Schoolyard Heroes ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Sad news for the Skeleton Army, Schoolyard Heroes is returning from the grave from whence they came. The band has just announced their break up and final show on their website.

Friday November 20, 2009

After 8 years of driving, eating, rocking, driving some more, eating even more than we did before, and then rocking harder than god, Schoolyard Heroes will be returning to the soil from whence it came. This year’s Home for the Horrordays on December 19th at El Corazon will be the fourth and final installment of the series, and the final show by Schoolyard Heroes: Jonah, Brian, Steve, and Ryann.

We love all of you Skeleton Army soldiers and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support and love.

ROCK,
Schoolyard

P.S. Don’t freak out! If Schoolyard Heroes has taught you anything over the years, it is that death is always around you… and that from death shall emerge new channels of destruction. Loud, distorted, maybe even operatic channels

Ryann Donnelly of Schoolyard Heroes ::: photo by Abbey

As someone who goes to shows more nights than not, I know that most nights of the week there’s a great show happening in Seattle. In fact, as someone who often wishes she could split herself in two or three, there’s usually more than one show worth checking out many nights.

While we’ve hesitated doing a straight up weekly Sound on the Sound recommends post, there are just too many shows that are worthy of highlighting and attending for us to not try one out.  With that in mind, I’m starting “Night After Night” your weekly guide to going to a show a night in Seattle.

I’m sure some weeks won’t have a full seven nights of shows, because we’d rather not list a show we wouldn’t be excited to attend ourselves. But my hope for this features is to show and share with you the impressive number of awesome shows at your finger tips, on any given night of the week in Seattle.

Who - The Rural Alberta Advantage
Where - The Sunset Tavern, 9pm
How (Much) - 7$
Why- Saddle Creek’s latest band are creating haunting, charming tunes that defy  easy description. Singing songs about hometowns and heartbreak, the band mixes synth sounds and  indie folk sensibilities, with a side of Jeff Mangum vocals.

Who - The Curious Mystery, Born Anchors, Cataldo
Where - Nectar Lounge, 8pm
How (Much) - FREE, courtesy of Sound Magazine
Why - Because in this economy, we could all use a free show with three of Seattle’s most promising up and coming bands. The Curious Mystery’s Rotting Slowly is one of my favorite local releases of 2009.

Who - Mad Rad, Thee Satisfaction
Where - The Funhouse, 9pm
How (Much) - 6$
Why - It’s a chance to see two of Seattle’s most buzzed about bands at a venue that couldn’t be further from the vibe of Pike and Pine. Mad Rad is sure to bring the antics, and I dare you not to dance to Thee Satisfaction’s unique groove.

Who - A Gun That Shoots Knives, The Raggedy Anns,  Doctor Doctor
Where - Neumos, 9pm
How (Much) - 6$
Why - To hear F Bomb laiden PSA’s about staying in school and literacy and to celebrate the Raggedy Anne’s catchy fortchoming CD of swing rock and Tin Pan Alley tunes.

Who - Schoolyard Heroes, The Pharmacy, The Whore Moans
Where - VERA Project, 7:30pm
How (Much) -
Why - Because you want to be at what will doubtlessly be the craziest show of the week, no booze necessary. The popular former Seattle band The Pharmacy are returning for their first weekend back since moving to The Big Easy. The Whore Moans of capable of whipping a group of nuns into ruckus moshers and you have never seen local teenagers go more insane then when Ryann Donnelly of Schoolyard Heroes take the stage. Bring your ear plugs and elbows.

Awesome Alternative: Thee Emergency at The Sunset

Who - Robin Pecknold, Throw Me the Statue
Where - Neumos, 9pm
How (Much) -  15$
Why - See Robin Pecknold of The Fleet Foxes perform a rare solo set and a smaller venue then he’ll ever play again, all for one of Seattle’s finest musical resources: The Vera Project.

Awesome Alternative: The Hands, The Ironclads, The Beats Man at The Mars Bar

Who - Grynch (Chemsitry EP Release)
Where - The Nectar Lounge
How (Much) - $7
Why - On Tuesday you can download Grynch’s new EP for free. That way Sunday you won’t be laughing so hard from “My Volvo” that you can enjoy his other tracks.

Awesome Alternative: Azure Ray with Anomie Bell at Neumos

p.s. Please let me know if you think this a worthwhile feature for Sound on the Sound, or if it’s something you feel like you get already from the site and/or every other local newspaper and music blog.

Brenda Grimm ::: photo by abbey

I’m in desperate need to get the fuck out of dodge, even if for just a night.

So it was with glee I accepted an invitation to catch Blackeyes & Neck Ties and Schoolyard Heroes tonight at the Old Foundry in Bellingham. I am super excited to see BENT in their hometown of Bellingham and to finally have a chance to see Schoolyard Heroes, who really impressed Josh as SXSW ‘07.  It’ll be an all ages night of Horror Rock/Metal/Pop at it’s finest and despite the sunshine–I couldn’t be more ready for a dark night.

If you’re up north the shows tonight at 8pm, with Schoolyard Heroes headlining, BENT in the middle, and Jill Brazil opening. Like all shows at the Old Foundry, it’s all ages.

Schoolyard Heroes @ The Ballard Party 07 ::: photo by Josh

When I joined the Ballard Party on Friday, Schoolyard Heroes were mid set. This Seattle band only bolsters my position that long haired bands and especially afro haired ones just rock harder.

More pics below the fold. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Seattle was in full effect at South-by-Southwest Music Festival on Friday March 16, and I made it a point to show some love to the Northwest acts that made the trip.

First up was one of this blog’s most blogged about Seattle bands, Thee Emergency. They were at a Trophy’s for the Whoopsy Magazine third birthday party, playing amongst a hodgepodge of random rock acts. Trophy’s is about the furthest venue from the center of the festival, and unfortunately as a result, festival goers were sparse. Trophy’s seemed to be the most DIY venue as well, as the band was responsible for adjusting levels themselves and none of the instruments were miked. Regardless, this band knows how to rock with whatever their given, and sounded far better than many a band over the week who did have the benefit of a sound tech and and a mike on every instrument (most notably Midlake). When will the world wake up to Thee Emergency?

Next on the schedule was a trek down to the Ballard Party, put on by a whole load of Seattle sponsors including the Tractor Tavern and the Sunset. The theme seemed to be “Free Ballard” with black armbands and black t-shirts floating around the mellow but getting progressively drunker crowd filled with numerous Seattlites. Fat Tire was free, so times were good. I walked in on the Schoolyard Heroes set, who were putting on a great show in the midday sun.

A pleasant suprise was catching the Rachel Flotard set, which was just her and a couple of acoustic guitars with post-Visqueen jokes flying all over the place. She did a great Neko Case cover and had a couple of other well written songs that left me wanting much more than just the five or six songs the showcase allows. I especially liked the one that could be called “The After-Bar Party.”

The highlight of the Ballard Party for me though was the Trucks set, who were scheduled to play each day of SXSW. The Ballard Party was at another venue off the beaten path, but a couple of camera crews made the trek for the Trucks set, as well as a few others, leading to a comfortably full backyard venue. These girls have spunk and it showed even after multiple days of partying hard.

After literally criss-crossing the city in search of venues, and three Fat Tires in, I was ready to call it a night. The prospect of standing for another five hours, possibly most of it in line, to wait for the Lashes set at the Copa was not enticing, and being unable to sleep the night before had my eyelids drooping beyond my ability to fight it. For me this is vacation, not spring break.

As if I wasn’t jealous enough of all of you Austin folks and SXSW attendees! Just about my favorite neighborhood has been transported to Austin for the festival. 

Forget the Yankees, the Vikings are taking over Texas! Ballard is conquering SXSW, which I hope is an annual occurance from now on.

The show, this Friday from 12-7pm at The Big Red Sun, will feature great Ballard and Seattle bands, including:  The Cops, The Presidents of the United States of America, Little Brazil, Schoolyard Heroes, and The Trucks. Have we mentioned that we love The Trucks? And not even in the obvious pervy way. Their debut album is punchy perfection. One of the albums great tracks, “Shattered” is our Song of the Week on Myspace and a few great photos of them are prominently featured on our site. This trip to Austin is going to be these ladies corination.

And if that’s not enough, the wonderious event is being advertised with this highly covetable poster:

Perhaps Most Important of All… Do any of you know the actual schedule for this show? Who goes on when and such? A reader asked in the comments on a previous post and I’m stumped!

And The Most Important for y’all in Austin: beer. Really good beer from Seattle breweries.

KEXP is broadcasting live from SXSW. They’ll be at Austin City Limits studios and have three day’s of acts, some still to be announced. I’m definitely going to try and stop in on at least one.

Music in support of movies. Saturna let’s us know they’ll be playing in support of a new interactive film which their music appears in, along with other local acts Sirens Sister, Schoolyard Heroes, The Lashes, and the oh-so-hot-right-now Blakes.

I met a few of the Lashes at the recent Sunset show and am super interested to see them. This is especially true after today’s highly amusing blog post commemorating the 4th anniversary of their first record’s release:

on this special day, let us all take 34.9 minutes out of our day to remember all lost in the battle thus far and those who continue to fight the good fight now and into the future. those who fight for the best things in life. like pizza parties, school dances and a really good pop song.

The Unofficial side of SXSW.  Ice Age Cobra and Thee Emergency will indeed be playing a SXSW pre-party on the 13th at the Mowhawk in Austin. It looks like Thee Emergency will be also be playing Trophy’s at a SXSW day party on the 16th as well. There are a ton of day parties. Usually their free and their packed with new bands every hour and sometimes every 45 minutes. The 15th seems to be the super active day so far, but both the 16th and the 17th have some very nice blogger parties. New parties are being announced daily so I’m staying tuned to donewaiting’s SXSW blog for updates.  

Maybe this blog will throw a party next year….

Update: Looks like some other local bloggers beat me to it this year. Announced today, Three Imaginary Girls are on the ball with a poster and everything.