by Campfire OK Seattle's Campfire OK will be at the Crocodile on September 23rd opening for Fences CD Release Show
Shenandoah Davis
Photo by Abbey Simmons ::: Saturday September 4th at 4:30pm Shenandoah Davis plays the Bumbershoot edition of the Round with Goldfinch and Tomo Nakayma
How does the saying go? “A new band is born in Seattle every time the sun sets…” Shit, I don’t know. Maybe I did make that up. Maybe it’s a truism that doesn’t even warrant a saying in this town. Anyways, last Friday, Seattle’s newest band was Wrestling Team, made up of two members of the now defunct Hands and two current members of the sporadically active Ironclads. Guitarists Eli Chuckovich and Thom Moht shared vocal duties, taking rock & roll back to the days when it was being directly influenced by a “punk” uprising and was beginning to gain a more sinister and confrontational edge. I’m talking about the era before popular music was over-intellectualized, mis-analyzed, and quoted as popular sentiment. (Like now.) When it still might’ve been considered a counter-culture endeavor. So that being said, I’m not going to do anymore of that. Instead I’m going to recommend you seek them out live. Because bottom line this is drinkin’ rock. No thinking required.
Wrestling Team Makes it’s Debut at the Black Lodge this Friday
Great Goose Gossage’s mustache do I have a great show for you this Friday night! Great bands! Great venue! Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears…..
What What Now is having a CD release show for their new album, Fingers and Toes at the Black Lodge this Friday night at 9pm. Every time I attend a show at the Black Lodge I have a good time. Gentle reader, this is no coincidence. I’d even go as far as saying that the Black Lodge is my favorite venue in all of Seattle. The Black Lodge is the Wu-Tang Clan of show-spaces; it brings the ruckus. But what good is a venue when you fill it with bands that should be playing to seagulls that are busy stalking a landfill instead of people packed like a bunch of inebriated rats in a metropolitan area? Squawk. Squawk. Not a very worthwhile experience.
I’ve been a fan of What What Now since I saw them at a house party approximately a year and a half ago. The more time has passed, the better this band has gotten. I finally have my personal anthem “Right Angle” at my disposal whenever I wish. “The Ballad of Jamie Cotton” is no longer something I have to witness live to hear. Those two songs have made my life better. We’re talking small increments of happiness people, baby steps. We’re in the middle of a recession; happiness is expensive.
God, who just recently finished a brief West Coast tour with What What Now is rejoining their tour-mates for Friday’s monumental occasion. Besides having quite possibly the worst band name ever, I do remember seeing this band a few months ago at the Comet. And just like my rough draft of this concert preview, I’ve completely forgotten them. I do remember some cool guitar stuff from that fateful night at the Comet, but I also could be making that up.
Bellingham’s Baltic Cousins is a band I’m excited to see. I’ve been living with their EP, Seek No Further for the last five days. Listening. Driving. Listening. Typing. Listening. Grocery Shopping. Listening. Brushing my teeth. I liked it so much that I began to dislike it due to over-listening. We parted ways momentarily but we’re now a hot item once again. “Break Bread” is a song much too delightful to be without. I should have a review for Baltic Cousins EP by the beginning of your weekend. Unless your weekend isn’t really “the weekend,” then it should be up by Saturday.
Last, but not certainly not least, Wrestling Team will be making its public debut at the Black Lodge on Friday night. I’m intrigued by this four piece that consists of two members who were in The Hands and two other members who earn their chops in the Ironclads. (Which, full disclosure, I am the drummer for.) Will this newly minted concoction of a cocktail be worth a swill or thirty? Or is this the kind of musical tonic that will induce regurgitation? If I were a betting man, I’d go with the former. One thing is for sure, Wrestling Team makes rad posters.
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.
Unbeknownst to me when I was getting tickets to tonight’s Hands show at The Mars Bar, I was buying a ticket to their last. Before the band launched into a short set of their anthemic throwback tunes, those songs that sounded like classics on listen one, lead guitarist Eli unceremoniously announced “Fitting we’re at The Mars Bar, where we played our first show, and now we’ll play our last.”
While I’ll post more about the show in the coming days, suffice to say right now, we’re yet again mourning the passing of one of Seattle’s most promising rock bands.
The Hands bluesy tunes about mortality have never seemed more bittersweet or prophetic than when they were sung tonight. The band ended the night and their time together as a band with one last rocking performance of “So Sweet,” and it certainly was while it lasted.
You made me watch all my friends die, die, die…and it was so sweet.
When you’ve got a lot of friends that come out to your shows, you know you’ve got a good thing going. When you’re friends with every other band on the bill and when you go on, they are singing right along in the front row, you know you’ve got something really special. Such was the case for the Ironclads who were having a CD release party on Friday for their new album The Space Between the Maps, after playing a live KEXP session earlier in the afternoon.
Partners in crime and soon-to-be Ironclads tour-mates What What Now started the night off in an already nearly full room. Lead singer Brittain has a gravel to his voice that never seems to disappear when he’s singing, adding to the tinge of desperation that runs through the lyrics, and occasionally sounding like a weathered punk singer is fronting a 60’s pop band. Displaying a back-to-basics approach What What Now delivered an upbeat and groovy set that was a stellar start to the party. The Quiet Ones, who were up second, turned the lights down low and once again left me thinking about the Cars after their last two songs.
The protagonist’s of the night, the Ironclads, went on third to a packed room abuzz with the collective love that was on display in every corner. The band’s closest friends, a contingent that included members of each of the other bands who were on the bill, held down the front row; locking shoulders, singing along, and freaking out at all the right moments. Favorites of the night were, of course, “Alamogordo” and the fist pumping sing-along “Cape Canaveral”–a song which we’ve featured on the top of the front page for streaming this week in addition to this in this post.
Stream: “Cape Canaveral” by The Ironclads from their new album The Space Between the Maps out now!
We snagged their album at the show and it’s catchy as all-get-out. In addition to the aforementioned songs, “Step to the Sea” has a shiny quality that is undeniable and in “Manclub” the band matches recent heart-throbs MSHVB in transforming adventurous changes into an interesting rock song. The effusive energy of the band and the live show were ably captured in recording by Eli of the Hands and Jason of the Whore Moans, who, sure enough, were two of those front-row friends.
The Whore Hands, AKA the concatenation of the Whore Moans and the Hands into a single super-group of nine, capped off the night with a mini-hits set. When The Whore Hands started with one of my favorite songs ever “X-Ray Eyes,” the crowd was sent into a flurry of movement. In the center of the floor the overzealous drunks decided it was time to mosh, causing a bit of consternation after a turned over keyboard, that eventually led to a citizen ejection. A couple of lucky souls even managed to surf the crowd in the lulls between the bouts of activity in the pit. While likening the grouping to Temple of the Dog even in jest may be too much, the Whore Hands were certainly a fun way to garnish this night of celebration.
The Ironclads will be on a west coast tour with What What Now April 10th through the 19th. Check the myspace page for details. It looks like they’re still trying to find places to play in a few towns, so maybe one of our readers can help them out with that.
Normally you’d be finding me on a night like this down at the Croc, taking in the J Tillman band AKA my favorite band. Should you be making that choice, I support you wholeheartedly, if with a little jealousy that I won’t be there and you will. On the other hand, just a little ways across town I’ll will be witnessing something special happening that features bands we consider friends.
Tonight at DIY haven Holy Mountain the Ironclads will be releasing their new album into the wild. Among a few local music heads and friends who’ve heard the album the word is the band has done good. A short glance at the newer songs on the profile supports that notion wholeheartedly. Also special to this night is an appearance by the elusive supergroup the Whore Hands, for what is likely to be a freewheelin’ set of the Hands and the Whore Moans playing on each others songs and maybe dropping a hard rock cover or two.
Last Saturday’s Audioasis benefit was a good time, in large part due to the efforts of opening band The Beats, Man, the newly-active laptop-based project of former Pleasureboaters Erik Baldwin and Tim Cady. Energetic, goofy, and engaging are all words I’d use to reference the performance of their funky blend of electronics, hip-hop punk and the occasional slow jam. I can’t find an mp3 of them hanging around anywhere, so you’ll just have to head on over to myspace to listen to “Freedomtown” and “Beats Mand of Horses,” and then choose from the bevy of dates they have listed that are happening in Seattle over the next month. Unless you’ve got something against loosening up and having a little fun that is.
With nearly 200 shows under my belt in 2008, it’s hard to narrow down my favorites to just 15– but after much thought–here they are. I went for singular shows/sets, rather than including entire festivals such as Bumbershoot and Georgetown, which would have easily qualified for best of status. The photos are ordered, with my favorite show of the year on top and so forth. Hope you caught at least a couple of these shows in 2008 too!
Monotonix at The Sunset Tavern–and Ballard Avenue (9/28/08)
Dead Confederate at The Greenhouse (5/23/08)
Ice Age Cobra at The Key Bar in Austin (3/13/08)
The Shackeltons at Bumbershoot (8/31/08)
Slackfest 2008 with The Maldives, The Moondoggies, and lots more (8/24/08)
J. Tillman and David Bazan at Sunday Bloody Sunset (5/18/08)
Portugal The Man (with Wild Orchid Children) at the Do512 Party at SXSW (3/15/08)
Hopscotch Boy’s Final Show (6/8/08)
Sound on the Sound’s Blue Moon Birthday Bash w/Thee Emergency, Thunderbird Motel and Skeletons with Flesh on Them (1/12/08)
Black Eyes & Neckties at King Cobra (4/19/08)
The Trucks Final Seattle Show (10/12/08)
The Hands CD Release w/The Whore Moans at Neumo’s (3/1/08)
Ice Age Cobra’s Final Show (9/12/08)
Noah and The Whale at Chop Suey (9/29/08)
We Wrote The Book On Connectors CD Release Show (11/16/08)
Here it is folks, the end all and be all…our Top 25 Northwest Albums of 2008. While numbers 6 through 25 were highly contentious, there was unanimity as to the Top 5 Northwest Albums of 2008 and their order. There’s no doubt in our minds, that no band deserves the accolades more than The Moondoggies. Their album Don’t Be A Stranger is an instant classic in the vein of Music from Big Pink. We expect 2009 to be even bigger than 2008 for The Moondoggies, and we can’t wait to see what comes next from them, as well as the other great bands that made this years list.
1. The Moondoggies - Don’t Be A Stranger |myspace|
2. J. Tillman - Vacilando Territory Blues |myspace|
3. Wild Orchid Children - S/T EP |myspace|
4. The Dutchess and The Duke - She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke |myspace|
5. Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground - S/T LP |myspace|
6. Fleet Foxes - S/T LP |myspace|
7. See Me River - Time Machine |myspace|
8. Whore Moans - Hello From the Radio Wasteland |myspace|
9. Starfucker - S/T LP |myspace|
10. Jake One - White Van Music |myspace|
11. Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound|myspace| 12. Thee Emergency - SOLID |myspace|
12. Sera Cahoone - Only As The Day Is Long |myspace|
13. Horse Feathers - House with No Home |myspace|
14. The Pica Beats - Bring Back the Claws|myspace| 15. Throw Me the Statue - Moonbeams|myspace| 16. Das Llamas - Class Wars: K-12|myspace|
17. The Builders and The Butchers - S/T LP (re-released nationally 7/08) |myspace|
18. Saturday Knights - Mingle |myspace|
19. The New Faces - S/T LP|myspace| 20. Damien Jurado - Caught In Trees|myspace| 21. Bark Hide and Horn - National Road|myspace| 22. Grand Archives - S/T LP|myspace| 23. Hey Marseilles - To Travels & Trunks|myspace| 24. The Hands - S/T LP|myspace| 25. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Future of Love|myspace|
Since there were so many incredible local releases this year, it would’ve been negligent to not have a solely local Best Songs of 2008 list. I expanded the idea of ‘local’ to go beyond Seattle and include our musical neighbors to the south, Portland. Hope you enjoy my first Best of list of 2008, more lists coming soon!
The files posted on this blog are for sampling purposes only. We post a track, and if you like it, go out and buy an album or a concert ticket. That's how it works. If you represent the copyright holder on this material and believe a file has been posted in violation of your copyright and you would like a file removed notify us here.
We Talk About New and Local Music!
If you would like to send a CD for review or tell us about your band contact us here.
Digg This!
::
Share
::
Delicious
