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Showing posts with label Comet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Comet. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
The Triple Sixes
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The Triple Sixes at Facebook
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Day 1
at The Comet
w/ Princess, Elk Rider, and Kinski
Tour kickoffs are funny things... they're in your home town, so you haven't hit the road yet. They're in the place where all your friends live, so they generally have a good crowd, and you get to sleep in your own bed (and have a reliable shower) one last time. It's a normal show, and then it's also not a normal show, because it is still the beginning of the tour.
The “oh shit, here we go!” factor really contributes to that; today was the day we reclaimed the van from the mechanic, and receiving a The van is fucked text from Joel two hours before the show doesn't really inspire joyous feelings. I'd spent the day getting my stuff in order, buying travel-sized stuff and making sure I had another black tie for the stage outfit, and then that text comes in...
I should have bought a travel-sized Pepto Bismol. (They had some-- it's right next to the travel-sized Purel)
With the van in the shop, there was a real concern that it wouldn't be ready-- since we practice right around the corner from The Comet, we can (and have, if needed) just walk our gear over to the venue. It's not ideal, but it's doable. I'd prefer that idiots with pry bars didn't cause The van is fucked messages at all, but I am relieved that it's an instrument panel and not the engine that inspires them.
On with the show-- our kickoff coincided with ChoiceFest's first day, so Ladies Choice Productions set us up with a really cool line-up (thanks, Adam!), and the opener, Princess, shares members with the band that sort of discovered ubik... which is to say, it was really good to see Andrew again. I even wore my Keeper shirt (the “Obey the Wizard” one-- I wear it to work when I can, because no one argues with you when you have the word OBEY printed across you in big, block letters).
It seemed like everyone suffered from technical difficulties: Princess borrowed a Kinski guitar (the guitar went dead), Kinski borrowed one of my cables (the guitar went dead), and we... well, Joel's cabinet caught fire again. This was meant to be the triumphant return of Joel's Ampeg 8x10, which burst into flames on Christmas 2010, and had to be drug outside as we pulled hunks of flaming insulation out of the cabinet. Since then, it's gotten eight new speakers, it's been rewired, and given a flash new paint job.
In the middle of the third song, I smelled smoke, and there was no low end. We finished the set with Kinski's bass cab... we really owe them for that. We'd have been cut short after two songs if Kinski didn't bail us out. From there on, the show went off without a hitch; it was a good show, good crowd, good night all in all.
Still, better this kind of thing happens before we leave Seattle, while we can still course-correct for the tour. Pam (who plays in Scyphozoa with Tyler) has a Behringer 8x10 she's willing to loan us for the trip, so she's officially saved the tour.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
ubik. gets a nod
This is a really nice write-up of a Comet show we played with The Shitty Dudes, The Fabulous Downey Brothers, and Airpocalypse. There's even a picture of me without my standard white labcoat-- I dyed the coat Downey Blue for this show-- which is a little weird for me to see.
Many thanks, Seattle Audiophile!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Fungal Abyss
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The first thing I knew about Fungal Abyss was that it included the members of Lesbian, easily one of the best metal bands in Seattle. I was told they're a psychadelic group, a bit on the jam-band side of the spectrum; for me, that's one tick in the positive column (yay, psychadelia!) and one in the negative column (blech, jam bands)... but I like these players, have seen Lesbian many times, and wanted to see them before the opportunity faded. I caught them at the final night of their weekly residency at the Comet.
Fungal Abyss contains both guitars, bass, and drums from Lesbian, but adds a third guitar, a suitcase modular synth, and a vocalist. The biggest surprise from a band with three guitarists on stage is that Fungal Abyss is not notably guitar driven-- the bass and drums propel the music along, and the melodies, textures, and sonic freakouts layer themselves over the top. My strongest comparison for the group is Miles Davis' Bitches Brew era, a kind of free form 70's electric funk groove, with no shortage of swirly modulations, trippy echoes, and wah...
The music comes with a light show, too-- a projector set up by the sound board, providing an expressionistic backdrop for the music... when dipshits weren't making bunny ears in the light. It was a 21+ show at a bar, so I'm certain they weren't in third grade, but once they discovered they could throw shadows, the couple back by the light source kept it going. Still, I appreciate a band with a visual component to their shows, and the projector was a really nice touch.
Sonically, the suitcase modular synth gives a good idea of where the band is going. This isn't a band with a keyboard player; a collection of knobs and patch cords, the synth generally doesn't care about the key of the song or the root of the riff. This synth is in the mix for UFO takeoff noises, weird shrieks, wobbles, and electronic blips and blurps. It is a specifically textural instrument.
The vocals, on the other hand, are melodic and atmospheric-- no lyrics, as far as I could tell, but Fungal Abyss is big, spacial, and textural, so actual words would probably be too literal for the mood. Run though a handful of effects, the vocals range from a solid tenor to swooping falsetto, sometimes carving out a melody, sometimes hitting accent beats, and sometimes working as a strange special effect (for example: the Blixa Bargeld inverse scream).
The band comes together as the truest representation of a psychedelic group I've ever seen. Where many bands self-applying the moniker are blues bands with a phaser pedal and semi-surreal lyrics, Fungal Abyss truly allow a song to build, bend, trip out, climax, and turn around to find another direction. The music hearkens back to the swirlodelic 70s, but isn't really a retro act; it pushes forward as a 7-piece, huge, but not cluttered.
Fungal Abyss on Facebook
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Comet
The Comet is just off Broadway, in the Pike & Pine corridor, on Capitol Hill... so every trend that blows up in this town is likely to blow through here first. 
Unlike Neumo's across the street, it's small enough for local acts of any size and style to show up, and since The Comet is in the center of Seattle's “hip” neighborhood, every new, cool thing is bound to show up here (remember the 15 minutes Electroclash held the world in sway?)
Unlike Neumo's across the street, it's small enough for local acts of any size and style to show up, and since The Comet is in the center of Seattle's “hip” neighborhood, every new, cool thing is bound to show up here (remember the 15 minutes Electroclash held the world in sway?)
That said, The Comet is comfortable, low-key, and kind of divey. The hip and the cool show up and wander through, sure, but the club itself is incredibly unpretentious and accommodating-- almost everything shows up on the Comet stage. This is a club that will book Americana, metal, folk, or garage rock... catch them on a Sunday and you might find a light poppy afternoon show followed by a blasting hardcore show at night. The Comet doesn't discriminate.
The club's advanced a bit as a local venue-- when I first knew the place, bands set up on the floor, separated from the audience by a pair of monitor wedges and force of will. Fairly recently, they've built a stage (with a removable center section-- for loading gear beyond the stage into the back room) and changed the layout. The new stage is a little small, and kind of bouncy, but it's a nice change.
Currently, The Comet is one of my favorite places to play-- it's a wide-open sort of place, with a lot going on pretty much any time you wander past. I like passing by the Comet when sound's coming through the walls (or sometimes, open windows) and hearing what's going on... if it's something great, pay the door, go in, and stick around.
Currently, The Comet is one of my favorite places to play-- it's a wide-open sort of place, with a lot going on pretty much any time you wander past. I like passing by the Comet when sound's coming through the walls (or sometimes, open windows) and hearing what's going on... if it's something great, pay the door, go in, and stick around.
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