Stanhope House – 1 Dec 2022
God, we missed you, God, we missed this place
2022 may very well go down as the year of reunions, and NJ was well represented as we got returns from My Chemical Romance, The Gaslight Anthem, Thursday. Midtown, Hidden in Plain View, Armor For Sleep, Day At The Fair and Folly all reformed, releasing new music and/or touring this year.
Another pair of reunions occurred with much less fanfare at the centuries old, North Jersey dive The Stanhope House, as Lanemeyer and Jettison came together for a pop-punk pairing. I know, I know, “who the fuck are Jettison and what is a Lanemeyer?” The bands may not have reached the audiences listed above based on circumstances unknown to this writer. What I can tell you is that these two acts meant more than you might realize unless you were around in the late 90’s and early 00’s Jersey scene that birthed all of the above, along with Saves The Day, Senses Fail, The Early November and Jack Antonoff (Bleachers, fun., Taylor Swift). Both acts came together for a trip down memory lane we all needed a lot more than we realized beforehand. The show resembled a high school reunion, where the junkies and dipshits didn’t get an invite.
From the ashes of LWL, Jettison was one of the most beloved outfits in the North Jersey firehouse scene, known for their catchy melodies, self-deprecation and front man Steve Jaworski’s openness at the merch table; always willing to spend as much time chatting about Bob Backlund and the WWE as he was about hawking his wares and those of the artists on his Small Records label. No band was more ubiquitous at the moment, constantly bringing the energy up at every show with pop-punk perfection, and that’s exactly what they did on this night. The quartet jumped right in with crowd favorite “Chasing Amy,” let LWL take the spotlight with “Emone” and played “Perfect Timing.” Jaworski joked that this one was “a new one. We wrote it in 2018.” The band followed up with another throwback, a cover of the theme song to “Perfect Strangers.” Sadly, there was no “Dance of Joy” in the circle pit, but I think Cousin Larry would have understood.
Jaworksi requested “earmuffs” for the many small children in the audience (including his own) before he uneasily performed “Goodbye, So Long” with its sing-along of “Goodbye, so long. A big fuck you forever.” I don’t think the kids listened, the adults who felt like kids again certainly didn’t. The set closed out with the LWL/Jettison staple “Dunkin’ Donuts,” a rousing crowd-pleaser dedicated to those Jersey nights after shows that you never wanted to end.
Lanemeyer also ran the hall show scene, winning over everyone who saw them with the tracks of their two records, Stories from the Big Screen and Where There’s a Will, There’s Still Nothing. Dueling vocalists combined with Jawbreaker-influenced lyricism and Drive-Thru style melodies, Lanemeyer looked on the verge of breakout when they went out on tour with The Lawrence Arms, briefly featuring Brian Fallon before he would go on to Gaslight Anthem fame, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Neither the band, nor its fans have lost a beat over the years. With the band and their friends’ children seated on an amp center stage, those of us there got a sneak peek into the future while enjoying our own past. The joy on the band’s faces as they owned the stage for nearly 40 minutes, and got to share that moment with their own children was indescribable and one of the most pure things I’ve gotten the opportunity to witness.
The band kicked things off with “Me and You On The Big Screen,” and “Don’t Hate Me” off of Big Screen before tearing through a few tracks off of If There’s A Will, including personal favorites “My Very Own Winnie Cooper,” and “Grovers Corners, New Jersey.” Finishing off with the one-two punch of “Fuck You and Your Boyfriend” and “What A Shitty Summer,” the cleansing of the audience’s collective soul was palpable.
With the overwhelming number of bands from Jersey that blew up in the late 90’s early 00’s it would be easy to overlook bands like Lanemeyer or Jettison. Truth be told though, both acts had all the talent and potential to break out. That’s why these occasional one-off returns mean so much to those of us lucky enough to bear witness to these love letters to our youth.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
