Stare Kits Live in NYC 1979

46 years after I first heard Stare Kits on a cassette, they finally have an LP. About time!
This NYC quartet's name often comes up in discussions of the No Wave era, which make sense. The members -- Angela Jaeger, Amy Rigby, Michael McMahon and Bob Gurevics -- were all fans of the scene, and involved with various aspects of TR3, one of No Wave's pre-eminent showcases. UT played their first gig opening for Stare Kits. Rick Brown (Blinding Headache, Information, etc.) played guest sax with them. Julia Gorton used Amy as a photo model almost as often as she used Lydia Lunch, and so on. But despite such connections they were not a No Wave band.
Stare Kits's music certainly use instrumental elements in line with No Wave's ethos, but these're part of a much larger mix. The band's basic approach is much rockier and punkier. Bob's guitar parts are more in the tradition of Quine and Reed than they are Lydian, the McMahon / Rigby’s rhythm section is more primitive than martial, and Angela's vocals are goddamn melodic.
Closer musical comparisons might be made to a various aspects of UK bands from Penetration to Wire to Deaf School to X-Ray Spex. There's a soupçon of a '79 UK DIY rattle to some of the tunes as well. But there is an ineffable something lurking in their collective soul that keeps Stare Kits's instrumental sound grounded in the NYC art-punk/street-rock continuum. Angela's vocals may resemble Penelope Houston's at moments but there's not much overt political content in Stare Kits's lyrics. An eclectic mix of elements? Yeah, and it sounds fucking great.
The saga of Stare Kits was laid out pretty well in Angela's excellent book, I Feel Famous (Hat & Beard Press 2025) and was also part of Amy McMahon's equally dandy Girl to City (Southern Domestic 2019).
Now's your chance to hear what their hubbub was all about.
--Byron Coley, 2025