Q&A with the Panthers

When The New York Times writes about traveling to Brooklyn to have a good time, and Time Out New York puts the words "Manhattan: The New Brooklyn" on its cover, you know something is off, because, musically, all spotlights seem to be pointing toward New York City. But are they? Justin Chearno, who shares guitar duties with both Panthers and Touring Machine, says playing in a band from Brooklyn is "like a brand. Brooklyn band equals brand."

Jayson Green, Geoff Garlock and Jeff Salane (all ex-members of the hardcore outfit Orchid), Kip Uhlhorn (ex-Red Scare) and Chearno make up the bonhomous Panthers. They're a high-energy quintet from Brooklyn who put the rock back in punk rock, always more entertaining to watch live than to listen to recorded. Garlock removes his black-rimmed glasses, Justin sweats, Salane pounds hard, Kip bites his lip and Jayson shakes it. The band provides the handclaps and tambourine-throwing, the audience responds with a decent amount of hip-swaying, head-nodding and dancing. Between songs frontman Jayson Green has been known to remark on the scene, ridiculing the no-hip hipsters walking down Bedford Ave., before flaunting his belly.

Brooklyn has become so developed and diversified through the proliferation of Manhattan amenities that no one living there really has any reason to leave. Supporting this theory was February's much-talked-about "Sunday Styles" piece, "Where the Girls Are, and the Commute's Easy," by Julia Chaplin, who several years after-the-fact wrote about Williamsburg being the "the place to be," so much so that guys in red Miatas are leaving their Tribeca lofts for a night out at Enid's. The following week, during a Les Savy Fav show at the Polish National Home, singer Tim Harrington ostentatiously poked fun at Chaplin's article, made several cellphone calls between songs and staged an amusing improv-like scenario mocking the article's reference to the Carhartt Guy. Only about 20 percent of the audience got the joke.

Why this observant attention by local bands? Chearno thinks that "more people are creating some sort of weird excitement in New York than there is excitement in New York. People are just finally catching on because it's the same bands that have been playing for many years: Black Dice, the Rapture, Les Savy Fav, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It just seems like all of a sudden someone decided to write an article about the scene, then it became a thing." He adds, "People forget that Brooklyn isn't Williamsburg. Brooklyn is this massive, giant city. Everyone gets lumped into being part of Williamsburg because that's where these bands play. When people think of Brooklyn bands, they think of Bedford Ave., and that's just not true."

Another possible reason why there seems to be so much hype surrounding music in New York right now is because journalists are lazy. There's a plethora of daily, weekly and monthly magazines, and they have to write about something, so coverage often overlaps, especially musically. Green's noticed the ways of New York publications: "Some of it is annoying, like people writing about bands they've never seen. Look at the evolution of what's been printed about us in the Voice. The first time Chuck Eddy wrote about us he said we were no-wave revivalists. The write-up made it apparent that he had never heard us or seen us live."

First it was the Strokes, then Detroit's the White Stripes, Andrew W.K. and now the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and soon, the Hives. Notes Green: "The giant buzz about it has to do with incestuous media, but New York hype doesn't extend beyond New York City. It's exciting to be in a band in New York City right now. More people are going to shows." Chearno adds, "I've talked to so many bands about all this. You feel pretty popular here. But you drive 35 minutes and no one knows you. So it's almost like a false stardom." Green likes the excitement: "When something's good, it's hard to keep it quiet. I think it's good people are starting to come out more, and shows are starting to get more populated... There's a certain level of subculture and counterculture that really doesn't exist anywhere else. And that's great." Because "no one likes to play to no one," Chearno blurts.

Seeing a show in New York is different from seeing one anywhere else, Chearno tells me. "Going to see a band in New York isn't something you decide to do that day, at 5 p.m. the day they play. If you're going to see a band, you have to buy tickets like a week in advance. But that same band plays to 30 people in Cleveland. Unfortunately for me, because of all that planning, I participate a lot less."

About the difference between playing a show in Manhattan versus playing in Brooklyn, Chearno says, "A year ago it was completely different; now I think it's the same thing. If anything, it seems like more people come out here to Brooklyn to see bands play because it's like an event and less like a classic show." At a recent DFA party 1000 people came to Warsaw to see the Rapture and Black Dice?it was like seeing everyone on the L train all in one spot. Three years ago Chearno saw the Rapture and Black Dice play ABC No Rio to a crowd of 25. He said his friends and he "were laughing because it was the exact same show." Uhlhorn agrees: "We played a show with the Liars and Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Maxwell's last December and there were like 35 people there. When we played the same show at the Mercury Lounge in March it sold out at 8 o'clock."

Riding out the idea that publications (and MTV) must cover something, the Panthers can be spotted on M2's Rock Show tuning their instruments. When I asked Chearno if he's seen it, he says, "Yeah, you can't miss it. It's on every fucking five minutes." The band was contacted by a friend of theirs who creates on-air graphics for the music channel. What they originally thought would be footage of them playing in their practice space turned out to be much more. Green laughs, "There were two giant tour buses...there were wardrobe people and we had stylists." They even had to sign papers. Green and Chearno were told they dressed too well, so Green received a yellow shirt, because "they wanted more color."

Those of us in the entertainment world are obviously exposed to more events and bands than, say, the average office worker. Like Green said, "My past coworkers don't know where the fuck Williamsburg is?they'd ask me, 'Isn't it dangerous in Brooklyn?'" While some thrive in the subcultures that continuously develop in New York, others will remain oblivious.

Who knows what the future of rock will be in New York, but one thing for sure is it's not going anywhere. Chearno believes that "when all these music journalists move on to the next thing, all these bands are still going to be playing and it's gonna be sweet." People move to New York to do exactly that. It remains to be seen whether this recently created excitement and hype transcends NYC. Guess I'll have to travel to Cleveland to find out.

Panthers play with Pretty Girls Make Graves on Monday, May 13, at Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard St. (betw. Church St. & B'way), 219-3055; Tuesday, May 14, at Maxwell's, 1039 Washington St. (11th St.), Hoboken, 201-653-1703; and Thursday, May 15, at Northsix, 66 N. 6th St. (betw. Kent & Wythe Aves.), Williamsburg, 718-599-5103.