We here at Sound on the Sound tread on the side of extreme caution when it comes to sharing events at one of Seattle’s many active DIY houses and venues, because we remember the consequences of loose lips and the anti-Stranger stencils that were spray-painted all over Capitol Hill. Plus, we still miss the sweaty hell out of the Atlas and the long-gone basements of too many DIY spaces to mention. We don’t keep DIY shows off the calendars because we don’t want them to succeed, on the contrary, we do it because we want them to be around for years to come.

This week, we’re making an exception to our extreme cautiousness to share the good news about The Carousel Festival, an annual three day festival held at some of Seattle’s finest DIY venues. Carousel boasts a a line-up composed of some of Seattle’s best including: Wild Orchid Children, Ravenna Woods, Cold Lake Hounds of the Wild Hunt, The Redwood Plan, Shenandoah Davis and Mongrel Blood and the festival runs from Friday to Sunday. Just $20 purchases a 3-day pass and the profits go to supporting Seattle’s All-Ages Movement and The Lambert House. Great shows for a great cause, all to celebrate an invaluable part of the Seattle music scene … what more could you ask for? We hope to see you in a Seattle basement, art gallery, loft-space or kick ass internet radio station Headquarters this weekend.

The Lonely H at Reverb Fest 2009 ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

October seems light-years away even in the waning Seattle “summer” of 2010, but it really is just right around the corner. Ushering in October will be Seattle Weekly’s always excellent Reverb Fest held October 9th all over Ballard. Yet again, Reverb has brought together one of the most solid and diverse local line-ups of any festival. Name your genre and there’s something at Reverb for you, especially if you like up-and-coming local rock. Reverb reads like a who’s-who of some of our favorite new heavy bands of 2010: Hobosexual, Dog Shredder, My Goodness, The Absolute Monarchs, Wild Orchid Children, Vultures 2012 and What What Now, to name a few. For that, I’m sure we can thank Rocket Queen, Hannah Levin. Even if you don’t like your tunes turned up all the way to 11, Reverb Fest is a celebration of all that is local that you don’t want to miss.

The full line-up as it stands today is below, we’ve bolded the bands we’ll make sure we don’t miss.

Nettle Honey / Thee Sgt. Major III / Imperial Legions Of Rome / Combo Craig / M Bison / The Moonspinners / Massey Ferguson / DJ Dev From Above / Idle Times / Watch It Sparkle / The Chevy Chasers / Dawn Clement / Wild Orchid Children / Gregory Paul / Virgin / Lindsay Fuller & The Cheap Dates / Bernie Jacobs Quartet / Throne Of Bone / Roy Kay Combo / The Drunken Masters / Whalebones / Carrie Clark & The Lonesome Lovers / Kinski / Caspar Babypants / Yuni In Taxco / Post Harbor / Ivan & Alyosha / Vultures 2012 / Feral Children / Eighty 4 Fly / Helladope / Hi-Life Sound System / The Not-Its / Lincoln Barr / Ravenna Woods / Shelby Earl / Lisa Dank / Sol / The Absolute Monarchs / Kristen Ward / Goat / Amateur Radio Operator / My Goodness / Low Land High / Thousands / Sparrow-Bot / What What Now / The Young Evils / He Whose Ox Is Gored / The Fucking Eagles / Kimo Muraki / The Jason Parker Quartet / Erin Jorgensen / Low Hums / Smooth Sailing / Hobosexual / Dog Shredder / Victor Shade / Cady Wire / JFK aka Ninjaface / The Sea Navy / EXOHXO

Wild Orchid Children at the Blue Moon in January of 2010 ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

In an industry plagued by sound-a-likes, Wild Orchid Children are completely their own men. We’ve been fans of the band since the very beginning, when we stumbled on to one of their first shows and were blown away by the bombast of their peyote fueled percussive sound and their savage stage presence.

Since that first show my experiences with Wild Orchid Children have always goes something like this: 30 seconds into the first song, “Man, I wish I was on mushrooms.” Five minutes in to the set, “Man, am I on mushrooms?” The thing about Wild Orchid Children is you need not ingest any substance to make you feel like you’re on the most electrifying trip of your life. With their in your face sound and performances, Wild Orchid Children take you down the Rabbit Hole and the world that awaits is at once beautiful and grotesque. This isn’t the “prettiest” music, but you feel it in your gut all the same.

This spring, Wild Orchid Children is releasing their debut full length: The Wild Orchid Children …. Are Alexander Supertramp, (the follow-up to their much beloved self-titled EP which we called one of the finest local releases of 2008). Courtesy of the band, you’ll only hear the psychedelic shamanistic shouts of “Martha Washington Goes To War” right here. And by the end of the nearly nine minute tune, we bet you’ll be shouting along with your first pumping in the air, “Freedom is a Heavy Load!”

Freedom is a heavy load indeed, and we’re glad with all the choices and sounds and influences in the world, Wild Orchid Children decided to sound like themselves and no one else.

Stream: “Martha Washington Goes to War” by Wild Orchid Children from The Wild Orchid Children… Are Alexander Supertramp

The RUMBLE is a series of  monthly reoccurring  shows that have been happening around the West in major cities for a few months. Now the idea and Rumble have grown and seems to be centered on a full on multi-city tour at decent size venues for one lucky band, with handpicked supporting bands in each place they visit. U.S.E was in on it in September and they did the RUMBLE in 4 coastal cities. October brings the RUMBLE to Seattle’s Crocodile as a starting point that afterward it will take white boy soul group Fitz & the Tantrums to five more cities (for a total of six).

Our date has the special addition of Wild Orchid Children headlining:

OCTOBER 5 @ THE CROCODILE
21+, doors at 8pm & FREEEEEEE
WILD ORCHID CHILDREN
FITZ & THE TANTRUMS
THE SATELLITE 4
with DJs Valentine & Carly (of U.S.E)
You read that right - $FREE!!!!

In the future the RUMBLE is promised to be happening at the Crocodile on the first Monday of every month and traveling to even more cities. Any tour where it’s free, filled with thoughtful local lineups, and every show gets a poster as cool as this, I can get behind. See the RUMBLE’s well kept myspace for all the show dates and posters.

Seattle’s The Blakes who’ve just left on tour will be taking part in the the October 8th and 10th shows in Los Angeles and San Diego respectively.

Gossip ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

As I evaluated the day ahead of us, a hot day with the possibility of thunderstorms, the schedule had a nice mix of old and new favorites, as well as a few bands that we’ve never had the pleasure of seeing live. On that last count, the end of the evening was where the weight was centered, while the beginning of the day was an opportunity to catch up with most of our favorite local bands of the moment.

Wild Orchid Children kicked off our day a little after 2pm on the Vera Stage. Now complete with a barrier, the stage and speaker stacks seemed safer than before from the likes the previous evening’s rowdy teenage horde. The band was still operating under the shadow of the recent death of audio engineer, mentor, and beloved friend of the band Tom Pfaeffle. After a 15 minute long hard hitting, psychedelic instrumental jam, lead singer Kirk Huffman came in with a pained primal howl. “I know this is a stage and not a soap box, but someone who sleeps with 2 glocks under his pillow at night, something just isn’t right.” This angry heartfelt declaration in honor of their fallen friend found me welling up with tears. The rest of the set found the band exploring deeply psychedelic territory, with the hard and heavy rifts and relentless percussion that first turned us on to Wild Orchid Children.

We jetted off to the mainstage and Hey Marseilles, where we were told something special would be happening at around 2:28 and that it would involve a Seattle all-star drum corps. The change to a light hearted mood was welcome; it’s just hard not to smile when it’s plain that everyone in front of you is having a good time. Indeed for the final two song’s of their set they enlisted the help of some fellow Seattle musicians to provide extra percussion, among them Thomas and Pearl from Champagne Champagne and Kyle Bradford (sans ghost).

The Moondoggies were up next on the mainstage and despite lead singer Kevin being a bit sick, the set was worthy of the mainstage, drawing a healthy crowd to sing-along for “Changin’.” For keys player Caleb, it was his sixth anniversary with his wife, and after giving her a shout out, the band played a (Townes?) cover they’d just started working on the night before. Could there be a better band drink a tallboy to on a hot afternoon in the sun? We think no.

Ready for a break from the sun, we went on our way through the beer garden to the Caffe Vita Bean Room where KEXP was once again putting on live sessions in conjunction with Matson on Music. The Maldives were to be our target session, and whadoyaknow, the whole band was in on this session and we happened upon the room just as they were getting ready to go. To a packed room they played cuts from their new record, as well as a new song that doesn’t appear on the record that we hadn’t heard at all before called “Sally Mae.” When considering the lines out each door at Neumos during their official set time, we were more than glad to have had a chance to catch the Bean Room session. Realizing Moondoggies front man Kevin would be playing a short acoustic session next, we hung around. While his band is notable for their ripping anthems, when Kevin decides to role solo, a whole ‘nother side of folk finger-picking and gentle singing is revealed.

The Thermals were our can’t miss Portland act of the day. In the many times we’ve seen them, this trio has never disappointed, and their recent penchant for covering popular 90’s songs gave us something new to look forward to. Now touring on a new album with a new drummer, they don’t seem to have lost any of their previous momentum or palpable sense of fun.

A hot dog break as the Thermals were winding down finds us at the dunk tank. For a mere $5 you could get three chances at dunking various music scene celebrities from around town to support the all-ages venue and oh so much more, the Vera Project. We randomly catch Murder City Devil’s front man Spencer Moody sheepishly spending a half-hour in the unsteady chair. He taunted, smiled and somehow resisted being dunked by force of will despite multiple strong hits to the target. For those hits, manual intervention to finish the job was acceptable and encouraged. His wife even got in on the action.

Starting off our night of band’s we’ve never witnessed were Beth Ditto and her band Gossip at the mainstage, playing their first set in the U.S. in some time [ed. note: 2007 with Modest Mouse I believe]. Beth Ditto sure can talk and this day she talked about how really wants to meet Sonic Youth. In fact they agreed to play this show just so they could see Sonic Youth for free. I’m glad they did because seeing really is believing when it comes to the Gossip: these guys have some major dance jams and Beth Ditto is an incomparable personality and voice. Never have we seen so many young eager female crowd surfers. No stranger to major covers, Ditto shined on Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody” while reinterpreting the Talking Head’s “Psycho Killer” with an equal amount of off-kilter gusto as the original. After wrapping up with their latest single “Holy Cross,” the crowd chanted for more. Saying she wanted to “reclaim this song” (ostensibly for the gays) she placated them by leading a round of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”

The appearance of headliners Sonic Youth in support of their new album The Eternal was on everyone’s lips, and for the event the main stage audience was without question at it’s most crowded all the weekend. This also happened to be Thurston Moore’s birthday, so after a encountering some guitar issues after the first song that required a moment to change things, Kim Gordon led the crowd in a rousing “Happy Birthday.” They played largely new songs, and still demonstrated what all the hoopla surrounding them is about. Even if they weren’t backed by the trappings of a headlining stage show, they’ve got charisma, and a natural rock and roll swagger. Not to mention Thurston Moore is an impressive axe-slinger. One can only hope they exude that ‘cool’ when they reach 50.

Stepping away from Sonic Youth, one of us finally got a chance to see at least a little bit of Fatal Lucciano and the Sport’n Life Crew for their set at Neumos. We’ve been getting hints, but seeing him with our own eyes cemented that the buzz we’d heard as truth. He had an incredible delivery, an intense, charismatic presence, and he worked the stage like a pro. Fatal is a larger than life presence, despite his small stature.

Only a modest crowd appeared for Japandroids’ last set of the fest. Considering they went are on a half hour late and were scheduled in the middle of the Sonic Youth set, they still happily remarked, “this is our 3rd time to Seattle. But our first time with people.” After powering through three songs they hit curfew and say they’re gonna play until the plug get’s pulled. They manage to make it for another half an hour finishing with a long jam after their hit “Young Hearts Spark Fire.” If all the kids didn’t have a curfew or weren’t over at Sonic Youth, I’m thinking this set would have been just as wild and fun as Starfucker’s set.

Finally with our feet begging for mercy we headed home and thanked the rain gods for delivering only a few raindrops. Strangely the decisions to step away from the mainstage led to many of the highlights of Josh’s week, Japandroids and Starfucker’s chaotic dance party both at the Vera Stage during big headliners, and stumbling upon Spencer Moody in the Vera Project dunk tank, being the moments at the top of his list. And after a weekend of Hey Marseilles performances, Abbey is now obsessed all over again. Looking back, it’s hard to say we could have wanted more in a line-up from our hometown block party.

Wild Orchid Children ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Wild Orchid Children ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Hey Marseilles and Friends ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Hey Marseilles and Friends ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Hey Marseilles ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

Above It All ::: Photo by Abbey Simmons

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The Black Lips ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

Nothing like writing out your schedule for a festival to get you excited. I’m certainly wishing I could fast forward through the rest of the work week and get right to Friday afternoon and the Capitol Hill Block Party.  There’s so much to look forward to:  from an audience chosen Built to Spill set to Jesus Lizard’s long anticipated return to the city that banned them to seeing a number of my favorite local bands take the big stages they so richly deserve.

Here’s what my Capitol Hill Block Party weekend is looking like. Hope to see you there!

4:30 - The Dutchess and The Duke (Main Stage)
6:30 - The Black Lips (Main Stage)
7:45 -Deerhunter (Main Stage)
equally tempting: Sleepy Eyes of Death (Neumo’s)
9:00 - Starfucker (VERA stage)  - catching 15 minutes before running off to…
9:15 - Built to Spill (Main Stage)
10:30 - They Live (Neumo’s) — TIME CHANGED BACK
10:45 - Jesus Lizard (Main Stage)

The Wild Orchid Children::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Saturday July 25th

2:00 - Wild Orchid Children (Vera Stage)
equally tempting - Hey Marseilles (Main Stage)
2:30 - Pica Beats (Vera Stage)
3:15 - The Moondoggies (Main Stage)
4:45 - The New Faces (Vera Stage)
6:30 - The Maldives (Neumos)
7:15 - The Lonely Forest (Vera Stage)
7:30 - The Thermals (Main Stage)
10:30 - Sonic Youth
equally tempting: Sportin’ Life Showcase featuring Fatal Luciano, D. Black, & Spaceman (Neumo’s)
11: 00  The Japandroids (Vera Stage) - TIME CHANGE

You have to keep your Saturday Night going with one of two highly recommended after-parties:

Curious Mystery at The Comet
Mad Rad, Macklemore at Chop Suey

Mad Rad ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Considering the epic weekend of music that awaits us Seattle, I wouldn’t blame you if you took off Monday and Tuesday to prepare your ear drums, liver, feet, and wallet  for Capitol Hill Block Party. In fact, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing. But, there’s no rest for the wicked. Because before CHBP rolls around there are two other unmissable shows during the week.  In fact, starting Wednesday, I think you’d be remiss to not go to a show for the next five nights straight.

Who - Widower, Pearly Gate Music,  The Final Spins
Where - The Sunset Tavern
How (Much) - 8$
Why - To be introduced to the next wave of your new favorite Seattle song-writers. To celebrate The Final Spins CD release and because you really miss Siberian. (I certainly do.) To see what the other talented Tillman brother is up to.  To hear  few of Sound on the Sound’s favorite new songs courtesy of Pearly Gates Music and Widower.

Equally Awesome Alternative:
Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra play two shows (7:00. 9:30) at the Triple Door

Who -  H is for Hellgate, Bone Cave Ballet, and The Oregon Donor
Where - The Comet Tavern
How (Much) - 6$
Why - Because this is your last chance for Hooray’s with H is for Hellgate.

Equally Awesome Alternatives:
Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra play two shows (7:00. 9:30) at the Triple Door

Who -  Built to Spill, Jesus Lizard, Starfucker, The Dutchess and The Duke, They Live, Hey Marseilles, Black Lips & More
Where - 10th & Pike on Capitol Hill
How (Much) - 22$ advance (& likely to sell out)
Why - To see if your Built to Spill song choice made the final set. Because Jesus Lizard hasn’t played Seattle since 1996 and David Yow is still  capable of giving a big F you from the stage.  To see if The Black Lips successfully becomes the next band to be banned from Seattle. To see a bunch of local acts you’ve been meaning to catch, in between a solid mix of national acts.

Equally Awesome Alternative:
The Girls, Oswald Effect - The Comet (CHBP After Party @ 11pm)

Who - Sonic Youth, Japandroids, The Moondoggies, The Thermals, The Maldives,  Wild Orchid Children, The Gossip &  more.
Where - 10th & Pike on Capitol Hill
How (Much) - 22$ advance (& likely to sell out)
Why - To witness the wonderful spectacle that is Beth Ditto, and her outfits. To get your first peek at The Moondoggies play the Main Stage, which is where the band will be playing from now on. To hear the new Maldives tracks live. To discover gonzo soul and take a trip with the Wild Orchid Children.  To finally be able to drink beer openly on Pike Street without fear of arrest.

Equally Awesome Alternative:
Mad Rad, Macklemore at Chop Suey - $5adv/$6dos ($3 w/Block Party Bracelet @ the door only)
The Curious Mystery, Hallways - The Comet (CHBP After Party @ 11pm)
Watch It Sparkle, The Camellias  - The Josephine

Who - Fresh Espresso
Where - Chop Suey
How (Much) - 8$
Why - Because you really don’t want the party or the weekend to end. To see for yourself why few local bands are gathering the buzz or love that Fresh Espresso is.

Tom Pfaeffle ::: photo courtesy of Jay Cox

We were deeply saddened to hear that local sound engineer and teacher Tom Pfaeffle was tragically killed Friday night.

Tom manned the boards and mics at Tank Studio in Black Diamond, WA where local bands and Sound on the Sound favorites like Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, The Sea Navy, and Wild Orchid Children recorded their records. Bands and students of sound flocked to Tom not only for his expertise, but because by all accounts, he was an absolutely wonderful guy who was passionate about perfectly capturing the sound and feel of a band.  When Tom wasn’t recording at The Tank he was teaching the future sound technicians of Seattle as an audio production instructor at The Seattle Art Institute.

Tom’s death is a huge loss to the local music scene, and to his family, friends, students, and bands that worked with and loved him. Our deepest condolences to them all.

Lonely Forest Choir ::: Photo by Josh

Most of the time, the shows I attend at the Vera Project are pretty mellow affairs, but from the second I walked in the door I knew this was not going to be one of those nights. As we walked down the stairs to main floor, the Lonely Forest front-man Jon Van Deusen intercepted us with high fives and a warm welcome before bouncing off to attend to other details of the what looked to be an already successful, at least attendance-wise, evening. The Globes already were pounding away on the stage with abandon, off on one of their signature instrumental tangents.

This might be the first time I’ve actually seen the Globes play an actual venue on an actual stage. I’m sure they have before, but previously I’ve only ever caught them in festival-ish or record store settings. It’s a pain not being able to hear everything, since they cultivate layers and instrumental dynamics in the way of Radiohead in addition to sounding simply a thoroughly modern and young rock band. The Globes are well situated to continue to mature as a band on the all-ages scene and beyond.

The New Faces on the other hand might just be the reigning champions of the all-ages scene at the moment, following a jam-packed calendar in banner 2008. In that time both Nico and Kyle have really picked up on the stage presence, moving around and having a whole lot of fun, feeding and feeding-off-of the very excited front rows. What the crowd couldn’t find in the Globes unconventional structures, the New Faces could deliver in spades, and led by a cadre of excited teenage girls(!) the crowd obliged with bouts of dancing and hyperactivity.

The Wild Orchid Children, after an extended sound-check immediately encountered issues with lead singer Kirk’s microphone cable. After instrumentally jamming for 10 minutes while the sound crew figured things out, the band was left with 10 minutes, and then time was up. The set was over as suddenly as it had started and a crowd that had been teased was left I think unsatisfied. I honestly felt sorry for everyone involved.

That the entire crowd still remained present and really was all there for the Lonely Forest wasn’t a surprise at all, and in fact I was pretty happy to see that a band I predicted had a ton of potential has been reaching it. Even way back when Van Deusen was manning the piano full-time I felt like these gents had something special, but now in addition to his natural charisma they’ve got some damn catchy pop songs and the overflowing energy to pull it off. Upon hearing lead single “We Sing in Time” on a homemade EP, packaged in pink cardboard paper and decorated with farting elmo stickers last year, visions of screaming masses freaking out were already entering into this band futures.

That this vision was brought to life on the night of the record’s release party only serves to reinforce that sense that the Lonely Forest experience will be around for a while. The new mini-community of adorers that they create each night when they play through anthemic sing-alongs and invite the audience to be their friend is just as much a part of the lure of this band as the songs themselves, and the promise of a return to that joyous-togetherness feeling will bring people back time and again.

Van Deusen was obviously beyond amped at the turnout for this night, and before the first song had even finished in a fit of wild guitar playing he had upended his electric piano. In the time since I’ve last seen the band they’ve added a second guitarist, and for this special show they recruited thirty friends from the hometown Anacortes High School choir to sing backup on selected songs. Whether dancing or belting out a chorus, it seemed like just about everybody was physically invested in making the set go off well in one way or another.

“We Sing in Time” was saved for last. After the crowd demanded an encore the curfew allowed for just one more song. The band passed cookies out to the crowd, and after downing a sugar shot he didn’t need, Van Deusen launched into the final number. Afterward as we allowed the room to empty, packs of teenage girls flitted from room to room buzzing about how cute everyone was. A lonely cigarette roller along with a nicely hand rolled cigarette lay at the foot of the stage, forgotten as the exhausted patrons filed out (I didn’t smell anyone light up). As they ascended the stairs, a smile and a copy of We Sing the Body Electric appeared to be almost the universal take away from the night. Could the Lonely Forest have asked for a better result? I’d have to say not.

The Lonely Forest ::: Photo by Abbey

VERA Crowd ::: Photo by Abbey

Wild Orchid Children ::: Photo by Abbey

New Faces ::: Photo by Abbey

Flickr: The Lonely Forest CD Release Party at the Vera Project, April 24, 2009

Thomas Hunter::: photo by Abbey

Tonight we’ll be checking out The Wild Orchid Children at a warehouse venue in town. While we are always excited to see Wild Orchid Children, one of our favorite live acts in town, we are both bummed and excited that their expressive, deightful, and ridiculously talented guitarist Thomas may not be there tonight.

Turns out that Thomas, who also often plays guitar for Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground and The Saturday Knights, was in Australia this Monday playing with Saves The Day. And here’s the YouTube video to prove it:

Thomas is doubtlessly one of the most talented musicians in Seattle and it’s great to see that bands all over are aware of that.