Turnip King and PS I Love You–a Fun Live Show at Pianos

At live rock music show w/drums&guitar duo @psiloveyouband. Satisfying loud&tuneful rock n' roll. #FlannelGrunge pic.twitter.com/cDkXKP3yjO

— Philip Turner (@philipsturner) January 30, 2014

I had a fun time at the PS I Love You show last night, and also enjoyed hearing Turnip King, a young band from Sea Cliff, Long Island, a 4-piece whose picture I’ll post here with shots from PS I Love You’s set. Guitarist Paul Saulnier later tweeted that he’d been feeling ill, but I didn’t notice during the fun set he played with his drummer bandmate Benjamin Nelson.

I asked the four members of Turnip King how they got their name–thinking that maybe it was an artifact from some LI farming magnate. They told me the phrase was part of an inscription on a historic plaque in their hometown. I like this–an homage to one’s local roots, while also carrying a novel edge. I bet there are interesting stories behind the naming of many bands–after all, it’s part of rock folklore that Jerry Garcia opened an unabridged dictionary and stabbed a finger at the first phrase his eye landed on: Grateful Dead. “Buffalo Springfield” probably derived from the name of a manufacturer of earth-moving equipment. I hope to hear more of Turnip King. This is a link to their bandcamp page with five of their songs. They told me they often play live shows in Brooklyn.