“The least we deserve in trying times like these is great punk music — punk music that stands for something,” Seth Meyers said when introducing his Monday musical guest, contemporary punk icon Jeff Rosenstock. “This next guy is one of my favorites. He’s angry and urgent and prescient, and while I’m super bummed that he and his band are not here live tonight, at least we will not have to pay for a studio roof that they surely would have ripped off.”
Performing while wearing a “Black Lives Matter” face mask — scribbled on with Sharpie, for max punk aesthetic — Rosenstock tore through the song “Scram” with his band, putting all mediocre quarantine performances to shame. With some chaotic editing and special effects, they captured the full energy of the righteous No Dream track that might’ve been taken away with the lack of a live studio audience. It’s no wonder that Meyers, a notorious Hold Steady fan, decided to welcome Rosenstock onto the show.
Rosenstock surprise-released his latest album No Dream on Polyvinyl in May, followed by an extra 2020 DUMP EP last month. In June, he contributed a cover of Scared of Chaka’s “Crossing With Switchblades” to the compilation Save Stereogum: An ’00s Covers Comp.
From Rolling Stone US
