The New York Times had a neat piece the other day on the World/Inferno Friendship Society.  It’s worth a read.  World/Inferno is a cabaret-punk act with lots of horns, vintage-store outfits and a Peter Lorre obsession.  In part, the band grew out of an 1980’s punk band from New Brunswick, New Jersey called Sticks and Stones.  I remember riding my bike between New Brunswick and Highland Park in the early 1990’s and seeing graffiti for Sticks and Stones scrawled on the bridge across the Raritan River.  Others names I saw spray painted around town: Grinding Teeth, Catharsis, and P.E.D. (or Post Ejaculation Depression, the first punk band I knew about in New Jersey).

I have never been a big, big fan of cabaret punk, although I do appreciate drama.  But World/Inferno does something that’s pretty incredible.  Check out the video I found:

Amazing, right?  Today World/Inferno’s  “Just the Best Party” was rocking my mp3 player, and I was thinking about the particular feeling I associate with New Jersey punk.  It’s a kind of boundless energy and creativity, mixed with an odd kind of sadness — a romantic sort of vibe.  The best other example I can think of is Lifetime.  Beyond that, believe it or not, Bruce Springsteen is the next NJ musician who comes to mind.