Jack Leto, father to Rye members Dave and Gregg Leto, had one wish for his 70th birthday: to see Rye Coalition play one more time. I was there to capture the moment he made his request. We were all in Jersey City celebrating Dave and Pam Leto’s 4-year old’s birthday at Hamilton Park. Rye hadn’t played a show since 2006. But there was an immediate agreement to make this show happen– whatever it might take.
The Hard Luck Five all had their own musical projects going on by now– Dave and Ralph teamed up with The Want to form “Cold Fur”; and Justin, Herb, and Jon (along with drummer Nick Ferrante) had been playing in The Black Hollies for the past several years. Amazingly, they all still share a rehearsal space, and John Z (longtime roadie) texted me from the first Rye practice in over 5 years, saying “this show is going to be epic.” And indeed it was.
On February 19, 2011, Rye Coalition played to a sold-out crowd at their home-base– Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ (a club which had once banned them) and played over 20 songs in chronological order from 1996′s Karp/Rye split to 2006′s Curses lp. We filmed it with multiple-cameras (thanks to fans Alisa, Evan & Leah) and Ryan Gross of Killing Horse records recorded the entire 2-hour plus set. Paul Fig (Coheed & Cambria, Bluebird, Mars Volta) mixed it, and we present it to you for your viewing pleasure– “Rye Coalition live & in-person: celebrating 70 years of Jack Leto.” This dvd is only available by pledging online at kickstarter.com.