Hawaiian trio Pepper surfs into town September 17-18
Webster Hall
125 East 11th St. between Second & Third Aves.
Saturday, September 17, $25-$30, 6:00
www.websterhall.com
www.myspace.com/pepperlive
“I wouldn’t cry / It might make a flood / And I don’t know / if I can swim that good,” Kaleo Wassman sings on “Lonely,” a daring admission for a member of a reggae surf punk band from Hawaii. Pepper was formed in Kailua-Kona in 1997 by guitarist Wassman, bassist Bret Bollinger, and drummer Yesod Williams, going the DIY route by endlessly touring and self-releasing such albums as Kona Town (2002), In with the Old (2004), No Shame (2006), and Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations (2008). On the trio’s most recent release, the October 2010 EP Stitches, Pepper wakes up to fool around with a drunk girl only to look in the mirror and feel lonely anyway. (The album consists of the songs “Wake Up,” “Drunk Girl,” two versions of “Mirror,” and “Lonely.”) There should be no loneliness — and potentially plenty of drunk girls and guys — at Webster Hall on Saturday night, September 17, when Pepper, which has sold more than half a million records through its own label, plays on a bill with the Expendables and Ballyhoo! and will follow that up with a gig at the Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale the next night.