Written & Photographed By: Eric Sperrazza
It was 1998 and I was in the fledgling stages of my love affair with punk music. Freshly moved from Queens, New York where I spent my time discovering the East Village and the full breadth of the Bowery, I was given a ticket to join a friend for the Vans Warped Tour on the Camden, New Jersey Waterfront. There, I would hear the sounds for the first time of Bad Religion, Rancid, Dropkick Murphys, NOFX, The Bouncing Souls, The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, and a band called Save Ferris. I was taken aback by this continuation of my punk journey, so far from Greenwich Village. As we drove back to my apartment, sweaty, dirty, and with bags of vendor swag, I asked my friend if she had any CDs of the bands we saw to play in her car. At that moment, she pulled out a copy of Save Ferris’s album, It Means Everything, and proceeded to listen to it, all the way home. It wasn’t long after that I began a hunt to own all the music that touched my soul, on that day. What St. Marks Place started in lower Manhattan, a scorching day under the summer sun in Camden had finished.
There was no long pause before Save Ferris arrived on stage to thunderous applause. Powell led the current incarnation of the band, Justin Linn (guitar), Alex Csillag (trombone), Tristan Hurd (trumpet), Jamie Howell (drums) & Jake Courlang (bass), on stage and ripped right into “Turn it Up” from the late 90’s album, Modified. From that point, the electricity in the general admission area swept up everyone and, probably for the first time in years, I saw an audience moved to a frenzy of ska dancing. Admittedly, even I dusted off my checker-adorned moves, compelled by the delight of hearing Save Ferris, once more. The band marched through a song shuffle of every great track they ever laid out. From “Nobody But Me” and “The World is New” off the album, It Means Everything, to their newest single from the 2017 LP release, Checkered Past, “Anything.” Whatever era you tuned in to Save Ferris, they gave you exactly what you wanted to hear performed and exactly the experience you’d expect. The band even covered a couple of classics; the Reel Big Fish song Powell had dueted with them on in the late 90s, “She Has a Girlfriend, Now,” and an Operation Ivy cover of “Artificial Life.” Save Ferris wrapped up their set with two encore songs, and arguably the most famous, “Spam,” and their legendary and internationally platinum cover of Dexys Midnight Runners‘ “Come On, Eileen.”
As far as Ardmore Music Hall is concerned, you just don’t get a venue like that too often. A place where, no matter where you are in the building, where you are in the best seat in the house. And, no matter who is playing, the sound is perfection, like it was set up to be recorded for a double-live album. John Ryan, saxophone player and self-identified screamer for the band Keep Flying, had this to say about the venue, “A close friend of ours told us how incredible the sound was here and, Man! We were told by Save Ferris’s management that we had the choice between Union Transfer and Ardmore Hall, here, and I am so glad we came here. It was awesome. Similarly, Keep Flying’s bass player and South Philly resident, “Philly Chuck” Bernard, added, “Brother, I had never been here, before! But I had heard good things and they not only lived up to every expectation but exceeded! I’m psyched to go out in the audience and hear Save Ferris perform from out there.”
And as the lights came up in Ardmore Music Hall and I had made peace with the fact that I ska-danced my way into a sweat-drenched ride home, I had this surge of nostalgia for my first Save Ferris experience in 1998. I looked over at my 24-year-old daughter who accompanied me and she was grinning from ear to ear. I asked her what she thought of the show and she replied, “Oh my Gosh, Monique was just gorgeous and it took me right back to the first time I saw them with a friend at the Vans Warped Tour in 2017!” Ironic. Not only did my journey come full circle but it was a testament to how timeless this band really is. If a band can bring you back to a simpler and carefree time in your life, even if but for a moment, that band is a treasure. For me, on this night in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, myself and a room full of people hit the proverbial jackpot. There are countless songs that make you feel a spectrum of feelings, but sometimes you just need to feel joy and dance. In those moments, Save Ferris continues to be right there for more than one generation.
For Jen. Thank you for the gentle nudge into a lifetime of anarchy.
