Makin Waves’ Records of the Week: Bobby Mahoney and the Seventh Son’s ‘Empty Passenger Seats’ and ‘Another Deadbeat Summer’

KELSEY AYRES

BOBBY MAHONEY AND THE SEVENTH SON

After Bobby Mahoney and the Seventh Son’s month-long tour from Upstate New York to the Midwest and Southeast draws to a close, the fabled Stone Pony will hold a welcome home party for the well-rooted, punk-spirited band on Nov. 3. Here’s a look at the East Brunswick outfit’s two most recent singles.

East Brunswick faves Bobby Mahoney and the Seventh Son have been out on the road since Sept. 28, touring behind the five LPs, an EP and two singles they’ve released since 2012. Those two singles, “Empty Passenger Seats” and “Another Deadbeat Summer,” along with a third, entitled “Called It Quits,” will be featured on the band’s sixth LP, due in 2018.

“Empty Passenger Seats” is a pop-punk rave-up that captures the band’s live raw energy better than anything else they’ve released and proves that Bobby Mahoney and the Seventh Son can hold their own with the many hard-edged punk bands who call New Jersey home. Mahoney delivers a snotty vocal turn, at times reminiscent of Johnny Rotten, while guitarist Andrew Saul punches through the feisty track empowered by the searing, sizzling spirits of Joe Strummer and Duane Eddy.  

While “Empty Passenger Seats” is a tale about a road-weary couple inspired by the band’s frequent touring, “Another Deadbeat Summer” celebrates the wasted, youthful nights of the best season of the year by flexing more of Mahoney’s Springsteen-inspired musical muscles. This includes a tasty saxophone solo by Zack Sandler, who has been touring with the band, as well as an edgy, exuberant nod to garage rock.

Having headlined House of Independents and Asbury Park Yacht Club within the past three months, Mahoney and company — also bassist John Shepherd and drummer James McIntosh — have their sights set on the Stone Pony. Opening for them on Nov. 3 will be Ute Rock (from Australia), Matty Carlock, Creating Clementine, Skiver, A Door With No House and Goodbye Spaceman.

Bobby Mahoney and the Seventh Son also will perform Nov. 15 at the Brighton Bar in Long Branch with The Young Step, Houston Dirty Rats and With Sails Ahead.

Bob Makin is the reporter for MyCentralJersey.com/entertainment and a former managing editor and still a contributor to The Aquarian Weekly, which launched this column in 1988. Contact him at makinwaves64@yahoo.com. Like Makin Waves at facebook.com/makinwavescolumn.