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Friday, December 7, 2012
Sioux City Pete and The Beggars
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So begins my first experience with Sioux City Pete and The Beggars... and it couldn't have been more accurate. They took the stage minus one member (Amanda, one of the guitarists, had a stand-in for the night, stepping up after only one practice) and gear fighting them every step of the way.
I'm sure the band wasn't thrilled about these troubles (talking to Pete after the show, it became very clear that The Beggars do not cancel shows), but from the floor, as an audience, the whole thing was heightened by the threat that anything could blow up at any minute. This was a completely off-the-leash, blood & sweat rock 'n' roll show....I get the feeling that Sioux City Pete and The Beggars are probably always playing with all meters in the red, but this is the particular show I saw, and the whole thing was fraught with danger. We had been warned: it was all real. It was exhilarating.
And I'm going to ditch that whole "Garage Rock" label, too-- while that descriptor was built to describe a stripped-down, no frills style of rock band (which The Beggars certainly are), it has mostly been appropriated by bands like The Hives or The White Stripes... faux rebellion in matching outfits. I wouldn't lump these guys into a category that contains The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. To me, that's bad comedy; Sioux City Pete and The Beggars are apocalyptic.
Reality is a sticking point for a rock 'n' roll band... more often than not, bands claiming straight ahead rock play music like they have to go home and finish their term papers: fresh scrubbed, perfectly coiffed, polite bands with the pretense of "rocking." Sioux City Pete and The Beggars don't play rock like they've put on personae for the night-- they play like their lives depend on it. There's no ironic aloofness, no poseurdom: when they rock, I believe them.
Pete fronts the band, commanding the group's only vocal mic and playing a well-beaten Telecaster (with and without slide)-- he took the stage in a bluesman's suit coat, but, pouring sweat, played most of the show shirtless. Ana locked down the bass with an awesome, flatwound-strung Thunderbird, and, as the show went on, the two of them hit the floor... seriously, a knock-down, drag-out kind of show. (I never really got a good picture of Ana, which is a damn shame. There are actual, good pictures of the band on their Facebook page.)Anthony plays drums in the manner befitting The Beggars: he beats them within an inch of their collective lives. His style is so completely, incredibly unrestrained that, while he isn't that well represented in my pictures, there are videos of Sioux City Pete and The Beggars that are just him. Seriously: Anthony is so captivating behind the kit, playing like he's about to destroy the whole world, that you can find videos that never look away from the drummer.
This is probably poor reporting on my part, but I don't have the second guitarist's name. He was in a tough spot, filling in with the band with minimal preparation, but he certainly got the job done; if the band hadn't spotlit him for helping them out, I wouldn't have known he wasn't a permanent member.
This band takes rock 'n' roll and completely throws caution to the wind-- they're not here to reinvent rock, they're not trying to repackage it, prettify it, update it, or sell it to a wider demographic, they're just here to rock. They have albums available, but I'm anxiously looking forward to seeing them blow down another club.
Sioux City Pete and The Beggars on Facebook
Monday, December 3, 2012
The evils of Autotune
Steve Albini integrates the history of music fads into his hate for Cher’s “Believe”
I've probably droned on about the tackiness of Autotune and its flagship song, Cher's "Believe," more than most, but Albini codifies the whole argument pretty well in one entertaining package. I am looking forward to the day when this cheesy package is seen a horribly-dated cliche, as relevant as those 80s drum machines.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Barefoot Barnacle
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It is sort of funny that the first time I saw Barefoot Barnacle was at the Blue Moon (featuring Seattle's worst PA) was also the only time I ever saw them with a vocalist-- Barefoot was an instrumental band before that, and they've been instrumental ever since-- was in the one place that can't handle vocals. Go figure.
I do feel a little odd writing up two technical, instrumental, metal bands at a Mars Bar Radgoat Friday in a row... but Barefoot Barnacle have been a long time coming. In line for a beer at the bar, the conversation was “This is the most underrated band in Seattle. They're like Cephalic Carnage mixed with Mr. Bungle.”
I hear some Cynic and Obscura-era Gorguts in there, too, but that might just be me.Barnacle play a constantly-shifting style of hallucinogenic metal-- their song titles often have a nautical theme, and you could call a few of their pieces demented tech-metal sea shanties. With Doug and Jorge's guitars echoing, chorusing, and wah-ing through the a song's trippier sections, and Alex's fretless bass sliding chords around, Barnacle can make a club go a little... er... "swimmy."
Those are just their driftier parts, though; the main body of Barefoot Barnacle's songs are charging, thrashing, and heavy as hell. The riffs can grind, but they're full of big, dissonant chords and off-kilter intervals-- they write moshable songs, but they're not a band that just moves power chords around the neck. Similarly, Jon Z is not just putting down 16th notes in double-kick: if you listen to these songs (and yes, you should listen to these songs), even the kick patterns can have triplets breaking up the beat.
The band is excellent at keeping the audience engaged with an instrumental band-- they volley parts between instruments, call-and-response style, setting up parts before they tear into them. They'll switch times at the drop of a hat, shifting gears from breakneck technical craziness to circle-pit break... and the breaks can even come with choreography.
You read that right: choreography. There are some legitimate stage moves that occur during specific Barnacle songs. Nothing to be taken too seriously... quite the opposite: they're being funny... but it is part of the show.
And that's part of it: Barefoot Barnacle is funny. You're going to get a show when you go to see them live, and they're always kind of fucking with the crowd. Once, at a Metal Monday, as Jon Z and Alex (often shirtless, or less) lost more clothes, Jorge yanked off what turned out to be velcro'd stripper pants, and played the rest of the show in a banana-hammock (seriously-- that happened). They opened a show at The Octagon once with a cover of Salt 'N' Peppa's "Push It."
This show was the day after Thanksgiving, and Barnacle decided that "turkey day" should be followed by "geoduck day," which came with an audience participation chant: "dig-a-duck, dig-a-duck, dig-a-geoduck, dig-a-duck, dig-a-geoduck" (well, something close to that... I don't quite remember how it all goes) which Barnacle matched with a riff.
They killed it, too-- I'm sure most of the country was dealing with a tryptophan overdose, and the crowd was a little sedentary-- but Barefoot Barnacle played an awesome, energetic, wild set. Unlike some of the bands I write up, Barnacle exists on the web and you can (and should) buy their CD, but you should still see them live when you can: they play hard, they're never a boring show, and pretty much anything can happen when they're on stage.
Barefoot Barnacle on ReverbNation
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
On Stage 25 - Positivity
A continuing series of insights from the stage at the local club level...
25. Not to sound to new-agey, but positivity is a greater force than negativity. Aside from being well practiced (which is obviously important), you will make fewer mistakes and play a tighter, better, and more fun show if you select the mantra in your head: don't tell yourself “don't mess this up, don't make a mistake.” Tell yourself “I know this. I wrote this. I can play this in my sleep.”
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Lb.!
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Lb.! are built to cover a lot of ground, especially for an instrumental two-piece. Ryan's 8-string guitar is split between two amps--
a guitar amp/cab and a bass amp/cab-- with a variety of pitch pedals to expand his frequency range. David's drum kit is two kick/snare setups at ninety degrees from one another, letting him play tight, focused blasts, shift on the drum throne, and dig in for huge, heavy beats 
(seriously... can you believe the size of that second kick?) David rotating between the fast side of his kit to the heavy side is a lot of fun to watch throughout a Lb.! set... I've never seen a drummer set up this way before.I saw Lb.! as the opening band for one of the Mars Bar's Radgoat Fridays, and they slayed the crowd. They claim grind and sludge in their description, and they slip between blistering, breakneck grindcore and heavy, stomping grooves effortlessly. As an instrumental band, Lb.! keeps the crowd's attention with a combination of "can you believe that just happened?" wizardry and crushing, headbanging riffs. With David cranking out blinding, mathy, intricate beats, Ryan grinds out complicated riffs that bend, slide, and lock in on the complex rhythms, sometimes using tapping to play multi-octave rhythms across the 8-string guitar (rhythm-tapping, not Steve Vai meedley-meedly-me). Then the groove shifts, Ryan drops to heavy riffs on his low strings, David switches over to his massive kick, snare, and the audience falls in line with the monstrous sound chugging through the room.
Lb.! are fairly extreme; their shifting rhythms could leave calculus majors scratching their heads, certain to alienate patrons who come to shows for AC/DC, straight ahead bar rock-- but they're infinitely rewarding for people who want the extreme. They've got technical math grindcore lunacy and heavy sludge in equal measure, they're tons of fun for anyone who can keep up... but they're not big on internet presence. If you want to hear Lb.!, you have to go see them live (I'll list all of their shows on the calendar at the bottom of this page)-- then you can add yourself to the ranks of people who invariably start the next day with "I saw Lb.! last night... you have got to check these guys out."
Lb.! on Facebook
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Adios, Funhouse
October 31, 2012
Bye
bye, Funhouse; you were good, but I'm certain the condos that replace you will
be great. The Funhouse is still looking for a place to
re-spawn, and I hope they find a good spot, but this is it for now: the final
night of the Funhouse. Fitting, I
suppose: if you're going to have a final bash at the place with the big scary
clown on the marquee, it may as well be on Halloween.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The Mars Bar
For the record: the food at Cafe Venus is pretty good. They have traditional bar food as well as a lot of vegetarian/vegan options.The venue itself is fairly small and intimate, with a mid-size stage (much improved from the first time we played here) and a solid PA (appropriate for the size of the venue). Bands split the door, and there are tables across from the stage for merch.
Not unlike the 2 Bit's Monday Metal Madness, the Mars Bar is currently hosting RadGoat Fridays, which is hosted by ubik.s Michelle, and has been building up Mars Bar Fridays as a punk and metal event night in town. Saturdays are being booked by Daswasup GIG, setting up a more garage-style night, and giving the Mars Bar a solid lineup.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Why would you play this place?
Well... I rarely do this, but as an addendum to my original write-up of Fuel, it's probably worth noting that I've undersold how poorly this place treats, represents, and reproduces the sound of bands.
The stand-out problem is still the bad, bad sound... but my initial complaint was something I assumed was the sound guy's preference: running everything through the mains. Now it's obvious the people running sound at Fuel are just incompetent. A goth/industrial show went spectacularly wrong, as the programmed drums/sequenced synths weren't put through the sound system... so the audience basically had a night where one of the main elements of the music was completely missing.
The bands fought and argued and contested the inability of the sound guy to make the show audible, but musicians aren't a priority at Fuel, and aren't taken seriously. How much respect do bands get? Well... they weren't allowed to start playing until the football game was over, so the flat screen TVs are much more important than the bands.
Though the show started late-- don't be ridiculous: you simply cannot turn off the TVs when football is on-- all the bands did get to play... because, when half of your music can't be heard by anyone, it's not a big deal when the musicians storm off the stage. It keeps the sets short, and you're not missing anything.
Actually, you'd miss less if you just never went to Fuel. Bands shouldn't play there. People who want to see bands should see them somewhere else. With so many other venues in Seattle, why should shows (bands or audience) ever have to deal with Fuel?
Leave this place to flat screen televisions broadcasting The Big Game.
The stand-out problem is still the bad, bad sound... but my initial complaint was something I assumed was the sound guy's preference: running everything through the mains. Now it's obvious the people running sound at Fuel are just incompetent. A goth/industrial show went spectacularly wrong, as the programmed drums/sequenced synths weren't put through the sound system... so the audience basically had a night where one of the main elements of the music was completely missing.
The bands fought and argued and contested the inability of the sound guy to make the show audible, but musicians aren't a priority at Fuel, and aren't taken seriously. How much respect do bands get? Well... they weren't allowed to start playing until the football game was over, so the flat screen TVs are much more important than the bands.
Though the show started late-- don't be ridiculous: you simply cannot turn off the TVs when football is on-- all the bands did get to play... because, when half of your music can't be heard by anyone, it's not a big deal when the musicians storm off the stage. It keeps the sets short, and you're not missing anything.
Actually, you'd miss less if you just never went to Fuel. Bands shouldn't play there. People who want to see bands should see them somewhere else. With so many other venues in Seattle, why should shows (bands or audience) ever have to deal with Fuel?
Leave this place to flat screen televisions broadcasting The Big Game.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
On Stage 24 - Dare to suck
A continuing series of insights from the stage at the local club level...
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| Don't compare yourself, Mike... it ain't healthy |
Sunday, September 30, 2012
To Portland
The Foggy Notion in Portland, OR
with Nasalrod & Ix
We woke up on Saturday Morning to coffee, eggs, bacon and sausage, biscuits, and gravy... Ash (of Ash-Hole studios) and his family treated us exceptionally well. I wasn't kidding about the generosity of our hosts. I don't necessarily eat all that stuff, but among the eight of us, it was consumed.
We didn't wake up early on Saturday. We didn't have much of an agenda. Our scheduled show in Corvalis canceled early and our options in Redington, Eugene, and Olympia all fell through. We were offered a radio show in Boise-- that actually sounded like a lot of fun, and something we were all interested in doing, but it was also five hours out of our way for a non-paying venture. Sadly, a gig that won't pay for its own gas could leave us stranded.
Everyone took their time heading to the Sun Cafe in downtown Boise, getting smoothies, mimosas, and wraps. The afternoon was wide-open, and we all just kind of chilled out for a bit.
Checking Facebook, we discovered that one of the phone calls Michelle made panned out... but it was after 5:00, and we were still in Boise. We did get to Portland just fine-- we left before Nasalrod in hopes of maybe making the show, but we rolled in around 11:30, and the everything had already wrapped, so the day was basically: sleep in, restaurant, seven hours of driving, restaurant, sleep.
We were all a bit tired of our mp3 collections, so we put my mp3 player on random until the batteries died (right in the middle of a Floating Goat song), and then switched to Michelle's. We even established rules: random means random-- no skipping, no selecting, just let the player go. This was fine until we got two KISS songs in a row.
“I only have one KISS album on here, too,” she says as one more corny, reverb-drenched song off Dynasty starts up. “And this one's going to hurt. This is an Ace song.” Then her iPod revolted-- it just stopped, never let Mr. Freeley sing a single note, and found the next song on its own.
Not even the iPod would put up with that much KISS.
We might not have been able to catch our last-minute show, but we got to Portland with plenty of time to hang out. Nasalrod all live here, so they found their homes and beds-- we found Dan from Ix, who often puts us up at the Plural Mural house when we're in town.
I had another friend to stay with, so I split off from the group-- they went to Bily Ray's Dive Bar; I ended up at C-Bar, playing pinball and drinking a Burnside Brewery wheat ale spiced with Habernero. Hells yes!
That is one of the great things about Portland: it's a devoted beer and food town. Bars have wild, creative tap lists and restaurants are multidimensional and always have Secret Aardvark hot sauce. I love eating and drinking here.
I got back to Plural Mural before ubik. got out of bed (figuratively speaking) and just hung out with Dan for a while. We were about four blocks from The Foggy Notion, and were free until the 8:30PM load-in to chill, restring instruments, snuggle the cats, listen to music, read Batman: Year One (it was on the bookshelf in the living room). Free time is nice when you come by it.
The Foggy Notion is a cool venue, and we came up with a setlist while Ix was playing. Maybe it was the energy in the room, but we ended up with a really high-energy, fast set. You'd think that with all our free time we would have written a setlist during the day, but ubik. doesn't often operate with a lot of forethought. We mean to... it just never happens.
We've all become really, really fond of Nasalrod. It could have gone either way: we liked the band, but we never traveled with another group before, and I like them even more now than when we started. Great band on stage, great group of people off stage. It was sort of bittersweet watching the last Nasalrod set, knowing we wouldn't be seeing another one tomorrow.
There was a big group around the fire pit at Dan's after the show, which seems to be the norm when we're with Dan or Justin (who has moved out of Plural Mural, but it was still a big Ix/Nasalrod party), and we hung out well into the night.
Though we only played four nights, the whole adventure seemed too brief, but it was a good run.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Non-cancelled shows in Boise
Ash-Hole Studios in Boise, ID
with Nasalrod, Gernika, 1d, & Raid
So, nothing bad happened to anyone... Well, not until the next day. We didn't realize the next show started at 5:00PM. In Boise. Boise is about seven hours from Spokane, and we didn't leave until about 11:00. And then we remembered we had to cross over to Mountain Time, and would be an hour later than we thought.
We have a tendency to forget Mountain Time exists.
And then we blew a tire. It didn't seem like too huge a deal: we have a healthy, full-sized spare, and we fired up our commando tire changing skills just like last time.
Except last time it was a back tire. This time, it's driver's-side front, and we crank up the jack to find the tire still on the pavement. Damnit. We sent Nasalrod on ahead to Boise, and waited. Luckily, we went out with roadside assistance at our back... but when we got assistance, it was hard not to feel like chumps: it took less than five minutes to change that tire. We waited an hour for professionals to show up with a somewhat taller jack.
We lost more time getting to a Firestone to replace our spare. Last tour, we missed a show when we blew a tire and then blew another, and we refused to hit the road without a working spare. It ate time and money, and we still don't have a way to lift the van high enough to change a front tire, but we rolled into town before Nasalrod finished their set.
Today was my turn in the barrel. I drove pretty much all day... we showed up at the Boise show with my fretting hand suffering hours of constant vibration and my shoulder on fire. We played pretty well, actually, but a lot of the attendees of an all ages show have curfews that we were not meeting.
That, and ubik.s defining characteristic: we're not for everyone. Even our most rocking songs have atmospheric breaks; even our spaciest songs do something jarring. That's simply who we are, and, while we've accepted it, that acceptance hasn't spread to everyone, everywhere. It's also something that won't fly with a sixteen-year-old straight edge punk rocker. For a crowd that wants direct, unambiguous anthems and constant high tempos... we are not going to scratch that itch. Not ever.
Overhearing the conversation between Michelle and the kid who was “just trying to understand what it meant.” Ironically, there was more than a dash of Keanu Reeves "woah" in his voice, an awfully stoner trait for a straight edge punker to have. She related that she understood ubik better after her first acid experience, but she couldn't offer him a straight edge gateway to grasping what he was trying to understand.
I suggested a sweat lodge.
Kids too young to buy tobacco and alcohol calling themselves “straight edge” are hilarious... that's not so much a lifestyle choice as acting superious about obeying your mom. No judgement on the 21+ people I know that choose a clean lifestyle; they decide to live their lives a certain way and stick by it. It's awfully easy for children to swear off things they're not allowed to have. Those grapes are probably sour, anyway.
Nasalrod fared much better than we did. Their fast, raw energy really lit this crowd up. We arrived during their set, and could barely push into the crowd; no matter how odd and complex they are, Nasalrod can own a punk audience, and they brought the house down tonight.
Our hosts were incredibly gracious. We stayed up late, carousing and swapping stories. I quit somewhere around 3:00, but they say Joel was still upright when Justin was singing his solo pieces at the top of his lungs after daybreak (as Kat tells it). Michelle, Tyler, and I slept in the basement, away from anyone who might have disturbed our sleep.
Friday, September 28, 2012
...and we finally made it to Spokane
The Hop in Spokane, WA
w/ Nasalrod, Mercy Brown, Dysfunktynal Kaos, Boneye, & Abode for the Dead
“Hey, look at those cows! They're outstanding in their field.”
And, hey-- We're actually making it to Spokane this time. We stopped in Ellensburg for old time's sake... and Mexican food... and gas... but it's nice to be charging east and full of hope.
It was a long haul, about five hours, and we left early. Joel started to get road hypnosis by the end. Michelle was tuned out for a lot of it, dancing in her headphones. Literally.
She popped them off to see what Tyler, Joel, and I were head-bobbing to. "I looked up any you were all grooving, so I had to see if what you were listening to was better than what I was listening to." It was Joel's mp3s on random-- we were all head bobbing to Gojira.
Actually, "random" for Joel's player means "a lot of Dead Milkmen and Burning of I." Which is all pretty fantastic driving music. Even in our van's tinny speakers, those Burning of I songs are stand-outs... they were my first write-up, and like most freshman efforts, I look back on that piece and think they deserve a better review. They should be heard-- get their records. And hey, we're playing with them at The Kraken in October.
But I digress...
While we didn't actually get there last time, Ellesnburg definitely wasn't this hot last time out. Spokane was really, really sweaty. We got to the venue before the doors unlocked and found a pub around the corner with WiFi, air conditioning, and $2 Blue Moons.
The Spokane crowd was really nice-- Spokaners, as far as I can tell, are really nice in general-- and I was handed a parking lot Pabst tallboy while we were loading in. The end of that beer was like swallowing sand... I drank water through most of the night.
We initially balked at the pay lot behind The Hop... until we saw the price. Paid parking lots are expensive in Seattle. The lot we were in, noon, evening, and night, was $1. I think we can handle that.
ubik. and Nasalrod were absolutely the weirdest bands of the night, and different kinds of weird, so one of us couldn't inoculate the crowd for the other. There was a lot of metal metal metal on tap from the Spokane bands, and we were in the middle of the whole thing.
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| Nasalrod at The Hop |
And we met Bono. He covered Alice in Chains. It's rare to see a club empty out so quickly.
While that was happening, we discovered the "backstage" area-- the kitchen is right by the stage at the Hop, so I didn't round that corner until I saw Joel, Tyler, Tim, Kat, and Justin head over there. There are stairs down into the basement with a "staff and performers only" sign above it.
Hey-- I'm a performer!
and the next door says "Employees only," and, since the club was going to pay us, I considered myself qualified.
Well, that, and half my band was already in there.
Pretty keen little place, all told. I liked The Hop quite a bit-- they mic everything, which is not my personal preference, but Nasalrod (who's seen us often enough to know) says we sounded good, and they sounded great as well. The sound guy definitely knew what he was doing.
The show ended at midnight, so we hit Spokane and found some places to be... which included (and I wish I had a picture of this) Justin surfing on top of the Nasalrod van holding on to Michelle sitting outside their passenger window (she was his seatbelt).
At bar time.
In the middle of downtown.
I, being the devil-may-care rocker that I am, was just waiting for tour to stop dead as Nasalrod and ubik. each had to bail a member out of jail. I am old and stodgy. Of course, that's just me being neurotic. Nothing bad happened to anyone.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Kickoff at the Funhouse
The Funhouse in Seattle, WA
w/ Nasalrod, Slave Traitor, and The Vatican
Well, this is different: we've never gone out on the road with a band before. I hadn't seen Nasalrod since they kicked my ass at The Kraken... and they sorta intimidated me last night-- they're so uptempo and rocking that I watched their set with two parallel thoughts:
“These guys are awesome. I'm so glad we're going on the road with them.”
and
“Damnit. How are we supposed to follow this?”
Which is just something that happens in my head... it wasn't actually an issue. We played last, of course, since we were on our home turf (Nasalrod will close the Portland show), and the whole gig went pretty damn well. It was great to see Slave Traitor again-- it's been a while-- and I'd never seen The Vatican before. Then again, I'd never seen one of Slave Traitor's fabled fistfights/wrestling matches... that was a new one.
We attempted to keep the group together and crash at The Josephine, just to get us on the road at a reasonable hour. It worked... kind of. Still-- the theory was sound. The Spokane show started at 5:00PM, and we had a long drive ahead of us.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The Meatmen
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The Meatmen are the oldest band I've written up to date, and no matter the line-up changes over their forty years playing hardcore punk rock, the band is completely electric. Most of us have seen bands phone it in after 20 years, sometimes even if they took a 10 year break, but there's nothing half-assed about a Meatmen show. They're all-in, they play hard, and come back out after the lights come up (even though they resent having beer cans thrown at them) to play a second encore.
“I'm a fifty-six year old man.
I'm like your dad... actually,
I'm nothing like your dad,
because that guy sucks.”
Introducing Pope on a Rope
I'm like your dad... actually,
I'm nothing like your dad,
because that guy sucks.”
Introducing Pope on a Rope
It's actually a little stunning to be on the floor in front of The Meatmen-- even the long-standing Down By Law played to a pretty lethargic crowd before The Meatmen went on-- but as soon as they came out, The Meatmen knocked the crowd over. Everything came alive when they took the stage.
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| Tesco Vee from TheresSomethingHardInThere |
This was actually a more entertaining show than their last Seattle visit at El Corazon and The Meatmen's first show a vegan venue. Define irony: The Meatmen at The Highline.
The crowd was smaller than the Meatmen's ElCo visit last year, but the show was nothing short of huge. Tesco, an ordained minister of the Church of Satan, married a couple on stage (with the only marriage vows I've ever heard that included a Rusty Trombone, and ended with “I may now kiss the bride” as our minister planted on one the bride). The bassist broke up a fight (“you with the stupid outfit and you with the lame haircut-- knock it the fuck off. We're playing songs about wieners and butts up here... it's nothing to punch each other over.”) Pretty much everything you could ask of a punk show.
Some of my friends called a few gaps in their setlists... but that happens at every show where the band has this large a catalog. I'm always gratified when I hear "Fuck the Beatles" with the updated lyrics. The new chorus is “two down, two to go,” which always makes me think of Carlin: the wrong two Beatles died first. Unlike the northwest locals I often describe on this site, I'm not going to try with these guys. They're classic hardcore... either you've heard "Toilet Slave" or you haven't. If you like punk rock and you don't know them, you need to do some homework.
As a final note, it was very cool to see these guys in the crowd during their four band bill (Tesco especially) because it's rare to see someone who's played shows in five decades-- his words-- that is actually on the floor listening to the opening local bands. When I talk about Legacy Bands, the kind of bands supported by a long history and reputation, some play great and some sleepwalk, but it's incredibly uncommon to find them watching the supporting bands. That's an extra level of engagement, a real dedication to being part of the entire show, that I almost never see.
The Meatmen on Facebook
Monday, August 27, 2012
On Stage 23 - Spin
A continuing series of insights from the stage at the local club level...
23.
People trying to get you to play their show will sell the gig in the most positive light possible. No one should put too much faith in proposed event attendance-- everyone from bands to realtors to tupperware parties ought to know that roughly 1/3 of the people who'll say they'll come actually show up. It's important to remember this when someone offers your band a show that will be packed, sell out, and earn you many hundreds of dollars at the door; the discrepancy between the crowd described to you and the actual show you play can be stunning. Bands with guarantees don't worry about this, but for everyone else: I'm not saying you shouldn't play the show, I just want everyone to keep their expectations realistic.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Aranya, Ix, and Cerebral Cortez
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ubik. left Beer Metal Summer Camp on Saturday afternoon because we had booked a show that night before we knew the dates for Beer Metal-- no one wants to leave half way in, but like I've said before, you play the shows you book and that's that. We booked this one well in advance because we played a good show with Aranya in Portland as the closer to our most recent tour, and wanted to return the favor and give them a good Seattle show in return.
Things just shook out that it was on Beer Metal weekend... so we rolled back into town a little exausted, not too sunburnt, and several days unshowered to meet up at The Rat & Raven. This was our first show there, and, though we felt a little unfaithful playing across the street from The Kraken (and popped in there for some food and the celebration of Iron Maiden day), the venue was cozy, accomodating, and well-set-up.
The pictures are going to be a little spotty and culled from the internet because... well... I never seem to have my cameras at shows I'm playing. Apologies for that; I ought to be more prepared.
On to the show...
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Highline
or The Funhouse-- lots of space for backlining, large drum kits, and most stage setups that a medium-level band could muster. An elevator is available to shuttle heavier gear to the second floor venue without lugging equipment up stairs. The monitors, floor wedges up front and a stand-alone for the drummer, are quality, and the PA system can more than fill the space. In a fairly large space like this, whether or not the cabs are mic'd depends on how loud the amps are, the sound guy, and the balance off stage. The sound in the crowd is usually pretty good (it does tend toward reverby, arena-style drums... but that's a personal preference thing) and it is one of the darker clubs in town.Bands get two complimentary pitchers for the night and are paid a cut of the door; shows are usually between $5 and $7, and a large crowd in a space this side will compensate a band well. There's table space along the wall between the stage and sound booth that can provide plenty of merch real estate, if needed (if not, on-deck bands will often have their gear there-- ask your booker or sound engineer about merchandise space.)
Addendum:
The Highline is really expanding as a venue, bringing in wider varieties of acts and bigger, national touring bands. This is fantastic, but if you're playing a show here, advertise the hell out of it. A lot of pretty big bands have had too small a turnout because no one knew they were playing.
Also, a variety of acts changes the crowd a bit, and while sludge and doom crowds don't move around too much, putting an energetic punk rock crowd on the polished hardwood floors in front of The Highline stage can be tricky. After that floor is soaked with beer and sweat, no one can walk across it without sliding around. Slamming is almost impossible-- it's like trying to mosh on ice.
Friday, August 10, 2012
The Rat & Raven
The venue portion of the building is cordoned off from the rest by a heavy curtain and whoever's working the door: you can enter the bar & grill without paying to see the band, but once you're through the curtain, it's a different space entirely. The stage area is dark, moody and theatrical. The main floor is wide open; booths start about halfway back.The stage is fairly large, too, with enough space for backlining of cabs, and a lot of room to set up (it could easily fit a 5-piece rock band with a large drum kit, or The Fabulous Downey Brothers at their most elaborate). There is a loading door by the stage, so gear can be carried in without going through the bar area.
Booking and sound are handled by the same folks who run The Comet; they're currently upgrading the sound system, but there's nothing particularly lacking with the PA they have now. The loudspeakers are solid in the crowd, and the sound on stage, both from the monitors and the general acoustics of the stage itself, is really quite good.Bands get paid from the door (and band members get drink tickets), but the space and staff are sort of "rented" for the night, generally for around $100. Check what's expected when booking and promote with that in mind: if you play to four people, the other bands, and a ton of guest list spots, you will be paying for the privilege at the end of the night.
Finally, it bears mentioning that the curtain between the venue space and the bar proper really separates two worlds. The bar area and upstairs game room have the style (and clientele) of the building's previous incarnation as The Irish Emigrant, which more closely fits the stereotype of "University District bar."
Thursday, August 9, 2012
On Stage 22 - ID
A continuing series of insights from the stage at the local club level...
22. Everyone has the internet-- choose a unique band name. If I had it to do all over again, I would have gone with a multi-word name that led searchers invariably to our band as their #1 result on Google... as it stands, not only are we named after a classic Philip K. Dick novel, we're not the only band called using “ubik” as a band name, either. We're doing fine, sure, but we could be easier to find... or harder: try finding videos of Lesbian, one of Seattle's best metal bands, I dare you (take a wild guess if the results might be NSFW).
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Crop
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I don't review demos-- I write up live shows; seen live, Crop are absolutely crushing. They're born of the thick, saturated density granfathered by Black Sabbath and grown into the vital and present Desert Rock and Stoner Rock cultures. Crop stomp, blast, and groove as well as any band I've seen.
And they do speed up-- Crop plays a lot of heavy, stoney, slow jams, from dripping southern rock to monolithic doom (Crop plays Sleep better than Sleep does; no one who's been to a Crop show disagrees with that statement)-- but they know that Loud is louder after Quiet, and they know that Slow is slower and heavier after Fast... conversely, Fast is almost unmoored and kind of threatening after the swampy, thudding heavy riffs that make up the main body of a Crop song. They can transition into anything from banging, straight-ahead Motorhead style speed rock to full on grind. Better still, the transitions are well built and perfectly timed: the fast parts are dropped right were the pit is most likely to explode. The slow riffs come in right where they'll knock a crowd down.
Most recently, I saw Crop out in the woods, and it was a hell of a show. Aside from their songs being awesome, it's a blast to see them-- they're fun, powerful, have a great time, and always play to the outside limit of their energy. They can have a powerful effect on the mosh-prone, so if you don't intend to get into the pit, you may want to stand back or to the side (or find an otherwise defensible position).
And-- time sensitive side note-- they're playing at the Josephine this Friday (they're listed on the show calendar at the bottom of this page). If you like heavy music and haven't seen Crop, you need to see Crop. There's not a lot of Crop on the internet; they don't do a lot of advertising, they don't have a band site (or even a Facebook page), and they don't have much recorded or uploaded. If you want to know Crop, you need to go out and find them. It's worth the effort, I promise you.
Crop on Bandcamp
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
On Stage 21 - Oh bitch, bitch, bitch
A continuing series of insights from the stage at the local club level...
21.
Don't be one of those bands that gets weighed down in political bitchiness; it's not worth it. You exist in your music scene, and you interact with people... you're not going to like every person in every band, sure, but bands have several members and there's no reason to make any disagreement with one member of a five-piece into a my band versus your band rivalry. It's stupid, it benefits no one, and it makes you look petty for doing it. So don't.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Beer Metal Summer Camp
Music starts on Friday, and a ton of bands flood the stage. It's out in the woods, so the stage is a naturally elevated riser under a small covering. The PA meets its paces, but it's definitely the kind of gear you'd take camping... which works for the aesthetic, because everyone sounds a little different out in the open air without the walls of a club reflecting sound around the room.
It's the woods, so everything comes off a generator... which just got an upgrade, and a band would be hard pressed to strain it (and this from a guy in a band with two power guzzling bass amps/bass cabs). A couple 100w Marshalls aren't going to make a dent.
No matter the announced line-up, bands (or members of bands) will be arriving late due to work schedules, complications, and traveling a couple hours out of Seattle. Generally, you step into the spot where you're needed; the prime spots are between when the party kicks into high gear (probably around sunset) and when the attendees have started to pass out.
The event is basically camaraderie-fueled: no one's getting paid, and everyone's just hanging out. There will be tons of bands that run a wide spectrum of tastes (though the word “metal” is in the name, the line-ups have never been exclusively metal), and for a few days, a large crowd of people exist within campfire culture, and they do it with an abundance of joy.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
On Stage 20 - Them That Need It Most
A continuing series of insights from the stage at the local club level...
20. Unsigned touring bands need everything they can get: the road is expensive, gas moreso, and everything is unpredictable when you're a thousand miles from home. Ever since ubik.s first tour, when so many bands we played with deferred their show money to us (greatly assisting our road life), we've always responded in kind-- we give our share of the door money to the guys from way, way out of town. They need it more than we do.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
The Facebook Conspiracy
So... is Facebook going to hide posts from Band Pages unless they pay up? (click to embiggen)
Friday, June 1, 2012
Nasalrod
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Nasalrod is drums, bass, guitar, and vocals, and the members it shares with Lickity (Justin on guitar, Tim on drums) do not bring Lickity's mission statement with them-- Nasalrod have no synths, the beats aren't influenced by drum 'n bass, and they are entirely their own animal: Chairman (vocals) and Kat (bass) are the band's founding members. The group defies easy description, but they definitely have some of the characteristics of the post-hardcore movement (driving energy, hard corners, athletic changes), as well as some noise rock, some straight up punk, and even some propulsive dance energy... some or all of which can be thrown into the mix in any Nasalrod song, at any time. This band does not believe in boring; their set was dynamic, energetic, and always engaging.
I know a guy who's contended, on more than one occasion, "Singers ruin bands," his complaint being that a group of talented players putting together good music can be undercut by putting their limited-range, poor-note-choosing, charismaless buddy on a microphone; I see that kind of thing often enough to usually agree to the complaint... and then there's Jeffrey "Chairman" Couch, who can seemingly channel David Yow or Dave Brockie or Jello Biafra at any given time, often in the span of one breath, while jumping off the bannister by the Kraken doorway and stomping around like a madman. The vocal pivots and changes in direction in Nasalrod are as mad and varied as the instrumental ones: not only can he carry a tune (rare enough at any show), but he can front a song with a variety of voices, characters, and styles, transforming from sharp, staccato bursts to swooping notes to holding a melody as the song evolves from one part to the next. Chairman's irrepressible stage show might even win over showgoers less receptive to some of Nasalrod's weirder charms.
I'd recommend them to just about anyone. If Nasalrod's coming to a club near you: go.
Nasalrod on Facebook
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