was Reignwolf. You do these things for Reignwolf. Why? Because you know that what you are going to see and experience is going to make over achievers feel lazy. Jordan Cook (vox, guitar) will get in your face, he will stand on his kick drum, he will crawl into the ceiling, he will crowd surf, he will move all the instruments onto the floor and ask a fan to play that kick drum, the band will follow him there, and all those things will happen right in front of you.
Who are these men? Here are the basics: Reignwolf is from the Pacific Northwest and has become notorious (in a good way) for their rawness of sound and high energy performances. Their long-awaited, highly-anticipated debut full-length album, Hear Me Out, was released on March 1st and Baby’s All Right was one stop on an intimate seven-city Hear Me Out promo tour hitting many of the venues where the band’s journey first began. You may not get this kind of experience again as the band’s reputation is rapidly growing and it’s not just because they have opened for bands like Black Sabbath: it’s because they have the total package.
Smushed in at Baby’s All Right, the crowd warmed up together as it was all smiles from adult fans waiting like kids at Christmas to open their rock ‘n roll presents along with photographers out in full force to catch the spectacle. Even after last night’s sold-out show at Mercury Lounge, the packed intimate room at Baby’s was a perfect fit. The spectacle at Baby’s looked like this:
Let it be noted that S.J. Kardash (bass) and Joseph Braley (drums) are as crazy as Cook, have the magnified musical skills to back him up, and are their own indomitable force, ever vigilant for Cook’s cues. Consider it the “quiet” second show (and I never thought I would ever use the words “quiet” to describe this outfit) because it is like watching three-way telepathy in action. Braley and Kardash serve as the foundation for Cook’s ferocity of sound while being co-orchestrators of a controlled/uncontrolled chaos that allows Reignwolf to blow your mind.
If you’re in Austin, TX March 14th-16th you can catch Reignwolf several times during South By Southwest. Yes, it will be worth it.
