The World/Inferno Friendship Society at Mercury Lounge

As a teenager, Peter Ventantonio sold newspaper subscriptions in his hometown of Bridgewater, New Jersey, and spent the money at the all-ages punk shows at a nearby university. A few years later, he was involved in the budding New Brunswick music scene, playing in the bands Sticks and Stones and P.E.D. He then reinvented himself as Jack Terricloth and relocated to Brooklyn, New York, and chauffeured Sly Stone in the early 1990s while developing the concept that in 1996 would become the World/Inferno Friendship Society. Terricloth, the band's sole on-going member, leads the World/Inferno Friendship Society (also referred to as "World Inferno" or "Inferno") as a collective of interchanging musicians. The World/Inferno Friendship Society's seventh and most recent album is 2014's This Packed Funeral; a forthcoming album, All Borders Are Porous to Cats, has been delayed for more than a year and is expected to be released in 2019.

Tonight featuring nine musicians, the World/Inferno Friendship Society headlined at Mercury Lounge as part of the venue's 25th anniversary celebration. On the surface, Terricloth's colorful and jovial character led both the band and the audience in a night of party revelry and theatrical-like pageantry. Under the surface, the horns, accordion, violin, keyboard and guitar weaved raw yet complex anything-goes arrangements that rocked and bounced with sounds borrowed from punk, funk, big band, dixieland, klezmer, polka, gypsy and circus music. It was as if Frank Zappa had joined Gogol Bordello. The good-time spirit was big, fat, and fast, frequently propelling audience members to slam dance and crowd surf. More than likely, you will not hear wild music quite like this until the next time this collective performs in your town.