Metal Machine had the pleasure of attending Jesse Malin’s extremely intimate performance this evening at the Gibson Show Room in Hell’s Kitchen. With twenty people present and a fantastic acoustic set paired with great beer the whole event was a fantastic experience. The man has still got it. Jesse Malin (born January 26, 1968 in Flushing, Queens, New York, U.S.) is a rock musician. He has played with Heart Attack band members:Javier Madariaga-drums, Paul Praver-base and D Generation. He is currently a solo recording artist. He was joined by one other musician who played rhythm guitar, piano, and applied back up vocals making the acoustic set sound whole. Along with playing his original songs, he also did a number of covers including the Pogues “If I Should Fall From The Grace of God.” Jesse mentioned a lot of personal experiences such as being involved in a Scorsase film, if only for one line, and playing at Madison Square Garden with KISS, then promptly being arrested afterwards for an open container violation. All of these stories just added to the intimate feel that the entire set had. Other than that, it was beautiful to see him in his elect considering he is a Queens native. His first song of the set was “Riding on the Subway” which paved the way for multiple New York themed songs. Malin began his music career, at the age of 12, as the front-man for the seminal New York City hardcore band Heart Attack. Following the demise of that band in 1984, Jesse worked on several other projects, including the band Hope, before joining glam punk band D Generation for which he was the lead singer for eight years. As one of New York City’s most noted bands of 1990s, D Generation released three albums, including No Lunch before eventually disbanding in April 1999.
Malin didn’t stop writing music and went on to form two other projects, PCP Highway (with former D Generation bandmates Howie Pyro and Joe Rizzo) and Bellvue (also named Tsing-Tsing for a brief time); the latter band released one album, To Be Somebody on Goldenseal Records. The album included versions of songs that would later be reworked for Malin’s first two solo albums, including Solitaire, Basement Home, Brooklyn and Downliner.