Coal Palace Kings; Beer, Swagger & Loud Guitars

ALBANY - Even the birds have the good sense to go south for the winter.
Howe Glassman did otherwise. He flew north.

‘I was born in Miami and moved to Schenectady,’ says Glassman, one of the unsung
heroes of the greater Capital Region music scene of the past 20 years.
When Glassman came north, he brought along an insatiable hunger for rock ‘n’ roll.

‘I first got involved in the local music scene writing for Buzz magazine,’ he says.
This was in 1985. Glassman recalls the long-gone regional ‘zine’ that covered area bands.
Albany clubgoers remember him for his early ‘90s band, The Dugans. Band veterans
recall Glassman for the supportive role he played in getting groups booked into venues
like Albany’s rock halls Bogie’s and Valentine’s.

In between, there was the formation of the local record label - Kranepool - named after Glassman’s inexplicable fascination with New York Mets’ former first baseman.
The label issued its 17th release in 2004 as it marks its decade anniversary.

‘We’ll be celebrating 10 years of losing money,’ Glassman laughs.
The adjustment from a rock ‘n’ roll youth to adulthood is a transition Glassman
shares with other longtime area musicians-turned-family men, like singer-songwriter
Michael Eck, guitarist Rob Skane and ARC front man Jack Nemier.

Settling into adulthood is no reason to give up the guitar, the studio or the stage.
If anything, there is a larger extended family with whom to share the musical journey.
‘I have a wife and a daughter now,’ says Glassman. “Thankfully, she loves music.’

For the past seven years, Glassman has been the chief songwriter of the Coal Palace Kings, additionally sharing vocal and guitar duties with co-guitarist Larry Winchester. Bass player
Jeff Sohn and drummer Don Ackerman round out the quartet.

The band first came together after Glassman placed an ad seeking like-minded musicians
who were into Hank Williams, the Clash and Husker Dü. In their own words, they say,
‘we sing about sin, salvation and vans.’ A four-song demo, recorded with the help of The Silos’ Walter Salas-Humara, led to a single.

The band issued its debut release, ‘Pine Away,’ in 1997.
Two years later, the follow-up CD, ‘Everyone’s Got Drinking Stories,’ was supported with
a relentless touring schedule that took the group’s road-weary van up and down the
East Coast and through the Southern states, gathering new fans with driving guitars, Americana-style roots and punk aesthetics.

Radio airplay came from places as diverse as Australia and Yugoslavia, and local acclaim
came from regional music publications that handed over awards for ‘Best Roots Rock Band,’ ‘Best Alt-Country Band’ and ‘Best Band To Get Drunk To.’
Throughout, Glassman stayed true to his musical inspiration, mixing parts of
the tumbleweed sweetness of the Long Ryders,
the nervous electricity of Neil Young and the maniacal frenzy of The Replacements.

The band’s 2002 release, ‘Upstate CD,’ expanded the band’s audience, picking up college
radio station airplay throughout North America, as well as on independent stations in
Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands.

In 2003, the band recorded its performance at the Garden Grill on Albany’s South End.
‘It’s three hours of music whittled down to the best 50 minutes,’ Glassman says of the
band’s fourth full-length effort.

“Live at the Garden Grill” captures the hometown band in its most complimentary environment: live, loud and on stage.

CPK “Live” swings with all the barroom swagger of an electric-tinged hillbilly.
It is filled with the haunting lullabies of the song “Stoneytown,” and laden with the catchy, hook-driven tunes of “Northampton” and “That’s What Dreams (Were Made For).”

And just like a good barkeep who knows how to keep the party going, just when you’ve
think you’ve had one too many sudsy sing-alongs, the band motors into a punk-driven pile-driver like “Bend in the River,” laced with raunchy, Rockpile-like riffs, courtesy
of guitarists Glassman and Larry Winchester.

This band jams onstage and “Live” delivers oodles of fun, beer-soaked magic celebrating
love going good, lamenting love gone bad and holding dear to heart those endlessly wistful garage band dreams of traveling across the country - just for once - in a decent automobile.

And while he remains optimistic about the power of music, Glassman says he is less than enthused by what he once thought could become a major musical ‘scene’ in the Capital Region.

‘I hate to say it, but back in the day, you wouldn’t think twice about going out to go see some great new indie band in a club. Today, people (are more likely) to go out in droves to free concerts, like those at Washington Park or at the (Empire State) Plaza.
But they’re not as likely to go to a club if they have to pay to go,’ he says.

The support of local music by the people who live in the community has long been a major sticking point to many, dating to the era of clubs like Bogie’s, the QE2 and Mother Earth’s
Café - all gone today.

‘You can’t really blame people, though,’ Glassman says.
‘Besides a few college radio outlets, new music is not getting played on the radio, so people aren’t getting to hear much of what is out there.’
While the Coal Palace Kings are fortunate to have a hardcore contingent of fans that
follow them from show to show, Glassman says a lot of the band’s attention these days
goes into building on its international fan base, something with which the group
has had some success.

As for any fanciful rock star dreams, Glassman says he doesn’t think much about those ideological visions of superstardom.

‘I stopped worrying about getting ‘The Big Record Deal’ years ago,’ he says.
He concentrates his energies instead on creating in the studio and on the stage with
his music, and on enjoying his family life.

His life has gotten easier without the stress of searching for ‘the record deal,’ he says.

‘Of course now, a couple of record labels have been coming out and sniffing around,’
laughing at the irony.

by Thomas Dimopoulos
originally published in The Saratogian, 2003-2004.