The Whigs :: by Dave Lichterman

Dead Trees: Initially they start off sounding like every other indie pop outfit out there. Not much happening to set them apart from rest of the pack. But then spontaneous pockets of rock begin to appear, salvaging  their 30-minute set from the depths of boredom. The band features a bass player who I swear was wearing a fake mustache (check the pics in the slideshow below) which made them fun to watch because as everyone knows, it’s tough to take your eyes off a solid ’stache. They seemed to be onto something with their mixing of catchy indie pop and spontaneous, unexpected moments of rock.

The Features: Apparently this Tennessee band has been around for a while and have gathered quite a buzz that I didn’t know about. How big is this buzz? Well, we’re not talking Vampire Weekend or Animal Collective or anything like that, but after seeing them live I did go seek out their records. They play the type of music suited for a gypsy hoedown. It’s a great modernization on Southern rock as these boys sounded like they spiked their own moonshine, in a good way. From their maraca-wielding, slow-motion windmilling bassist to their hyperactive, sweat-stained rock ‘n’ roll frontman, The Features prove that Southern rock ain’t dead yet and for every Kings of Leon (The Features are actually signed to KOL’s imprint label) bands like The Mother Hips and The Features are out there waiting for their big breaks.

The Whigs: They aren’t the biggest band to come out of Athens (that would be R.E.M.) but they sure are one of the most rocking Georgia groups out there. The Whigs are big enough to pack the Tractor (singer Parker Gispert mentioned he didn’t expect to see so many people in the crowd) but small enough to tote their own gear and to walk through the bar and order a beer unnoticed. They came out to the stage firing on all cylinders and one of those cylinders was a strobe light which got heavy use throughout the 75-minute set. Gispert ran all over the small stage, hopping on one leg while soloing and even jumping into the crowd at one point (I actually thought he was going to accidentally kick me during a solo). The band’s been touring behind Mission Control for a couple of years now so they threw a couple of new songs in the mix which were actually some of the highlights of the set. I expect their upcoming album, tentatively titled Into The Dark, to rock very, very hard.

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Electric Six :: by Travis Hay

Millions of Brazilians: This trio came off sounding like a Detroit-flavored Arctic Monkeys. Lots of squealy guitar effects and some pretty updeat dance-friendly numbers. Not too bad for a three-piece that features two guitarists and a drummer.

The Gay Blades: I really wanted to dislike this band based solely on the premise of the fact that their band name sucks. Then I walked past the merch booth and they told me off in the form of band shirts that say “No, your band name sucks.” They get points for having a sense of humor. Jokes aside (you’ve got to admit that band name is pretty lame), as much as I wanted them to suck, the band was pretty good. They rocked as hard as two people could without being, say, Death From Above 1979. I was impressed with how easily they went from making the crowd move with fun, upbeat pop numbers to making the crowd mosh with loud, screamy songs that almost bled into heavy metal territory.

Electric Six: The band has a new record out and, well, it’s not their worst album (that would be Switzerland) but it is definitely not their best. Aside from the new material, the highlight of which was “Egyptian Cowboy” (a song Craig Finn should karaoke to), the set was solid dose of dirty, sexed-up disco-rock . Singer Dick Valentine upped his game a bit since the last time I saw him, graduating from being a bit of a lounge singer in a leisure suit to a rock ‘n’ roll infomercial pitchman in pinstripes. During the pause near the end of “Improper Dancing” where Valentine shouts “Stop!” the band broke into INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart” after which Valentine proclaimed “Continue!” and the band went about finishing the song.

But the band’s showmanship and humor wasn’t every really in question considering “Gay Bar” was followed by “Gay Bar Part 2″ which was followed by “She’s White,” a song that is about, well, a white girl and in the middle of “Danger! High Voltage” Valentine did about two dozen push ups. That all might seem strange to the first time E6 watcher but really it’s just a part of the shtick, which is one of the better in rock today. And it is that very shtick that makes Electric Six a much better band live than on record. Hopefully the next time Valentine and his band come through town they’ll have a set of songs to support that at least matches the quality of the band’s showy comedy.

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Things got a bit nerdy in the industrial SoDo district last week when They Might Be Giants brought their Flood tour to Seattle, much to the delight of a sold-out crowd at Showbox SoDo.

The band is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their platinum album Flood by playing the album in its entirety in select cities. But the show wasn’t just a straight-forward affair where the group played through Flood in full. Like everything TMBG does, the show was a bit different. Instead of doing by-the-numbers walkthrough of Flood things started with non-album tracks and then after Flood started other non-Flood songs were peppered throughout the show.

The set started with “James K. Polk” (not a Flood song) and by the time the guys started singing about elements making up elephants (the second song of the night) the confetti was flying. From there it was a romp through some of Flood before the group took a break and played more non-Flood material. It was my first TMBG experience and watching John Flansburgh and John Linnell spread their musical joy to the near 2,000 in attendance was enough to make me go home anld listen to Flood on repeat again and again.

Back on the nerd front, in the middle of the set The Avatars of They, two sock puppets controlled by Flansburgh and Linnell commandeered the stage. Because it was a TMBG show they weren’t allowed to play their own material (of course!) so they played through a pair of TMBG songs. Sock puppets at a rock show? That’s about as nerdy/cool as you can get and it pandered perfectly to the TMBG crowd. Between songs about former presidents, a sock puppet hijacking and confetti flying through the air he 90-minute performance was not just a celebration of TMBG’s crowning achievement; it was a celebration of nerdiness in music and during this celebration I had several revalations.

After hearing “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” live I decided there needs to be more clarinet in rock. After singing along to “The Sun Is A Mass of Incandescent Gas” and listening to its counterpart “Why Does The Sun Shine?” I decided more bands need to write songs involving science. And after watching the Johns do their thing on stage, I decided there needs to be more nerds in rock ‘n’ roll.

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Sometimes a little exposure can go a long way when it comes to launching a band’s career. Case and point: The Bravery.

The last time The Bravery performed in Seattle they were on the big stage at KeyArena opening for Green Day. Last week the band played to a sold-out crowd at Showbox at the Market. Selling out the Showbox is something the New York band would’ve eventually done without the exposure because their brand of new wave rock is contagious and fun, but I’m sure sharing the stage with Billie Joe, Tre and Mike helped speed things up a bit.

Regardless of how they got to a rightly deserved headlining gig at the Showbox, The Bravery sounded like a well-oiled, road-tested machine and the all-ages crowd ate up every second of the band’s 75-minute set. Singer Sam Endicot was charismatic and energetic and the rest of the band matched his efforts which brought needed liveliness to some of the band’s tracks that sound a little dull on record. Adding to the liveliness was a white curtain backdrop that displayed images from a projector that was in the back of the room, but really it was the music that sold me on the band. The Bravery had the crowd (which didn’t need to be sold on the band’s merits btw) dancing and singing along to every word of “Public Service Announcement,” “Believe” and just about every other song of the set. In fact, during “An Honest Mistake” the spring-supported floor of The Showbox was moving thanks to the throng of dance-crazed kids.

The Bravery also performed a few of songs from its upcoming album Stir The Blood (in stores Dec. 1) including the current single “Slow Poison” and the unfortunately named “Hatefuck.” The latter carries an danceable groove, much like most of The Bravery’s catalog, and was a pleasant part of the group’s set despite the song’s not-so-friendly name. If the three new songs I heard are any indication of what Stir The Blood sounds like the band might have a hit record on its hands which means you might be seeing The Bravery at a bigger venue the next time they pass through town.

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Brothers of the Sonic Cloth :: by Alex Crick
 

Seattle’s music scene is fast becoming known for its bearded folk rock and burgeoning hip hop, but Friday at Neumos the flannel flag flew high once again with a triple-bill featuring Unnatural Helpers, Brother of the Sonic Cloth, and Mudhoney.

The show was in celebration of photographer Michael Lavine’s book Grunge, and the lineup did a great job of capturing the essence of the book, making it feel like 1992 all over again. Lavine was one of two photogs hired by Sub Pop to visually capture the bands that helped define a musical movement. He spent the late 1980s and early ’90s living in Olympia and later moved to New York where he shot various Sub Pop acts (TAD, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Fluid, Skin Yard) along with other important alt-rock bands of the time (Sonic Youth, Hole, White Zombie, Pearl Jam) as they passed through town.

The book features photos of all the aforementioned bands and dozens more, and is a striking visual document that chronicles the culture and look of an era. It is similar to what Lavine’s colleague Charles Peterson, who also shot for Sub Pop during the grunge days, did with his book Touch Me I’m Sick a few years back. One of the main differences between the two is that Peterson’s style emphasized the action on stage and in the crowd; Lavine’s shots are more candid and playful band photos.

Although the Neumos show was technically a book release party, aside from Lavine being on hand signing and selling copies of his work there was not real emphasis on Grunge the book; rather it was more about grunge the sound, which felt appropriate considering the book visually represents sound. And what better band to have representing that sound on stage than Mudhoney?

“These photos are mind-blowing for those of us who are old enough to remember,” Mudhoney frontman Mark Arm told the crowd before starting the band’s set with a cover of Fang’s “The Money Will Roll Right In.” It’s a song the band has covered previously, and astute grunge scholars will know it’s also a song Nirvana covered during its famous 1992 Reading Festival set as well as a song Arm performed onstage with Kurt, Krist and Dave (check out the video here).

From there the grungiest of grunge bands blazed through a near two-hour set that spanned its 21-year career. The set proved once again that Arm is still capable of commanding the stage like the proud graduate of the Iggy Pop School of Frontmen he is, and that guitarist Steve Turner can still shred with the best of them. Plenty of new material from the band’s 2008 release The Lucky Ones made the set including the title track, “I’m Now,” and “Tales of Terror,” which was a late highlight. An earlier highlight was Turner tearing it up on the one-two combo of “Suck You Dry” and “Oblivion.” The performance was one of the best Mudhoney sets I’ve witnessed out of the dozen or so times I’ve seen the band, and according to UC Berkeley’s Mudhoney Tourbook it was the longest set of the band’s career. It was an impressive showing by one of the most important bands to hail from the Emerald City.

Tad Doyle, former frontman of TAD, a lesser known but still very important grunge band, played with his new band Brothers of the Sonic Cloth before Mudhoney’s set. Brothers of the Sonic Cloth’s songs combine ground-moving drums with deep, bowel-shaking bass while Doyle’s dark and heavy guitar cuts through it all. There are not a lot of vocals happening with BOTSC but when Doyle screams it is a scream that makes you pay attention.

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Black Francis :: by Dave Lichterman

Eyeballs were sliced, a car was driven into the ocean and yes, a monkey went to Heaven Thursday night as The Pixies performed its seminal alt-rock album Doolittle in full to an elated sold-out crowd at The Paramount Theatre.

But what does it all mean? Well, that’s a question that was left unanswered at the band’s 90-minute set. After watching the band play Doolittle in its entirety along with its related B-sides, I got the feeling the Pixies wanted it that way.

The influential Boston four-piece has been riding the reunion tour train since 2004 when they got back together after breaking up in 1993. The band has played several high-profile concerts in Seattle since (including a Bumbershoot headlining spot in 2004 and a Sasquatch! main stage spot in 2005) and those sets were all greatest-hits affairs, not a show that focused on one piece of the band’s catalog. This is what made the opening show of the group’s two-night stint at the Paramount so special.

The Pixies’ loud-quiet-loud formula has been aped by countless bands (most notably Nirvana) and while it’s difficult to declare one Pixies album better than another, you definitely can’t go wrong with Doolittle. You don’t get the whole Pixies package with Doolittle but you do some of the best the band has to offer in “Here Comes Your Man,” “Wave of Mutilation,” “Monkey Gone To Heaven” and others. The record helped introduce the group to the masses, the band is celebrating its 20th anniversary (hence the Doolittle concert), and it is held in high regard in rock-snob circles.

Hearing the album’s 15 tracks live and in order was akin to reading a book and then seeing the movie based on the book. A book lets you use your imagination and shape your own thoughts about the contents of its chapters, while the film creates a visual element you’ll always associate with its written counterpart. In this case the book is the record (but there is an excellent book about Doolittle by Ben Sisario that I highly recommend) and it is a mighty piece of art on its own merit. Doolittle live definitely added a visual flair to the record and I’ll likely not think of the album the way I did before the concert the next time I give it a spin.

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Buckcherry is a band that makes rock records for people who like rock music. They blend Motley Crue with Guns N Roses and thrown in a bit of “Toys In The Attic”-era Aerosmith for good measure. You likely know the band from its cover of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” that has become a staple of NASCAR coverage, or because of the band’s stripper anthem for the ’00s “Crazy B*tch.”

Earlier today I talked with Keith Nelson, the band’s guitarist and co-founder. During our 10-minute conversation we talked about the band’s influences, the band’s efforts to help fight child abuse, plans for the group’s next record and more. Listen to the interview below and check out Buckcherry Sunday night when the band plays KeyArena opening for KISS. You can purchase tickets to the show here.

Buckcherry interview by ear_candy

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Click here for more photos of Sunday’s Dinosaur Jr. show and a slideshow of the concert.

The last time I saw Dinosaur Jr. in concert was during their initial 2005 reunion tour at the Showbox. It was one of the loudest concerts I’ve attended. So I walked into Sunday’s Dino J show at the same venue with a hankering to hear songs from Farm, the band’s excellent new album, while wondering whether it’s possible for J, Lou and Murph to get any louder.

After the band was through with its 75-minute set I definitely got a healthy dose of Farm material however, I really couldn’t tell you if Sunday was any louder than it was four years ago. But it will say it was pretty damn loud. How loud? The roadie was handing out earplugs to people in the front row before the band took the stage. Murph, the drummer, also handed out earplugs telling people “it’s going to get loud.” You know it’s going to get loud when the drummer says so.

J Mascis played in front of a massive stack of amps (11 amplifiers total) that towered over him and although Lou Barlow’s bass stack (which was a mere four amps) didn’t match Mascis’ in sound output, it did match Mascis’ gigantic tower of power in height. Dinosaur Jr. didn’t merely turn things up to 11; they cranked it up to 99 creating a pleasurably ear-assaulting wall of sound. I make it sound like a miserably loud experience, but it was actually quite the opposite. I left the Showbox with ringing ears (despite wearing earplugs and standing at the back of the room) and massive grin because I watched three reunited rockers tear it up like they never left the scene they helped mold in the 1990s.

The reunion thing is popular nowadays but the bands that make music after reuniting tend to do so poorly in an attempt to recapture their old glory. Does The Pixies’ “Bam Thwok” or Smashing Pumpkins’ “Zeitgeist” mean much to anyone? I didn’t think so. You see, Dinosaur Jr. is one of the few reunited 90s alt-rock bands that is making music of equal caliber of what they produced back in the day and Farm is easily one of the band’s best records, which is what made Sunday’s show so enjoyable. Songs like “I Want You To Know,” “Over It,” “Pieces” and “Plans” fit nicely alongside older songs like “Raisins” and “Freak Scene.”

Mascis, one of Generation X’s most underrated guitar gods, wasn’t much of a talker during the show. Instead he let his guitar speak for him. He seamlessly shifted from crunchy to squeally to squawky to fuzzy with Lou and Murph creating the rhythmic cage to contain the mammoth beast that was his highly-amplified ax.

Barlow did double duty Sunday with his new project Lou Barlow and the Missingmen playing a 45-minute set before the night’s headliners. While Dinosaur Jr. created a Jurassic-sized sound, Barlow and the Missingmen were more harmonious and less loud. They had more of a pop sound as opposed to a hard rock feel and my photographer friend Britteny Bush Bollay put it best when she said they sounded a little like Matthew Sweet. It was definitely unexpected.

Australian band Violent Soho was also on the bill. The headbanging three-piece tried hard but didn’t leave much of an impression.

Of note was the size of the crowd. I was disappointed to see half of the Showbox closed off due to what I assumed was poor attendance. The bar on the right side of the venue was blocked off and there were likely fewer than 500people in attendance. That is still a sizable crowd, but for a venue that fits more than 1,000 the show was noticeably empty.  To be fair, it was a 21+ show on Sunday so that might account for the small crowd size.

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