The Ironclads CD Release Show ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

As a person who goes to grippa shows, it’s a hopeless task to put properly put into any meaningful order the favorite shows they’ve been two beyond saying a few were the very best or stand out as special moments and deserve recognition as such for the annals. So I’ve chosen a list of twenty shows and sets from this year that I’ll never forget, presented in chronological order.

Blind Pilot @ The Triple Door (January 2009) - read the full review

The Murder City Devils first show back at the Showbox at the Market (February 2009) - read the full review

Dan Auerbach at the Showbox at the Market (March 2009) - read the full review

The Ironclads CD Release w/ Hands, Whore Moans, What What Now (April 2009) - read the full review

Blue Moon 75th Anniversary Show w/ High Class Wreckage, Thee Emergency, Hopscotch Boys, and The Whore Moans (April 2009) - read the full review

The Lonely Forest CD Release at the Vera Project (April 2009) - read the full review

Bon Iver at Sasquatch (May 2009) - read the full review

Nurses at the South Pole (DIY venue) (June 2009) - read the full review

David Bazan in a Living Room in Edmonds (June 2009) - read the full review

Robin and Josh ::: Photo on Film by Josh Lovseth

Robin Pecknold at Neumos (July 2009) - read the full review

Rural Alberta Advantage at the Sunset Tavern (July 2009) - read the full review

Widower, Pearly Gate Music, Final Spins at Sunset Tavern (July 2009) - read the full review

Doe Bay Fest (August 2009) - read the full review

The Maldives CD Release at the Tractor Tavern w/ The Moondoggies and Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers (August 2009) - read the full review

Macklemore at Bumbershoot (September 2009) - read the full review

Dirty Three at the Crocodile (September 2009) - read the full review

Fanfarlo at Chop Suey (September 2009) - read the full review

Grizzly Bear at the Moore (October 2009) - read the full review

Black Eyes & Neckties Last Show (October 31, 2009) - eulogy never written

Regina Spektor at the Paramount (November 2009) - read the full review

Taking in the Bay at Doe Bay Music Fest ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Murder City Devils at Sasquatch! ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Spencer Moody provided some of our most memorable moments of 2009, even if he may not remember all of them. Sources tell us this first photographic moment and the Murder City Devils’ ranting Sasquatch set came courtesy of a backstage bottle of pear brandy. We watched the set like a car wreck. Grotesquely enthralled by the carnage, adrenaline pumping through our veins from what we were witnessing.

On the opposite end of the Spencer-spectrum is our final photo, of the MCD frontman in the VERA Project dunk tank at Capitol Hill Block Party. This was, without question, the best thing we accidentally stumbled on all year and we loved seeing the fierce front man smiling as he donated his dignity and dryness for a project near and dear to all of us.

The dichotomies of Spencer Moody, the sweet and savage, is a big part of what makes him so compelling to watch. We feel lucky to have witnessed and captured both sides this year.  

Murder City Devils at Showbox Feb 2009 ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Spencer Moody in the dunk tank at Capitol Hill Block Party ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Big Business at Neumos in 2005 ::: photo courtesy of Alex Crick

Big business. The idea and the meaning behind the syntax can be a bit overwhelming. Jobs lost. Bankruptcy. White Collar Crime. Ralph Nader wagging his spindly fingers and barking forewarning. I’d be lying if I told you the band made me as nervous as the actual socioeconomic phenomena, but that doesn’t mean a dude can’t meet up with some friends for a birthday celebration at the Moon Temple before watching Big Business takeover El Corazon. Drinks before a show, in the industry, we call it “preparation time.”

For those who are unfamiliar with the Moon Temple in Wallingford, I shun you over the internet. For those who are familiar with the Temple of Stiff Drinks, they realize that my mentioning of the Moon Temple is not an endorsement of a great dive bar, but rather a preface to the evenings observations. I was only there for a spell, but that’s all that it takes.

El Corazon has a weird magnetic pull about the place. I’m not saying it’s attractive. When you’re thinking of going to a show, more often than not, El Corazon isn’t the first place that comes to mind. However, it’s been my experience that whenever I’m within close proximity of said venue, I feel this weird sickness in my stomach. My lung capacity is automatically reduced to 50% of what it was. My vision is slightly blurred. A feeling of malaise and futility washes over my mind and body. The venue has it’s gems (such as Pig Destroyer earlier this year) but on the whole, going to El Corazon is like having a swimming pool in your backyard, only that pool is actually the blood of the cherubims. You don’t mind taking a dip when it gets too hot, it’s only out of necessity. Besides your neighbors are judgmental pricks anyway.

I entered El Corazon and was witness to a somewhat bizarre scene. A man who I’d describe as a mix between Dr. Rockzo (Metalocalypse) and Krusty the Klown (The Simpsons) was alone on-stage with a guitar that had no headstock.

The strings were so thick that his guitar may have actually been a bass, which of course would make me a moron. Let me also say that Kroxo the Doom Metal Troubadour (you like that?) wasn’t actually alone, he had a drum machine sitting on a stool next to him during his set. He wore stonehenge as an expression and left his enthusiasm at his apartment. Needless to say, this is something I didn’t need to see. I left the Moon Temple entirely too early. I left Kroxo and his one man band and headed to El Corazon’s bar, located conveniently far away from the stage. I needed to get away from this weirdness for a while. My predicament would’ve made the perfect Snickers commercial as I searched for things to do on my Blackberry for the next 40 or so minutes.     
     
Big Business took the stage. Prior to the show, I refused to listen to the band because I wanted to be surprised. I knew that the band had elements of Karp, Murder City Devils, Tight Bros From Way Back When (Throwback! Prior to receiving the press release for this show, I hadn’t heard that name in years) and the Melvins. That’s quite an eclectic mix to say the least. The first song Big Business played reminded me of the Melvins, but not in a good way. It wasn’t one of those “Oh fuck yeah! It’s the Melvins!” tracks but rather “Oh fuck. It’s the Melvins”. The kind of a song that wouldn’t be out of place on Prick. Weird, “we’re going to fuck with you because we paid for this studio time” shit. You know what I’m talking about. It sounded like a song you might write if you didn’t really like your audience. Bass that is slithery and engulfed in low end, a snare pattern that was copied from a drum line textbook and weird atmospheric guitar to set the mood. The guitar was probably the best part. It was just Toshi Kasai doing a pick slide with a slide near the bridge of his guitar. It sounded really cool.

The rest of Big Business’ set was nothing like the introductory song and that’s probably a good thing. My attention to detail has been waning as of late and with Kroxo not doing Big Business any favors as an opener, I wouldn’t have made it the whole way through. The rest of the night was off kilter rock and roll tastiness. It was remarkable enough for me to forgive the drummer for wearing a boy band microphone headset throughout the performance. Sorry. That kind of headset is more frequent on the Mouseketeer circuit than it is in clubs like El Corazon. But Coady Willis, the drummer for Big Business, was that good. He punches the clock when he gets behind that drum kit, his chops will be a noticeable strong point as Big Business mulls over conquest. If Big Business lives up to its namesake, conquest should come as naturally as tanning does to Californians. Their songs are potential mixed-martial-arts fighter introduction music. If Andre the Giant were still with us, I could see him marching down the aisle to “The Drift.” Hulk Hogan wouldn’t have a chance. 

Big Business plays music, you crumble at their feet. It’s not complicated nor sexy but they get the job done. Unlike many of the mom and pop bands they’ll “unknowingly” put out of business.

Spencer Moody at the Vera Project Dunk Tank ::: all photos by Abbey Simmons

The best thing I accidentally stumbled on all weekend was Murder City Devils front man, Spencer Moody volunteering his time at the VERA Project Dunk Tank. For a mere 5$ people had three chances to dunk the Murder City frontman, 20$ to just walk up and dunk him.

Spencer did the entire thing donning his signature glasses, cap, argyle socks and shoes. It was awesome to see one of rock’s fiercest front men allow for some comedy at his exepense and to benefit a great cause. And he did so with obvious enjoyment, dare I say, glee. You’ve never seen Spencer Moody smile so much! Though, he did bring a bit of his trademark heckling to the event, when there was a dunk dry streak, the front man stood up on the plank and did a dance to taunt his would be dunkers.

See more of Spencer Moody at the VERA dunk tank, below the jump!

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Murder City Devils ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

As I strolled up to the main stage, Murder City Devils front-man Spencer Moody was looking touristy, wearing a sun hat and a camera around his neck, wryly recounting a trip as a youth to Lollapalooza where he recalled Perry Farrell was headlining, and now Farrell was headlining Sasquatch, and he himself was playing Sasquatch, so it was a full-circle kind of moment. That was the monologue in a nutshell, of course minus the colorful swearing and berating of the audience (as is customary for a MCD show). After that he lost the touristy look pretty fast too, for what I’ve dubbed the “backwoods crazy” look.

Honestly it must have felt rather ironic that the Murder City Devils were playing the main stage of a festival years after their heyday, to a bunch of shirtless teenagers who probably didn’t know the words to a single song. Moody seized every opportunity he could between songs to rant about “homo’s” or scream at frat boys or to educate the crowd about Iggy and the Stooges and how they didn’t know anything about rock. Uncomfortable and hilarious all at once (at least to me), at one point Moody descended into the photo pit to berate photographers and shove a camera or two in his own crotch as protest to their presence.

The reunited band was clearly amused at Moody’s antics if not his overall musical performance. Spending numerous moments with the microphone shoved in his mouth or drunkenly writhing on the floor, Moody was letting the singing take a back seat to play the part of the rock n’ roll provocateur. As Moody stalked back and forth across stage, jumping off and back on, tripping on monitors constantly; it appeared as though he was almost intentionally trying to make work for their legendary roadie Gabe. Between providing cable and microphone replacements or attempting (usually futilely) at an untangle, Gabe spent half the show on stage with the band trying to keep things together. I say microphone replacements because Moody has a habit of swinging microphones around, and swinging microphone stands around, and this day he was doing both these things almost habitually, breaking what appeared to be  two in the process.

I don’t expect this diversion into punk negativity won the Murder City Devils too many new fans. That being said, I don’t know that they much cared anyway. This is a band that’s built to stir things up, and and that’s just what they did. That Moody had an opportunity perform to an audience full of people who embody the archetypes of his traditional nemesis’ must have just made his words that much sweeter and more necessary in his eyes.

Murder City Devils ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Murder City Devils ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Murder City Devils ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Murder City Devils ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Murder City Devils ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Our day 2 of Sasquatch was focused around Mad Rad to start, the Avett Brothers and then the Murder City Devils both on the mainstage mid-day, and then Of Montreal to finish off. Each of these bands lived up to their billing, with Of Montreal taking the award for the most visually riveting rock n’ roll experience, and Murder City taking their own for the most painfully riveting set to watch. And did anyone else think the singer for The Henry Clay People sounded a little too much like Hutch? Just sayin’.

Head over to flickr to view the entire day’s set of pictures.

Mad Rad ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Mad Rad ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Hockey ::: Photo by Abey Simmons

Dancing to Hockey ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

The Henry Clay People ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

John Vanderslice ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

St. Vincent ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

St. Vincent ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Avett Brothers ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Fences ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Murder City Devils ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

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The Dutchess and the Duke ::: Photo by Abbey

I’ve got a strange obsession with hair and rock n’ roll or maybe just more generally hair and popular music. I’m currently testing the theory that by growing longer hair I may in fact also be increasing my aptitude for rocking. Looking through history one finds the association of long hair and rocking hard is strong, though I’ve yet to come to a firm conclusion based on my own short experience.

Up here in the Northwest it seems we may have also taken that theory a whole ‘nother step by deciding to now bundle our mana in our beards, or at the very least our facial hair. (It’s just that much closer to our hearts I guess.) Among the latest crop of musicians who are easily identifiable with the new popular Seattle sound are beard supporters aplenty. Band of Horses and Grand Archives practically started this whole beard rock thing. Common Market. The Maldives. The Moondoggies. Fleet Foxes. The Dutchess and the Duke. The Cave Singers. Aqueduct. Throw Me the Statue. David Bazan. The list goes on. And the baby-facers? We’ll the ladies I suppose, but even the Sera Cahoone band has it’s own beardo and fair share of legit mustaches.

To drive my point home I thought I’d evaluate a few short match-ups of artists appearing at Sasquatch in this column to determine: Is Seattle the beardiest of them all? In my quest to weigh each band equally I’ll be asking myself primarily this question: which band most embodies the spirit of beardedness? Diversity, quantity (how many members), size and overall aesthetic are all factors that go into determining a winner.

To set the stage a little bit more, let’s delve a little deeper into just how serious we take our beards up here in the northwest. Before Sasquatch was to even happen, two local party loving hip hop groups Mad Rad and Champagne Champagne, who each sport a notably bearded member agreed to a one on one basketball challenge where the loser would have to lose the beard before their Sasquatch appearance. I checked in with Mad Rad’s Terry Radjaw today to learn the results, and they’ve decided to make more of an event out of it, moving the showdown to later in the summer, to happen at the Funhouse on July 24. To get warmed up, let’s start with their virtual beard-off…

Real Life Local Beard Off
Champagne Champagne (SEA) | myspace |
Noon Saturday May 23 at the Yeti Stage
vs.
Mad Rad (SEA) | myspace |
Noon Sunday May 24 at the Yeti Stage

Winner: Champagne Champagne.
While we won’t venture a guess as to the eventual winner of the basketball challenge, we’ve got to say as far as beardedness goes, Thomas of Champagne Champagne is the clear winner. Thickness, face coverage and the fact that his beard’s style is unified with his hair style make him a model member of the beard brigade. Terry Radjaw gets props for overall commitment, but let’s be real here: a beard without a properly developed upper lip is hardly a beard at all.

For the other festival match-ups I’ve tried to match similarly constructed bands into various logical categories:

Main Stage Veterans
Murder City Devils (SEA) | myspace |
5:20pm on Sunday May 24 at the Main Stage
vs.
TV On the Radio (NY) | myspace |
6:35pm on Sunday May 24 at the Main Stage

Winner: Murder City Devils.
These two heavyweights play the mainstage one right after another, so you’ll easily be able to judge for yourself who the winner is of this one. We will always give props where they are due: Kipp Malone’s beard is impressive. Very impressive. But the Murder City Devils aren’t exactly slouches either. You’ve got a Spencer Moody’s “backwoods crazy” beard counterpointed by bassist (and Cave Singer) Derek Fudesco’s typical well groomed Seattle style. It’s a one-two high-low punch combo that’s stood the test of time. What really put this band over the top though is their roadie Gabe. Have you seen his beard lately? He could practically win this competition single-handed. (Or maybe single-bearded?)

–

Fleet Foxes ::: Photo by Josh

Expansive Melodies and Harmonies
Fleet Foxes (SEA) | myspace |
4:45pm Monday May 25 at the Main Stage
vs.
Other Lives (TN) | myspace |
12:35pm Monday May 25 at the Wookie Stage

Winner: Fleet Foxes.
Other Lives singer Jesse Tabish leads an impressive enough band that they’ve been asked to open for the Decemberists for a few Oregon stops in the coming days, and his beard is no minor effort let me tell you. Yet Seattle’s Fleet Foxes sport two of Seattle’s most notable and bushy beards in Robin Pecknold and drummer Josh Tillman, while the whole band at times supports a total of four beards on stage at once. Even if Fleet Foxes wasn’t the biggest band in the world right now, in this competition what band could compete with that?

–

Northwest Head To Head
The Dutchess and the Duke (SEA) | myspace |
4:20pm Monday May 25 at the Yeti Stage
vs.
Horse Feathers (PDX) | myspace |
2:10pm Monday May 25 at the Yeti Stage

Winner: The Dutchess and the Duke.
I thought this match-up was a very good one and a hard one to tease out a winner. Neither band uses a drum, both are pretty acoustic, and both have a primary female member. Both also have front-men with beards. We had to include another beard from the Northwest to properly be able to judge if Seattle was really the place, or if it was just Northwest thing in general. You might call Horse Feathers’ Justin Ringle the model Portlandian Beardo: sensitive, acoustic, and thoughtful. D&D are those things too. What puts the The Dutchess and the Duke on top in this is the overall sense of unreserved fun. A happy beard always wins over a frowny beard in my book.

–

Conclusion
After laying it out like this, it seems pretty clear that Seattle is the beardedest of them all. Though I suppose luckily for our locals God wasn’t a player in any of these head-to-heads. If Matisyahu had been attending Sasquatch, things might look much different…

Murder City Devils at the Showbox ::: Photo by Josh

Via their twitter feed, today the Murder City Devils announced they are playing our beloved northwest spring festival at the Gorge on May 24, as well as Coachella on April 19. It’s nice the last few weeks weren’t just a tantalizing one-off tour. It makes me think something else bigger may be in the plans.

Speaking of Sasquatch, tickets go on sale this Saturday, but if you have the special password you can get your tickets and premier camping spots starting today through a Live Nation Presale.

Murder City Devils ::: Photos by Josh

From the opening notes of “Dancin’ Shoes,” the second song into the Murder City Devils set last night, I sincerly feared for the safety of the viaduct, when for four straight minutes the ground shook and shifted with the jumping of restless crowd. That the assembled masses had been eagerly awaiting this moment was beyond obvious: this was the night to wear your black and skull gear unabashedly. In the minutes leading up to 11, showtime, the jockeying for position had begun in earnest, if only to be in front of the expected melee in the center of the room.

Having never seen Murder City Devils live before, but being a fan of the records, it’s fair to say I was hella impressed. Spencer Moody basically screamed his head off for an hour straight; everyone around me knew all the words too. Derek Fudesco, now of the Cave Singers, laid down some of the best basslines I’ve heard, and the rest of the band seemed to be having fun, only just barely showing it. The signature spooky organ really did bring everything together.

The Showbox security was remarkably restrained with the all-ages crowd, allowing an active pit to get pretty rowdy without having to regulate to hard. At least, nobody seemed to be getting hurt. For a couple of songs near the end the pit seemed to increase in size, enveloping more than half of the main floor. I saw a buttoned up gay couple seriously consider a crowd-surfing venture, one motioning with hands locked and ready to launch the other into the air while I tried to stay upright at the edge of the tornado. Such was the euphoric feeling in the room that night, everyone seemed just a bit off their rocker.

When bandying about words like “legendary” and “epic” (as I am guilty of) expectations can be nigh-impossible to live up to, but I’d say last night the band did just that, sounding as good as I could have ever expected. Far from sounding out-dated or out-of-fashion, the Murder City Devils still retain an edge and toughness to their live show that most bands can only hope achieve. And oh yeah, the opening band, Past Lives? They were pretty good too.

Flickr: Murder City Devils, Past Lives and Cap Lori at the Showbox February 11, 2009

“Dancin Shoes” by the Murder City Devils at FunFunFest in Austin in November of 2007

I just gave ticketmaster (as of today live nation?) a whirl and there are still tickets for both shows happening tomorrow (all-ages) and Thursday (21+) at the Showbox! For those of you who are like me and habitually put off getting tickets until the last moment, get on it (links are below). I’m personally beyond stoked for this show. This band has reached near legendary status around here and I’ve never had the chance to see them. The video above is from their last appearance, and that is pretty much exactly what I’m looking for.

For this tour the band has produced a special box set, titled feather bed whiskey blanket, that will only be available on the tour. This box set has white vinyl pressings of each of the MCD records as well as some other special treats. Through the end of the month and the band is running an online contest right now to win one of the box sets along with some tour merch.

Via the band’s twitter from a couple of hours ago we’ve got good news in a twitpic titled only “Practice is going well.” I’m ready.

Updated tour dates are below with their stated availability as of now.

Murder City Devils Tour Dates

Feb 11, 2009 Seattle, WA at Showbox at the Market with Past Lives, Cap Lori - Tickets still Available! - (All Ages)

Feb 12, 2009 Seattle, WA at Showbox at the Market with Past Lives, Constant Lovers - Tickets still Available! - (21+)

Feb 13, 2009 Vancouver, BC at Commodore Ballroom with Past Lives, Constant Lovers

Feb 14, 2009 Portland, OR at Roseland Theater with Past Lives, Cap Lori

Feb 15, 2009 San Francisco, CA at Great American Music Hall with Silverghost EARLY SHOW - SOLD OUT

Feb 15, 2009 San Francisco, CA at Great American Music Hall with Silverghost, plus guest - SOLD OUT

Feb 16, 2009 Pomona, CA at The Glass House with Silverghost, plus guest - SOLD OUT

Feb 17, 2009 Los Angeles, CA at Henry Fonda Theater with Brother Reade, Silverghost - SOLD OUT

Feb 18, 2009 Los Angeles, CA at Henry Fonda Theater with Tweakbird, Silverghost