More haiku on The Comet

Last night was a pretty rockin' show at The Comet. The crowd was larger than I thought it might be for a night that had so much going on (Dino Jr., Slender Means, Mirah, and several other shows were all happening at various clubs). I'd probably guess 150 through the door, which is not bad, all told.

You might recall that Ari Spoon posted an "ode to the Comet" over at the Stranger's Line Out blog back in April and I responded with some Comet-inspired haiku. I figured I could continue that tradition (if something you've done exactly once can be called a tradition...) in this post about the show last night.

I'll start with a few complaints.

I think I've simply logged too many hours in clubs over the past 20 years, because I'm really impatient at rock shows. I just want to get things started at 9pm and have the change-overs between bands be smooth and quick. That never happens at the Comet.

You book four-band bills
But won't start them 'til 10:10
Makes for a long night

The sound system at The Comet cracks me up. They have a three foot tall rack of power amps, equalizers, enhancers, compressors, limiters and various other gadgets. Yet it still sounds like my garage. In fact, I think last night might've actually sounded better if the bands had been in my garage, because by the end of the night, I couldn't hear a word the Young Sportsmen were saying. Now, given, my boys are loud. But, still.

Mighty sound system
You are a paper tiger
The mics shock my lips

So, with those complaints out of the way, it was a generally fun night. Red Sky started the evening off. I really love their songs and I'm a big fan of Max's guitar playing and Rob's unapologetic lyrical sensitivity. But, I'm not sure they are the best band to have start out the night. Because while their slow, dreamy pop is appealing to me, I think I needed an energy boost to start my Friday night of rock. Maybe if they had a few more uptempo numbers in their set.

Fans of Scottish pop
So in love and dreamy
90 bpm

The Capillaries came out next, after a lengthy delay with the sound system. Apparently the monitors were not working. So, the sound person worked to get them going. I believe this was also the beginning of the "get shocked by the mic" part of the evening. This show was the debut of the new Capillaries line up that includes Eric Corson (The Long Winters) on guitar and Aaron Huffman (Harvey Danger) on bass. They've got a new recording coming out quite soon, and I'm digging a lot of their new material.

Catchy falsetto
Riffs that get stuck in my head
New record drops soon

We of Shake Some Action were on third. We focused our set on more of the rockin' stuff and a little less of the poppy stuff, and given the PA system situation, I'm glad that we did, since rock transcends being able to actually hear the vocals. Other than taking a low-grade shock to the lips about a dozen times throughout the set, I thought it went well. Kudos to our guitarist David Bos who agreed to play this show even though he had a 10a.m. flight this morning to France for a two week vacation with his wife, Imaginary Dana.

Such a rocky start
But new songs go over well
Glad I'm in this band

Closing out the show was the Young Sportsmen. They gave us exactly what we've come to expect -- both the energy knob and volume knob rolled all the way off to the right. As I mentioned before, you could barely hear their vocals through the PA system, which is a shame because Wesley has a great voice and a big, rock-and-roll delivery. But, at least you could still see the delivery, even if you couldn't hear the voice. Even though the whole night was running late and I don't think they even started until nearly 12:30am or so, there were still plenty of folks in the room to hear them lay it down.

Big sound yet still pop
Cracking snare drum and big bass
Foam smells like toilet

That last line was just for Wesley and those paying attention to his in-between song banter.

Nada Mucho presents...

Nada Mucho presents.... A show that I would've presented, as well. :) In fact, I did the flyer for the show. Cute, huh?

The *what* Capitol Hill Block Party?

Maybe this is old news or something, but I just noticed that the myspace page for the Capitol Hill Block Party now refers to the event as the "ESurance Capitol Hill Block Party."

Doesn't quite roll of the tongue, does it?

The Nice Boys video

Here's some footage from the Nice Boys show at The Sunset Tavern earlier this month. The mid-chorus drum fills make my day. :)

Boss Martians/Pris tonight (5/16)

I somehow missed this earlier in the week. But, here's a show worth seeing:

ALL-AGES!!!

Boss Martians @ Studio 7 TONIGHT with:

Pris
Dateless
EVIL TWIN

STUDIO 7
110 S. HORTON ST.
SEATTLE, WA 98134

DOOR @ 7:30PM

TIX: $7

New Jon Auer video (and testing the new template)

So, it's convenient enough that I needed to test the new template's ability to embed You Tube videos and at the same time Jon Auer has released, in his words, "a new video to an old song" done by his wife Michelle. Enjoy (hopefully... assuming the blog is working!). It's a pretty cool video with some familiar faces.

Benefit for Eric Lashes this Thursday (5/17)

This is making the rounds. But, if you've got nothing to do on Thursday, supporting Eric's recovery is a good cause. Here are the details:

When
Thursday, May 17, 2007
6:00 PM - 12:00 PM

Where
McLeod Residence
2209 2nd Ave.
Seattle, Washington 98121
47.6133, -122.345

We are very sad to report that one of our favorite members (and a true McLeod by blood), Eric Andrew McLeod Howk (aka Eric Lashes) is in the hospital after being injured in a serious accident. In an attempt to help Eric and his family with hospital bills, we will be holding a special benefit happy hour at McLeod Residence this Thursday. Please join us in drinking whiskey for a good cause. All donations for whiskey drinks will go to Eric Howk.

0pm Performance: "The Adventures of Bubble Girl and Accordion Boy" (aka Shayne Eastin and Nate Lashes)

Donation-supported bar; All donations for Eric's drink of choice (well whiskey drinks) will be donated toward Eric's hospital bills; a donation jar will also be available. Our web site, mcleodresidence.com, will also have a paypal donation link for Eric.

Homepage
http://www.mcleodresidence.com

You can also buy a shirt to support Eric.

SPB gets a new look

It probably jumped off your screen and poked your eyes out when you first arrived. But, I gave the Seattle Powerpop Blog an "extreme makeover" tonight. I had planned on launching a new site with the one-year anniversary, which is next month. But, I got to playing around with a design and ran with it.

I haven't gotten all the bugs worked out yet. For example, it appears the previous posts that included a clip from You Tube have been hosed. I'll work on things like this asap.

Hopefully any *new* ones I post won't have problems (fingers crossed).

In the meantime, let me know your thoughts. Do you like this look? I'm not married to it yet. So, if those of you who read on a regular basis think it sucks, let me know!

Llama photos and write up

Gwon from the Lund Bros is becoming my unofficial Olympia/Tacoma correspondent... at least at gigs where the Lund Bros are performing. He wrote up his thoughts on his own So Yummy blog and forwarded them my way.

So, here are some photos he took, with a few words quoted from his original blog.

If you haven't seen Llama yet, you should check them out. Rusty's this wiry guy with stringy hair who is left-handed. He plays guitar and sings and when you see him play guitar, you'll be intrigued. It takes a few moments to notice, but he doesn't play a left-handed guitar; he plays it strung standard, just flipped over. In other words, the low E is away from him and the high E is closest to him. That causes his right hand, his chording hand, to play chords upside down. It's very weird. He's very diminuitive on stage, but he performs very well.

Scott on bass is very solid with his pickstyle playing and excellent backing vocals. Evidently he is in 3 other bands (fronts Doll Test, plays guitar and sings in Paul Lynde Fan Club, and plays rhythm guitar for the Riffbrokers) so he's quite the busy dude. He's the first guy from the crew to have approached me last fall when we played the Sunset together. He's very humble and down to earth.

Jim plays drums and he looks nothing like you'd expect. I joked with Sean last night that Jim looked to be the guy that would do your taxes in April. But he's quite good behind the kit. Very peppy player and always plays appropriate to the song.

Together, the three of them have a great group of pop tunes. Rusty's jangly guitar and Scott's backing vocals are probably the most notable parts of the songs, along with the actual songs themselves.

More tickets for Ben Gibbard

Ticketmaster just released some extra tickets for the Ben Gibbard show at Showbox. So, if you wanted to go but didn't think you could, think again. Just act fast!!

Smile Brigade show & video

Smile Brigade is playing on Wednesday at the Croc, and they posted a little video promo deal on You Tube.

If You're Only Doing One Thing...

If you're only able to do One Thing this week, then I'm going to recommend you make it the Comet Tavern on Friday for the show featuring Young Sportsmen, Shake Some Action, The Capillaries and Red Sky.

There are a lot of shows going on this week, and a lot of them feature bands that I like. But, this one gives you the biggest powerpop band for your buck. And, I'm not just saying that because I play in one of them!

This is also apparantly the unveiling of the new line up of The Capillaries. So, that, by itself, should be enough to get you down to the Comet to hear the goodness.

Shows for week of 5/14

Lots to do this week, kiddies. So, put your rock hats on and hit the shows.

Monday, 5/14
Everclear at The Crocodile Cafe

Tuesday, 5/15
The Sea and Cake at Neumos

Wednesday, 5/16
The Bravery at El Corazon

Thursday, 5/17
Shorthand For Epic and Patient Patient at the High Dive

Friday, 5/18
Young Sportsmen, Shake Some Action, The Capillaries and Red Sky at the Comet Tavern

Saturday, 5/19
Meat Puppets at The Crocodile Cafe

Sunday, 5/20
Ben Gibbard at Showbox
The Killers and Hot Hot Heat at WaMu Theater

Myspace surprise: Electric Tape

Occasionally I get a myspace friend request from a Seattle band that I have never heard before, but really like what I find on their page. I've had this happen on a few other occasions -- with The Universe and The Knast specifically. And I like to think of these moments as a "myspace surprise."

Well, I got my latest "myspace surprise" over the weekend via a band called Electric Tape. There's only one tune on their myspace page, a track called "Wake Me." But, I really dig it.

They list the following bands as influences: The Police, The Rentals, Elvis Costello, Mates Of State, Death Cab For Cutie, Stars, Weezer

That's a mix of bands that would keep me happy for days. On this first recording, they seem to fall closer to the indiepop side of the world than the powerpop side. But, who cares. Good pop music gets its hooks in me, and this is good pop music. Their site says they're planning shows for the summer and releasing an EP next month. So, I'll look forward to hearing more from them soon.


Electric Tape

Radio 8 Ball gets ripped off?

Hat tip to Three Imaginary Girls for this one

I've written about Radio 8 Ball a number of times here on the blog. If you're not familiar with the concept, you can see their myspace page. But, if you are familiar with the radio program, then you probably also know that there is a "live show" version called The Ego and the Oracle.

Well, now it turns appears that Andras, who started the Radio 8 Ball show, has been fired from involvement with the live show and they're moving forward without him. Here's some text from a myspace page titled "The Ego Stole The Oracle:"

How The Ego stole The Oracle. On Valentine's Day 2006 a Boston band called Jim's Big Ego appeared on Radio8Ball, a call-in divination show created and hosted by Andras Jones. Radio8Ball has been on the air since 1998. Jim's Big Ego are an indie rock band with a reputation for conscience and integrity. Jim's Big Ego liked the Radio8Ball experience so much that they asked Andras Jones to collaborate with them on a stage production based on his show. Together they created a stage show called The Ego & The Oracle. This show was performed in Somerville, Massachusetts in late September of 2006 and was followed by a successful Seattle production in early April of 2007. When it came time to mount the second Boston production creative differences arose between Andras and the band's manager (who had taken on the role of the Boston producer.) The result of these creative differences was that Andras was fired from the production and his name and involvement in the creation of the show were removed from the all promotional materials for the show. Jim's Big Ego moved forward as if the idea for the show was entirely theirs and refused to compensate, credit or even communicate with the person whose format they were brazenly claiming as their own. Although The Ego & The Oracle continues to run it does so without Andras Jones's consent. People who wish to experience Radio8Ball can tune into the show Tuesdays from 6 to 8pm (Pacific Standard Time) at www.kaosradio.org.

Posies video from last night

Here's some footage of the Posies doing "Everyone Moves Away" at the Triple Door last night, courtsey of Dreaming Viola There are more videos if you follow that link.

Benefit for Eric Lashes

This has been reported pretty widely in places with much higher readership than my blog. But, just to help spread the word as far and as wide as it can go, there is a benefit for Eric Lashes taking place tomorrow (Friday, 5/11) at the Firehouse in Redmond. If you haven't heard, Eric suffered a pretty severe back injury last weekend.

U.S.E. will be headlining the benefit, and the show is all ages.

More info on his accident can be found over at the Stranger's Line Out blog.

The curse of the latest Lillydale album

Settle in, children. I'd like to tell you a tale. It's a ghoulish tale of mystery and intrigue. Of apparitions, dressed all in white. Of evil, um, postal deliveries and stuff. It all began what seems like a fortnight ago. But, in fact, it was closer to two fortnights ago.

Typically getting a copy of a CD to review for the blog is relatively easy. Either I contact the band and ask if they can send me a copy, or they contact me and ask if they can send a copy. No fuss, no muss. When I contacted Lillydale, they referred me to the press person, Peter, at Skyscraper Media who is working the record. I sent him a message, and he offered to send the disc to me. So far, so good.

Well, some time passes and I follow up with him again, mistakenly thinking he is also working the new Slender Means record (since both Lillydale and Slender Means have stuff out on Mt. Fuji Records). Turns out that Peter's not working the Slender Means record, but he's surprised to learn I never received the Lillydale record that was mailed weeks earlier.

No dice, I tell him. I never got it. So, he says he'll send another one. More weeks pass. Earlier this week he emails to ask if I'm going to review the disc. "What disc?" I have to ask, since the second mailing never arrived either! We give up and he gives me a URL to download it from. Turns out that doesn't work either! But, it was a technology problem that at least could be overcome.

Now, more than six weeks later (this sucker was released in February!), I'm listening to the disc. Better late than never, I suppose!

Now, onto the disc. It was produced by Johnny Sangster, which is always a good sign. The performances are a little looser around the edges than I had anticipated, veering toward a "played live" feel, but not reaching "shambolic" proportions. The production itself sounds great.

The band has an interesting vibe that I can't quite pin down. I hear a little bit Modest Mouse, a little early REM and oddly a little bit of David Byrne. Mix that in with a healthy dose of 1990s indie rock and you'll have something approaching Lillydale. There's a faux (?) accent happening with the vocals that I first found off putting, but with multiple listens I have grown accustomed.

A few of the songs could've used some editing, as they begin to approach the six minute mark. But, "Broken Stereos" (which can be downloaded from their myspace page) is just an instantly catchy hit song that is an entirely enjoyable way to spend 4:02 of your life. I'm going to live with this one a while, and I think the other songs will likely sink their teeth into me in the way this one did immediately. But, given the long, winding road this release took to reach my typing fingers, I couldn't sit on reviewing it another day.

Lillydale has a good local following for their live shows, and you can become part of the crowd if you head to the Jules Maes this Friday night (5/11), since they're playing there with a tragically/humorously titled band called the Vomiting Unicorns. Apparently also on the bill is a Billy Joel tribute group called The BJ's. This show gets my "weirdest line up of the week" award.

Info about the Posies on Friday

This message was just sent out by Michelle Auer about the Friday show at the Triple Door:

The first show (ALL AGES) is *thisclose* to sold out (as in only a couple of tix left) so they added a second show (21+) and it is half sold at this point.

I wanted to make sure that everyone knew a few things about these very special shows:

A: A second show was added
B: The first show is all ages
C: The guys have assured me that they are going to play different sets for the two shows so the folks who decide to go to both have something new to look forward to in each set.
D: Keep in mind that they don't play in town as often as they used to now that Ken lives in Paris. The last show in Seattle was almost a year ago!
E: This is a RARE acoustic perfomance, so they will be playing a lot of songs they don't usually play because it is just the two of them!

Here's the info:
The Posies (Acoustic): Fri 5/11
The Triple Door - 2nd Show Just Added!
7:30PM (All Ages) & 10:30PM (21+)
$16 adv/ $18 day of
http://www.tripledoor.com

Lund Bros performance video

Here's some video of the Lund Bros at the High Dive. It sounds kind of cavernous. Possibly soundcheck??

It's a little too wide for my blog frame. But, I'm including it anyway, because it's cool.

The Posies friday & Jon Auer video

The Posies (really Jon and Ken) are doing an acoustic show at the Triple Door this Friday, May 11, and Matt Southworth from the Capillaries is opening the show.

Via the Dear 23 email list, I just received a link to some live acoustic footage of Jon in New York just a few nights ago. Thanks to dreamingviola for the vid.

Photos: Conservative Dad and Boycrush

While I was over at the Sunset on Saturday, The Lund Bros, Boycrush and Conservative Dad were at the Skylark. Gwon, the bassist for Lund Bros, sent me some photos that he snapped with his cell phone. He also posted his thoughts on the show over on his personal blog. So, you can head there to have a read and to see a few other photos.


Conservative Dad


Boycrush

Photos: The Small Change and The Nice Boys

As I mentioned earlier, I showed up at the Sunset Tavern this past Saturday just in time to hear Visqueen announce "thank you, goodnight" from the stage. So, that's sucked. But, the rest of the night was entertaining.

On next was The Nice Boys from Portland. Their set was somewhat shambolic, but still very rock and roll in a 1970s CBGBs kind of way that I fully appreciated. The whole thing felt like it could careen off the rails at any moment. But, it never did, and they ended their set with my favorite tune of theirs, called "Teenage Nights."

Here's a shot of their guitar player.


The Nice Boys

Third on the bill was the Buffalo Killers. I didn't get any good pictures of them. But, I'm not sure it would've done them justice anyway. They came out and just blew the doors off in a very 1960s power trio kind of way. I'd never want to hang the albatross of this comparison upon anyone, but I was reminded of the Hendrix trio and of Creem. My friend Chris said he felt the drummer was a direct descendant of John Bonham. And having these guys follow The Nice Boys made for an interesting study in musical aesthetic. Both rocked, but they couldn't have been more different in their approaches.

Closing out the night was The Small Change. These guys always rock nuts, and they did just that on Saturday. Greg's energy and enthusiasm for what he's doing is infectious and they write great tunes. I'm hoping they get their butts back into the studio for a new release sometime soon.

I took a bunch of shots, but they all sucked. So, here's one of Greg that's been photoshopped to be slightly more interesting.


The Small Change - Greg

Dolour performance video

Here's some footage of Dolour performing at Western Washington U up in Bellingham. You can also find a Dolour tune on the latest AstroPOP podcast from Three Imaginary Girls.

Shows for week of 5/7

Here are some recommended shows for the week. Go forth and rock, people. It looks like Saturday is gridlock day for the week.

Tuesday, 5/8
Ghosts & Liars at Atlas Clothing (all ages)

Thursday, 5/10
All-American Playboys, Boss Martians at the Fun House

Friday, 5/11
The Posies (acoustic) at the Triple Door

Lillydale at the Jules Maes

Visqueen at the Crocodile

Key Note Speaker, Brides of Obscurity and Dept of Energy at The Comet

Saturday, 5/12
The Blakes and Speaker Speaker at The Crocodile

Lund Bros at the 4th Ave Tavern (Olympia)

Saturday night photos coming...

I took some photos at the Nice Boys, Small Change, Buffalo Killers and Visqueen show on Saturday. But, I forgot to upload them. So, I'll have to post them tonight.

That will give me more time to forumlate my thoughts on how upset I was that I literally walked into the Sunset as Visqueen was saying "thank you, goodnight!" Grrrrrr...

The Nice Boys - video & show tonight (5/5)

Down at The Sunset Tavern tonight you'll be able to catch The Nice Boys and The Small Change. Supposedly Buffalo Killers are on the bill, too. But, last night at the Comet, the buzz was that they had to cancel and that a surprise set by Visqueen was going to happen. I have no idea if that's reality or not. So, take it for the rumor that it is. The Sunset's website makes no reference of this.

In the meantime, here's some footage of The Nice Boys to get you ready for the rock. The song, "Teenage Nights," begins with a most excellent cowbell. :)

Photos: Tripwires, Sgt. Major & The Riffbrokers

I headed out to the Comet last night to take in the Tripwires, Sgt. Major, The Riffbrokers and Llama. It was a solid night of music and well attended. An interesting thing happened that I've never seen at the Comet before. As soon as the Tripwires kicked off their set, everyone crowded over to the band side of the room and got right up close to the stage area, leaving the bar side considerably less crowded.

I applaud everyone for doing that. It totally changes the vibe of a rock show to have people crowded around the stage, enjoying the band. Once the Tripwires ended their set, people dispersed to the bar side and to outside the club. So, I was wondering what would happen with Sgt. Major took the stage. Turns out, same thing! Everyone came back over and stood close to the band (thereby allowing Kurt Bloch to better behave like the rock and roll giant that he is -- running into the crowd, leaning on audience members, and pogo-ing like a mad man).

Anyhoo, as per usual, the lighting at the Comet leaves the photos less than ideal. But, here are the snapshots as they are:


The Tripwires, with audience


Sgt. Major - Kurt Bloch


Sgt. Major - Carmella

After Sgt. Major's set, but before The Riffbrokers took the stage, Heather Riffbroker brought a box of cupcakes out and put them on the merch table. It turns out that this coming Tuesday is her birthday. So, happy early birthday, Heather!

Here's a shot of the box of cupcakes... just because.




The Riffbrokers - birthday girl, Heather


The Riffbrokers - Nick's guitar

Unfortunately, I didn't get to hang around to see Llama. My energy meter hit empty, and I packed it in around 12:20am.

Review: The Heaters "Live & Live Again"

I got my greedy little hands on a copy of the double live album by the classic Seattle powerpop group The Heaters. I've written about the Heaters (also known as The Heats due to a lawsuit) on a number of occasions here, and did an interview with Steve Pearson not too long ago that was chock full of info. But, until this disc arrive, I didn't own any of their stuff.

The Heats/The Heaters were primarily active in the late 1970s and early 1980s and had tremendous regional success. They toured with Heart and The Knack and generally rocked the house around Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. You can still get their studio recordings from that era via Chuckie Boy Records.

But, these two live disc gives you two separate glimpses into the band. The first contains about 70 minutes of music recorded between 1978 and 1981 in three different states (Washington, Oregon and Idaho). The second disc gives you around 75 minutes of music and was recorded at a 2001 reunion show at Waldo's in Kirkland. The disc set is available from Epilogue Records/the Lien Company for $20, which includes postage. You can find out where to send your dough on their website.

Both discs are ragged, sweaty, out-of-tune-in-the-right-way examples of their catchy, foot stompin' powerpop in a live setting. With The Heaters you get amped up songs about girls and parties, sung with harmonies and fervor. Stand outs from disc one ("Live") are "She Don't Mind" and "She Belongs To Me" (which you can also hear on their myspace page). But, you also get "bonus" tracks that are covers of The Kinks, The Who, The Yardbirds and more. The second disc ("Live Again") includes a number of the same songs from disc one along with a handful of additional tracks.

The Heaters rocked hard back in the day, and this disc gives those of us who were not around, not old enough, or not hip enough to have experienced it at the time a way to get a taste.

Blogger's update: I meant to mention that you can also get the disc in local stores and at amazon.com. Here's the album cover art:

The official word from The Divorce

As reported a few weeks back, The Divorce are calling it quits. They just posted an official statement to that end on their myspace page. Here's their post:

Friends,

After nearly seven years of glorious ups and grievous downs, we have decided to lay The Divorce to rest. We cannot thank all of you enough for the years of support and encouragement and we wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors. Of course, each of us have plans for subsequent projects, so do keep an ear peeled for those as they are sure to be entertaining and thought-provoking. In the meantime, it would behoove you to mark your calendars for June 30th, as we will be playing two final shows that day at the Crocodile Cafe in downtown Seattle; one will be all-ages and the other, 21+. It goes without saying that these are Not To Be Missed! We sincerely hope you can join is in this terminal blowout celebration of life, love, The Divorce and the future. Until then...

Love Always,
The Divorce

Boss Martians write a song with Iggy Pop

In addition to serving as the opening act for his Seattle tour stop recently, The Boss Martians report that they have co-written a tune with Iggy Pop for their upcoming album. Here's their post on the matter:

Word from the studio is... WE'RE ALMOST DONE! We mix the last few songs for the new album next week and trust me, we CAN'T WAIT to get this fuckin thing done and out there -- finally.

For any of you interested we'll post some pre-release tracks on the page for you to check out. Also, this new album will include the song we wrote with IGGY FUCKING POP -- he wrote the lyrics, we wrote the backing track -- it's fucking KILLER sounding and we can't wait to roll it out on you all.

They also posted about some shows in Seattle and Bellingham that are coming up later in the month. So, you'll have a chance to rock out with them soon.

Powerpop bands make my life hard...

I just found out that The Nice Boys, The Small Change and Buffalo Killers are playing at the Sunset Tavern on Saturday (5/5). Now that's a great line up of great bands.

But, then I remembered that Lund Bros, Boy Crush and Conservative Dad are playing over at the Skylark, and I've been wanting to see those guys, too.

So, I'm left with the conundrum of which show to attend.

Here's some video from Buffalo Killers, by the way:

The Bug Nasties CD release this Friday, 5/4

The mod rocking fellows of The Bug Nasties are having a CD release party this Friday (5/4) at The Funhouse. The poster for the show (and the cover for their disc) have some pretty awesome graphics. But, sadly, the files are too large to embed in the blog. So, you'll have to click over to see them.

The disc, titled "Which Way You Gonna Go?", is coming out on the local Flotation Records label.

What I've heard on their myspace page makes it sound like the disc is a rip, roaring, shouting, soulful good time.

Shins footage from Letterman show

Here's some live footage of The Shins appearing on David Letterman.

Noise For The Needy schedule annouced

The folks at Noise For the Needy annouced their schedule recently. You can head to their site to see the full schedule that includes Shorthand For Epic, Shim, Dept of Energy, Patient Patient, The Cops and a heck of a lot more over the course of five days.

Or you can stare at this banner for a little while:

Score one for goofy ass rock

For reasons that I can't explain, the doofy fellows in We Wrote the Book on Connectors call themselves mustache rock. In addressing this self-proclaimed moniker in the Stranger's Line Out blog, they said:

Although having a mustache on your face has been scientifically proven to improve your ability to rock out, it is not a requirement for playing the mustache rock. They are optional. Which is a good thing for me because a 12 year old boy could easily defeat me in a mustache growing contest. However, sometimes I wear a fake mustache. I know it’s fake but it helps me feel more like a man. I also like to wear sombreros.

Now, I hardly have the heart to tell them that "mustache rock" as a genre already exists. You can't lay claim to a term that already exists. I mean, you CAN. But, then you'll have folks like me saying things like, "We Wrote the Book on Connectors is no Grand Funk Railroad." Or perhaps, "Triumph really ought to show them what's what with this mustache rock stuff."

So, if they're not mustache rock, what are they? Besides being sophomoric and goofy, these guys are solid musicians that craft simple and to-the-point "college rock" in the 1980s sense of the term. Think They Might Be Giants, The Descendents and so forth. But, they're lyrically quirky while being relatively straight forward musically.

Those who know me know that I generally can't stand jokey bands. For some reason comedy and music rarely is a good combo for me. But, I don't dislike what I'm hearing here. Maybe because for all it's silliness, it's still somehow earnest. If I were still a 16 year old skateboard kid hitting the mini-ramp in my neighbor's backyard I'd probably have this disc on with some regularity while busting my ass. But, those days are nearly 20 years behind me.

When I reviewed the Slender Means' new ep last week I said good rock and roll has to have a certain amount of stupidity to be really good. Well, the dudes in WE (as they sometimes go by when folks like me get tired of typing their full name) probably can't even see line of demarcation on the horizon in their rear view mirror. But, for a moment of stupid fun, it's probably hard to beat this one.

Take a listen to Happy Torso, Bloody Torso and see for yourself.

Blogger's update: I forgot to mention that they are playing a show tonight (5/2) at the Crocodile. I don't know who does their graphic design. But, these guys always seem to have cool posters. Head to their myspace page to see it.

Free all-ages Long Winters show tonight (5/1)

This was posted by The Long Winters via myspace about a free show at Urban Outfitters on Broadway:

All right, kids. I don't want to get another, "Why don't you ever play all-ages shows in Seattle?" message for at least 2 months.

Just go here (http://freeyrradio.com/index.php?invite=kexp) and print out your evite. Word. Like a turkey bird.

Word like a turkey bird, indeed. The site listed in their post says the print out from that page doesn't guarantee admission, but is required to enter.

Vote for End Fest locals

Over at 107.7 The End, they're taking votes for local bands to be included at End Fest 2007. There are some solid entries, and they include SPB faves Dept of Energy and The Pranks, as well as Patient Patient, with whom I'm less familiar but have still enjoyed.

If you head over to their voting site you can listen to tunes and submit your ratings.

I think you have to have an imeem account to vote. So, that sucks.

But, they do have some Dept of Energy video over there that I hadn't seen before, and I can embed it here:

Calling all correspondents

In general, I think I post enough on the blog to keep it intersting around here. But, I wanted to put the word out that if anyone happens to attend a cool show and want to share their thoughts, their photos, their videos or whatever else, I'm open to it. This is especially true given the number of multiple cool shows on a given night around here.

So, if you'd like to be an official (or unofficial, for that matter) SPB correspondent, just send the aforementioned "whatever" my way. If you have questions, drop me an email.

Fully downloable album by Model Photographer

This is completely old news, since they posted a blog about it on their myspace page back in January. But, it is somehow only now, a full three months later, landing on my radar. So, perhaps I'm not the only one who didn't know that you can download the full album by Model Photographer for free simply by going to their website.

Here's what they say on the site:

In late 2006, Model Photographer finished recording an album they had been working on for over a year. After spending far too many days, weeks and months obsessing about the less glamorous "business" side of releasing an album, fate intervened and the band became a side project by default when the members began to spend more time focusing on their other bands. At approximately the same time, the idea of doing the standard "PROMOTE! PROMOTE! SELL! SELL!" method of getting the word out about this album became increasingly repulsive and exhausting to think about. All they really wanted was for you to hear it. So without further ado and with little regard for repercussions, the band would like to offer you their first album, in it's entirety, free of charge. Consider it an experiment. Feel free to participate.

So, on one hand we should lament that Model Photographer is totally on the back burner. On the other hand, rejoyce that you're getting some great music for free... legally free!

If You're Only Doing One Thing...

So, if you're only going to one show this week, I'm going to recommend it be the show featuring:

The Tripwires
Llama
Sgt. Major
The Riffbrokers

This one is on Friday, May 4 at The Comet Tavern. There's nothing about this bill that I don't like... except perhaps it's not one that is sponsored by the Blog. For all intents and purpopses this is an SPB Powerpop Night, because lord knows it's a bill I would've put together, given the chance!

I have no idea what order these guys are playing in, because it seems to be listed differently on every website I check. They all rock, so the running order really doesn't matter. And for all of my lack of ability to get them booked on an official SPB Powerpop Night, The Tripwires are still my favorite local band.

Shows for week of 4/30

Happy end of April, everyone. The sun is coming up earlier and setting later, and that does wonders for my energy level. Yaaaaaay solar system! :) Here are some shows to celebrate with:

Monday, 4/30
Jarvis Cocker at the Showbox

Wednesday, 5/2
Kings of Leon at the Moore Theater

Thursday, 5/3
Arctic Monkeys at the Showbox

Friday, 5/4
Somehow there is another Elvis Costello cover night going on. You might recall there was just one held at the Croc like a month ago. This one is at the Sunset Tavern and is a benefit for 826 Seattle. It features Dept of Energy, Shorthand for Epic, and a ton of other folks, many of whom I don't know.

Llama, The Tripwires, Sgt. Major and The Riffbrokers are at the Comet

Slender Means does another CD release (...?) at Easy Street Records

The Decemberists are at the Paramount Theater

Saturday, 5/5
Ozma is at El Corazon

Boy Crush, Conservative Dad and the Lund Bros are at the Skylark Cafe (West Seattle)

Powerpop Night photos

Although it wasn't a particularly large crowd (given that we were up against Sloan and the 88, that's not a surprise!), a good time was had at the Powerpop Night held over in West Seattle at the Skylark Cafe. If you've never been to the Skylark, I recommend you check it out. It's super easy to find, and it's just across the bridge (literally at the bottom of the offramp at Delridge). It's a cool hang out with a nice vibe.

Anyway, as per usual, I snapped some photos during the sets.

Red Sky did another good job, as is the norm with them. The addition of the keyboard player was perfect for really giving them a lush, swirly sound to match the nature of the their songs. That said, I always have to hold myself back from jumping on stage with them and singing harmonies, because while their recordings feature backing vocals, Rob does all the singing in a live setting.

This first one was a so-so photo, so I did a bit of photoshopping to making it more interesting.


The next is a pretty straight forward shot of Rob, rocking out.


Doll Test closed the night out, and I really like their sound with Nick Riffbroker joining them on second guitar and backing vocals. They were already a great band, and this addition kicked them up a notch. They brought the rock. Unfortunately, I only got one usable photo.

Where the darn poster go?

For some reason, the poster for the SPB Powerpop Night just plain ol' disappeared from the side banner of my site here. Very weird.

So, the following image should be over there -------->

But, it's not (at least as of 10:59pm on Friday). So, here it is:



Blogger frustration: Well, now it won't even appear in this post. Weird, because it shows up when I preview the post. Somebody is screwing with me. Darn you, blogspot!!!

SPB Powerpop Night - tomorrow (4/28)

If you find yourself in West Seattle tomorrow night (Saturday, 4/28), or find yourself looking for somewhere to be, might I recommend you head to the Skylark Cafe. The Skylark, if you haven't been, is a great little hang out. It's cozy, but still sizable (think Mars Bar, only bigger), with a cool vibe and good food.

The next SPB Powerpop Night is being held there tomorrow, and it's a pop tour de force, featuring The Scheme, New West Motels (now known as Red Sky) and The Doll Test. Music starts at 9pm. So, come enjoy.

But first, go listen to the goodness.

The Scheme

New West Motels/Red Sky

The Doll Test

Phamous Phaces live at the Cavern Club

Here's some footage of Eugene's Phamous Phaces playing the International Pop Overthrow festival at the Cavern Club (Liverpool) last year.

Elf Power, Lillydale & Patience Please mp3s

There's a good show happening tonight (4/26) at The Crocodile with Elf Power, Lillydale and Patience Please. So, in celebration and preparation, I thought I'd post some mp3s from those bands.

Elf Power's "An Old Familiar Scene"

Lillydale's "Broken Stereos"

Patience Please's "Antediluvian"

The Tripwires performance videos

Here's some youtube footage (posted by CForce33) of the Tripwires live at the Sunset Tavern back on 3/31.

Although for some reason I can't get them on an SPB Powerpop Night bill to save my life, these guys never cease to bring a smile to my face, and I can't wait to catch them again. They're part of a great bill in early May at The Comet with Llama, Sgt. Major, and The Riffbrokers.

"Last Night"


"Crawling from the Wreckage"

SPB gets a shoutbox

You'll notice a new feature there to your right ---> (down a little)

It's the SPB shoutbox. Overly cutsie? Perhaps. Annoying? We'll find out! But, feel free to leave some comments if you have them!

If You're Only Doing One Thing...

... this week, then let it be creating a cloning machine.

See, here's my dilemma. I'm putting on a free show at the Skylark Cafe this Saturday. It's another SPB Powerpop Night, and this one features The Scheme, New West Motels (aka Red Sky) and The Doll Test. So, of course if you're only doing one thing this week, I'd want it to be that.

But, I'm also a realist, and I know that Sloan and The 88 are playing at Neumos.

Thus, there is an extreme need for a cloning machine. Someone get to work on that and keep me posted of your progress. I want a report on my desk by 8am on Thursday.

Slender Means "rock&roll machine" ep

I was fortunate enough to have a copy of the new Slender Means ep, titled Rock&Roll Machine, hand delivered to my mailbox last week.

As it turns out, one of the Slender Means guys lives pretty close to me. So, it was kind of odd to come home and find an envelope in my mailbox with no address... just "to gary, from slender means." But, I was pleased as punch to get a copy, as I was a big fan of their debut release, Neon & Ruin (side note: these guys like their ampersands!).

I'm going to do a track-by-track breakdown on this one, starting with...

Track 1 - Fade Out
The opener of the new ep would have easily fit onto Neon & Ruin, and thus it comes as no surprise that it was recorded during the same sessions as that record. In general Josh's vocals tend to be pitch perfect and pleasant. That remains true here, as well, but the tune has a little more "sneer" than much of Neon & Ruin. This track has a great organ-driven, almost garage feel. They're not as ragged or rough as a garage rock band, but this one is driven by that spirit and married with a super catchy melody. [blogger note: As of right now you can download this track free from their myspace page]

Track 2 - Ship Wrecked
Now here's an interesting track. The verse oddly uses a sort of Afro-Caribbean groove in the drums and bass, with a ringing, echoing guitar. The band does a great job of reflecting the lyrical content, which is speaks of a "drowning sailor" and being "ship wrecked and left for dead." I'm not sure if this is a metaphor for loneliness or if they're just painting a picture/telling a story. What this song lacks in hooks it makes up for in scene setting. Not their strongest tune. But, not a throw-away, either.

Track 3 - Foreign Legion
Foreign Legion opens with a drum machine and keyboard, laying the foundation for a soaring falsetto vocal. Two bands pop into my head right away with this song - Portishead and Coldplay. According to the liner notes, this one was recorded by Josh (alone, presumably?), and while it maintains a bit of a demo quality in terms of being so different than the sounds we're used to hearing from Slender Means, it's a very pleasant track.

Track 4 - The Comet (live)
This song really underscores how strong a live act Slender Means is. The first time I listened to it, I had no idea it was live until Cheryl Waters makes the announcement about KEXP after they end the tune! Wow. Album quality performance in a live setting. And having done an in-studio at KEXP fairly recently, I applaud loudly for them pulling off such nearly perfect vocals. The track itself is is typical Slender Means - solid, catchy, melodic.

If I have a criticism of Slender Means it would be that I'd like to hear a little more fire in their bellies. They're such a solid act and write great songs. But, I do get a sense of detachment from them that I can't quite describe in robust terms. A friend of mine used to say that good rock and roll requires a certain amount of stupidity, and I think I would turn the "stupid" button up about 10% with Slender Means.

But, don't let that stop you from picking up this otherwise stellar release that's worth a close listen.

Rock Olympics Video: Andrew WK vs. Shane Divorce

Sponsored by The Stranger. No real explanation needed:

Shows for week of 4/23

This is one of those weeks that give you a headache as a powerpop fan. There are so many shows this week, and so many great, conflicting shows this weekend -- Including the next SPB Powerpop Night! I book these things months in advance, and it turns out it's "up against" one of the worst/best possible competitors. Aaaargh! Damn it.

Wednesday, 4/25
Kaiser Cheifs, The Walkmen and The Little Ones at the Showbox

Thursday, 4/26
Elf Power, Lillydale, Patience Please at The Crocodile

Friday, 4/27
Iggy & The Stooges and the Boss Martians at WaMu Theater

The Lashes and The Catch at The Comet Tavern

Saturday, 4/28
SPB Powerpop Night at the Skylark Cafe, featuring The Doll Test, Red Sky (formerly New West Motels) and The Scheme

Sloan and The 88 at Neumos

Aqueduct at the Crocodile

Sunday, 4/29
Llama, The Lund Bros and Saccharine at the Rendezvous

Interview with The Lund Bros

1. How do you think others would describe The Lund Bros, and is that the same or different than you'd like to think of yourselves?

Chris Lund (vocals & guitar): We're, in my opinion, a band that emphasizes strong song writing and vocal harmonization. We rock a bit harder than some of the other indy stuff, too. From what I've heard from people attending our shows, they seem to come away with roughly the same impression.

Sean Lund (vocals & drums): This is actually a tough question. I don't usually get feedback from those that don't have positive things to say (they usually want to talk to us because they liked what was happening) so I'm not sure that what I write will be an accurate reflection of what a random sample of people that see us think of us. Nevertheless, I'll say this, those that have shared their thoughts on the matter usually say they like our harmonies and/or our songs. Those are the two most common elements that seem to endear us to whatever level of endearing we might be capable. I suppose it's natural to like what you do and so I agree that those are two of our strengths.

In a perfect world, here's how I would like us to be described: "They are a great fucking band!" Of course, there are always going to be detractors too but I'd rather not spend time thinking about such things... life's not long enough.

Gwon Chang (bass & backing vocals): I think others would describe us as tight, energetic and musical. I think others would see Chris on guitar and be blown away by his shredding. I think others would hear Sean singing and think to themselves, “Huh. A drummer singing lead!” I see us as a very musical band that has a lot of fun playing out and about.

2. Who are your favorite NW bands and why?

Chris Lund: Llama, the Tripwires and the Young Sportsmen are current faves - also Girl Trouble. They're bands that have their own unique style and also are great to do shows with.

Sean Lund: I'll probably reiterate what my brother and Gwon have said but I'm definitely into Llama at the moment. There are a bunch of great songs on the last record (there's going to be a new one shortly I hear) that knock me out and a couple that just kill me like "Right Now" and "Come On Come On." I love the Tripwires too, and not just because we have played shows with them. They have something that is unique and they are all great players who seem to play the right notes at all times. As far as T-town (or any town for that matter), I really enjoy Girl Trouble. Their live shows are a blast and they are some of the nicest people around.

Young Sportsmen because they rock like The Who with great harmonies and songs. Finally, I've always been a huge Posies fan. We worked with Ken Stringfellow in the studio a few years back and it was a lot of fun. Oh and I can't forget Death Cab. I first saw them at Bumbershoot in 2001 and was hooked right away. It's great that they're now doing so well. I love Chris Walla's production: intricate textural layering with Rhodes piano and Ben Gibbard's great lyrics.

Gwon Chang: I’m a big fan of the Young Sportsmen (they’re so nice!), Llama (they’re so nice, too!), Twink the Wonder Kid/Root Beer Barrels (they’re funny without being stupid. Plus, they rock!), Upwell (not necessarily pop, but a great local band, nonetheless). Oh, yeah! The Tripwires (so, so good at pop!).

3. What are your feelings about the state of pop music in the Northwest and Seattle in particular?

Chris Lund: It's better that it's been in the past. I never got the whole grunge thing.

Sean Lund: I'm happy with where things have gone lately but I suppose it can always be better. I love the fact that pop bands are getting good shows because it seemed like there weren't many opportunities once upon a time not so long ago. I live in Tacoma so I wish there were more clubs to play down here. Not that there aren't good ones; there are. Just not enough of them. I dig the fact that we have a lot of summer festivals in the area that offer lots of local acts but I'm pissed that they took the extra day off Bumbershoot. I'm also distressed at the cost as it's becoming a bit out of reach for those that produce the art that fills the stages, booths, lawns, speakers, and exhibition halls. I suppose these are common growing pains for such a popular festival. Nonetheless...

Gwon Chang: The S.O.P.I.S. (State Of Pop In Seattle) is good. Now if we could only get all the indie scenesters to jump on board.

4. If you could be the opening act for any band, any time period, who would that be and why?

Chris Lund: The Raspberries or Queen back in 1974.

Sean Lund: U2; right now. I know they're so huge that it's not cool to talk them up too much but U2 in concert is the closest thing to a spiritual experience that I've, well... experienced. I've seen every tour since 1987 and, with the exception of the Pop Mart tour, the experience is as good now as it was when they were hungry kids. It is unabashedly stadium rock, but the grand scale of the notes of Edge's guitar playing and Bono's vocals seem to require it, but not for
pomposity or egos' sake. They are a band of amazing positive energy and big ideas musically and lyrically and those qualities are extremely appealing to me, more now than ever as I get older, hopefully wiser, and try to maintain my idealism and an open mind.

Gwon Chang: Open for? I thought the question said “see”. Oh well. I’d like to have opened for Boston right about when Boston was released (’75-’76?). Or, completely mismatched, I’d like to have opened for Rush circa Permanent Waves. Just because I love Rush. Actually, I’d loved to have seen those shows as well!

5. What's the latest news from you guys and what's on the horizon?

Chris Lund: We've got some songs completed for our upcoming CD which we hope to have a Summer/Fall release date.

Sean Lund: We're going into the studio in a few weeks and I'm so damn excited that I can hardly sleep. We've got a bunch of songs (hopefully a few really good ones) and we'll be recording all summer with a prospective Autumn release. This one will likely be a single CD this time around. We released a double CD last time and I loved it but the format made it difficult to enjoy the album in it's entirety. I enjoy both records but it frustrates me no end that there isn't more
unity there.

On a personal note, my brother and his wife just had a baby boy and it's great. I love being an uncle; twice now. He's going to be a musician I think... [blogger's note: Congratulations!!]

Gwon Chang: We’re always looking to book shows. We are heading to the studio to work on more tunes and hope to have some new music for the masses soon.

6. What's something people don't know about The Lund Bros?

Chris Lund: Ha Ha. Oh, I couldn't tell you that. We've got to maintain a bit of an aura of mystery, eh?

Sean Lund: Hmmm... a hard question to start with and a hard one to end on... Okay, I think I got one: We had a "spec" deal back in 1997 with Geffen records under our former name "Loser". We recorded a demo at Moon Studio in Olympia and sent it to the A&R rep that requested the material. Of course we were completely crushed when the guy told us we sounded "too much like the Beatles." I really don't think we do sound like the Beatles, particularly nowadays, but I suppose the criticism takes us nicely back to the now-answered unanswered part of the first question; apparently life is long enough! Now that my answers seem to have a nice bit of symmetry, I'll wind it up here.

Gwon Chang: Chris is mysterious. Me? I’m an open book. Something interesting is that Chris and Sean are actually brothers! And, if they seem familiar to you, it’s because you’ve seen them as Loser and/or International Pop Overthrow in years past.

Anyone using Virb?

There are a ton of social networking sites out there, and myspace certainly has seemed to have take a lion's share of the market. But, as I mentioned a few posts ago, my friend Sarah is all over a relatively new one called Virb.

I will say this, it certainly looks a lot better than myspace from a graphics perspective. There aren't a ton of bands there yet, it seems. But, there is a small powerpop group for users (only 8 members thusfar, including litlnemo, who also runs the d23radio.com site.

I'm considering setting up a Virb account for the blog, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Anyone else out there using it?

I think you still have to be invited at this point to be able to set up a page. So, if you're not a current Virb member and want to be, send me a message and I'll send you an invitation. The Blog has a very rudimentary and not robust Virb page. Maybe I can get Sarah to help me update it... nudge nudge. :)

Even more reviews on the way

I've been getting a nice steady flow of cool CDs to review here at SPB central (aka. my house in Edmonds). So, in the next few days look for reviews of:

The Heaters (classic 1970s/1980s Seattle powerpop!)
Speaker Speaker
Slender Means
Patient Patient
We Wrote The Book On Connectors

So much music to digest...

Central Services, Red Sky & Young Sportsmen photos

I was playing around with my camera settings again last night. I've had this "new" digital camera for almost 8 months, and I'm still trying to get it to do what I want it to do. MY KINGDOM FOR AN AFFORDABLE DIGITAL SLR!!!

Sorry to shout there. I just wish I had a better camera, but can't stomach paying so much for a digital SLR when I know the day after I buy it they'll come out with a better model at half the price.

Anyway, as I mentioned a few times leading up to it, down at the Crocodile last night there was a mighty fine pop show. Here are some photos:

Starting the night was Central Services. I was disappointed to find that the fellas are losing a member. Ethan, who is also in Math and Physics Club, is leaving the group to pursue his own recordings. He was playing an awfully pretty Rickenbacker guitar through a Vox amp, and they said from the stage that his recordings sound "straight out of 1967." So, color me interest to hear what he's going to be doing.

I was exploring the zoom during their set and snapped this image of Jeff:


Second on the bill was the Young Sportsmen. As always, they brought the rock and the volume. They're just so darn reliable and solid, it makes you wonder if they ever have a bad show. I was trying to capture the arena-sized rock by getting a wider shot. Sadly, the output with this camera resulted in two distinct camps: blurry photo and overly washed out flash photo.

I'll choose the blurry photo with character every time.


Once again I was unable to take pictures of Shake Some Action, due to being occupied on stage playing all the low notes, and being totally distracted by having to change a broken string during the first freaking song. Without exaggeration, I've been playing bass for 20 years and that's only the third time I've ever broken a string live. Thankfully I was able to change it out without a super long delay.

Blogger update: I had a photo of the Shake Some Action set sent in by Sarah (who is also a militant Virb enthusiast... she's trying to ween folks off of myspce and onto Virb -- how's that going, Sarah? I still can't make myself do it.). She snapped this photo with her cell phone. I think it really shows off my shiny dome. :)



So, after SSA left the stage, the now-officially-renamed Red Sky (formerly known as New West Motels) took over. They've expanded to a five piece, having snagged a keyboard player who is so new to town that I overheard Rob giving him directions to the Crocodile before the show.

These guys churn out tunes that are swirly and dreamy, and I was able to catch a picture of bassist Doran that represents that vibe pretty well -- although this shot looks a little more menacing than the band actually sounds.

Visiting TIG more than ever

If you've not been there recently, the ladies of Three Imaginary Girls have given their site a complete overhaul, and I love the results. I find myself going there a few times a day now, rather than every few days as was the case before.

The layout is better, there is more content, the IndieRSS is easier to thumb through, and the Imagi-Blog is active and fun to read. So, if'n you haven't visited, head on over and do so now.

It's a lovely new site. Well done, TIGs, and congrats!

The Weekend Roundup

There's some cool stuff happening this weekend, so pick your poison! I'll pick five of them.

Tonight (1) at The Crocodile, we've got a powerpop powerhouse line up of Red Sky (featuring members of Swell and New West Motels), Shake Some Action, Young Sportsmen and Central Services. Hard to beat, right? Well, (2) over at Neumo's you've got Drag The River, Slender Means, Street To Nowhere and Rocky Votolato.

Saturday is tough, too. (3) Patient Patient and Spook The Horse are at The Comet. While (4) the Sunset is hosting Ms. Led, Argo, Spanish for 100, and Bre Loughlin.

After all that rock in Seattle on Friday and Saturday, maybe you're thinking about getting out of town. A change of scenery would do you good. So, go see (5) The Lund Bros at Hell's Kitchen down in Tacoma.

the Pop Machine is stuck...

The youthful rock dudes and dudettes of The Pop Machine just posted that they've officially run out of gas money on their tour. Of course, they're in Austin, TX, and I can think of worse places for a band to get stuck. So, I imagine it will work out just fine (although it looks like they've only got a few days to make it to Hollywood, Arkansas for a show on the 21st).

While you sit and ponder their tour troubles, you can also view a video of them conquering the famous "Rocky steps" in Philly.

The Conversation Heart video & mp3

I randomly found a video by The Conversation Heart on You Tube today. I thought I'd throw in an mp3 to post along with it. I'm assuming these guys are completely kaput as a band. I know members have gone on to be involved with The Hungry Pines and other groups. But, not sure if that means this one is completely dead or on hiatus. Anyone confirm??

The sound and video are not particularly in sync here. So, you may want to get high before viewing.

Powerpop book pre-order

There is a new powerpop book on its way to the masses, called Shake Some Action (no relation to the Seattle band of the same name).

It appears to be ready for release in July and comes with a companion CD featuring 24 tracks. You can pre-order the book/CD through NotLame now for around $25.

Warning: No powerpop content

My wife and I went to our first Sonics game last night, in fact our first NBA game ever. Her office got free tickets. So, off we went.

Now, I've never been an NBA guy. I love college basketball, UNC in particular (since I worked there for 5 years). But, the NBA can suck it for all I care... and the Sonics did just that last night.

Anyway, I somehow have managed to not know that the Sonics mascot is a freakin' Sasquatch. How could I not know this? Is this common knowledge? Sasquatch rules. :)

Anyway, "Squatch," as they call him, was the most entertaining part of my NBA experience. He came out of the rafters, Mission-Impossible style, to start the game, and he launched a dunk from mid-court off a ramp wearing roller blades. I'm all about the circus aspect of professional sports.

Indie Rock Fashion Show

There's apparantly a fashion show tonight (4/19) at The Croc. I'm not completely clear on what makes it an Indie Rock Fashion Show, but that's how it's billed. So, either that means there are indie rock people in the fashion show, or it's a fashion show that sleeps on floors while touring and works at a coffee shop to pay the bills. :)

In either case, if you head down there you'll be able to hear two good bands: Siberian and Ghost Stories. Here are some mp3s to sample and to use for practicing your runway walk.

Ghost Stories' "Upper Ten/Lower Five"

Siberian's "Soft Rains"

Tyra says, "Congratulations, you're still in the running to be America's Next Top Indie Rock Model."

The Color Bars record...

... is totally going to rock my brain. I just hopped over to take a peek at their myspace page to see if they have any news or updates. Sadly, there are none.

But, I took another listen to the three new tracks from that planned upcoming record, titled Kairos At Infinity. They are REALLY REALLY REALLY good. Don't believe me? Go listen, chump. ;)

"Ja Mata Shibuya" sounds like a lost Matthew Sweet track if he had decided to mostly forego the distortion pedal, and I don't even know how to describe "ID Incinerator" right now. But, it sure brings a huge smile to my face each time I listen.

I sure hope they put this thing out soon.

More on The Divorce

... no pun intended. Of course, I imagine that one will be worn into the ground before it's all said and done. But, bad wordplay aside, I got some additional info from Shane to share. I asked about the cause of the break up. Here's his reply:

it was indeed mutual. we felt we'd reached a plateau and that it was simply time to move on. there has been no internal squabbling or anything. we are still very good friends, and in fact we're all groomsmen for our bass players upcoming wedding, and they're all groomsmen in mine. no exciting drama there.

and there will certainly be future projects, musical and non-musical, for all of us. we will certainly keep you abreast of any developments.

Confirmed: The Divorce to break up

The Stranger has a blog up reporting that The Divorce is breaking up. Their own sites on myspace and blogspot make no mention of this.

I just got an email from Shane, and he's confirmed they're breaking up. Here's some of his email text to me:

the rumor is true. after nearly seven years, we are indeed breaking up. we will play our final shows on june 30th at the crocodile cafe.

Here's an mp3 by the band: Fishing With The Party Sharks

Capitol Hill Block Party - preliminary bands & tickets

Capitol Hill Block Party posted an update to their website today with the following info:

BLOCK PARTY 2007 Dates Announced: Friday and Saturday Nights, July 27- 28 2007 will be the best and biggest Block Party yet! Doors open at 3:00 pm on Friday, 1:00 pm on Saturday. The outdoor stages run until 11pm, inside until 2am.

FRIDAY July 27- SILVERSUN PICKUPS, GIRL TALK, VIVA VOCE, THE CAVE SINGERS, GRAND ARCHIVES
SATURDAY July 28- SPOON, AESOP ROCK, THE BLAKES, THE INTELLIGENCE, THE WHORE MOANS

Over 30 more bands to be announced May 16! Updates on the lineup will be available online at www.thestranger.com/blockparty

Apparantly tickets are available starting Friday via TicketWest.

Ted Leo show (4/17) and video

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are at Showbox tonight, and Seattle Weekly ran a preview last week that's worth reading. The Stranger did a piece on the group, as well, and this one includes a recipe for roasted beets. Seriously.

Here's some live footage to illustrate what you'll see this evening.

The Stranger's Gong Show video

The Stranger hosted a Gong Show style evening at the Croc recently, and they just posted some footage on You Tube.

Caution, there's a serious teabag happening pretty early in this video. And somewhere around the 2:15 mark someone uses the following lyrics in cow-themed rap -- "I'm a mother fucking bovine." Awesome.

Sirens Sister show tonight

Sirens Sister is playing tonight (Tuesday, 4/17) at Chop Suey. So, if you're a fan of dramatic, sweeping rock music a la early U2 and Echo and the Bunnymen and other 1980s favorites, then you should head out. The band is made up of former Vendetta Red dudes, and you can fit four of them in a small boat. :)


Sirens Sister

New West Motels (aka Red Sky) studio documentary

I just came across this footage of New West Motels recording at APE Studios in England.

The Stranger's "Ode To The Comet"

Over on the Stranger's music blog (Line out), Ari Spool has posted an Ode To The Comet.

I've decided to offer my own, in haiku.

Oh, Comet Tavern
So dank and grimey with rock
Feet stick to the floor

Here's one specifically dedicated to trying to take pictures there.

Lighting is so bad.
Photography is useless.
Draw pictures instead.

Finally, one from the perspective of being on stage, performing.

I can't hear myself.
But, that doesn't matter here.
It's rock to the core.

If You're Only Doing One Thing...

I think I'm going to launch a new weekly post called If You're Only Doing One Thing, that will be my show pick of the week. I'm so damn old that I can usually only make it to one show per week, and I figured this would be a good way to recommend a show to others with the same plight (age-driven or otherwise).

So, my One Thing recommendation for the week is:

Friday, April 20 at the The Crocodile Cafe
Red Sky (featuring former members of Swell and New West Motels)
Shake Some Action
Young Sportsmen
Central Services

Why is the the one?
With all due conflict of interest noted (I'm in Shake Some Action), this show might as well be one sponsored by the Powerpop Blog. It's practically a "young guns of Seattle powerpop" show. And what better place to see four up and coming powerpop bands than the venerable Crocodile Cafe. And on a Friday night to top it off!

Shows for week of 4/16

Looking for some rock this week? Here are some recommendations:

Tuesday, 4/17
Ted Leo and the Phamacists at Showbox

Friday, 4/20
Red Sky (former Swell & New West motels), Shake Some Action, Young Sportsmen and Central Services at the Crocodile

Slender Means ep release at Neumos

The Sea Navy is at Vera

Saturday, 4/21
Spook the Horse and Patient Patient at The Comet

Sunday, 4/22
The Lund Bros at Hell's Kitchen (Tacoma)

As always, feel free to let me know of cool shows that I might have overlooked.

Liar's Club... the band that wouldn't die

Actually, the band has long since disbanded. But, the attention the band is getting now, a full 14 years after the release of their "Evolution 9" album, is amusing.

I got this note from Jayson Jarmon of Vanilla:

Scott McPherson (Tiny Volcano) and myself were in the band Liar's Club [blogger's note: not to be confused with the band currently operating under the name Liar's Club here in Seattle] throughout much of the 90's. Well, last week, we were contacted by GarageBand.com and told that one of our songs ("Penny Double") was screaming up their pop charts and would be the featured GarageBand.com track on Wednesday the 18th of April. Odd indeed since the song is 14 years old from our album "Evolution 9." Well, good things come to those who wait and wait and wait, I suppose.

Apparently the same song had reached #1 on the GarageBand.com pop charts on 3/19/03 and, powered by some unknown fate, it has returned.

Check out "Penny Double" yourself by listening to the mp3.

Some Shins videos

Here are a few videos by The Shins. The first is the video for "Australia," and the seoncd is a live performance clip of the same tune from a live show back in February in Lawrence, Kansas.

Bloggin' ain't easy.

In recent days I've been reading the new Three Imaginary Girls blog quite a bit (good job on that, by the way), and in doing so it's made me look back at my own blog and realize that blogging is unnecessarily difficult!

Why is it difficult? Because it makes one realize how bands really don't promote themselves as much as you might think. I subscribe to about 75 band myspace blogs, diligently read through myspace bulletins, check for updates on websites, search youtube, go to shows, request promo copies for review, and read other music publications and sites. And darn it if it's not STILL downright hard to find out what's going on with bands.

To some degree I brought this on myself, having given focus to a single genre (for however much I don't stick to it strictly). But, still! One would think bands would talk about themselves more often, at least to the degree that they want others to talk about them.

So, consider this a call to action for all NW powerpop-ish bands out there: Talk to me. Send me your news. Tell me when you have something cool going on. Heck, tell me when you have something that isn't even that cool going on!

Powerpop Night: April 28th lineup

Since it's only two weeks away, I wanted to make the formal annoucment of the line up and venue for the next SPB Powerpop Night. So, here are the particulars:

Saturday, April 28th
Free Show, presented by the Seattle Powerpop Blog
Skylark Cafe in West Seattle, featuring:
The Doll Test
New West Motels
The Scheme

Cool ass promo flyer to be posted this week.

Stream the full record by Shake Some Action

This just came through myspace from James/Shake Some Action:

hi folks,

we've decided to make our complete album available for high quality streaming right from our myspace page, absolutely free!

take a gander at the little flash player on the bottom right of the page. click on a song title and it'll start streaming. all 12 songs are there and they'll stream from beginning to end in glorious 256k MP3 quality.

get into it before we change our minds!

for Seattle friends, mark your calendars for Friday April 20th - we're playing the Crocodile with Red Sky, Young Sportsmen and Central Services. it'll be a show not to be missed for anyone into great indie pop music. the Croc is the best venue in town and this is an awesome bill.

we'll be there - so should you!

cheers,
James

Sagging readership = salacious gossip

Work has been completely hanging me up recently, and I haven't been posting to the blog as much in the last week or so. As such, readership here has sagged. To inflate my hit numbers (that really have no meaning to anyone), I've decided to post a series of blatant lies masquerading as gossip. Feel free to circulate or post responses as to who you think might fit the bill for a given rumor. ;)

Gossip #1: Rumor has it that a certain vocalist for a certain powerpop group has been cavorting around town with a NYC hipster on his arm. They claim they're only friends, but in fact they were caught making out in the dressing room at Red Light.

Gossip #2: It seems that two of our favorite local powerpop bands came to fisticuffs a few weeks back backstage at the Sunset Tavern. No word on what prompted the scuffle, but I can hypothesize it was ether about beer or whether Tillbrok or Difford was the better songwriter.

Gossip #3: One local powerpop band has said they're throwing in the towel if they don't have a major label contract by the end of 2007.

So, there you have it... all the gossip fit to print.

Dept of Energy promo video

The guys of Dept of Energy are the most video saavy bands in town. They put out this little video teaser/ad for their show that is next week at the Croc.

Young Sportsmen disc special

This just came via a myspace blog post. Pay the money for this most excellent release. If you don't own it, you should!!! In fact, you should go to a show of theirs and pay full price. It's worth every penny.

ACT NOW!!! SPECIAL OFFER @ SONIC BOOM< CAPITAL HILL


Now, for a limited time at Sonic Boom records on Capital Hill, you can recieve Young Sportsmen's the familiar glow of colliding particles for the low, low price of only five dollars. But you must act now...when the month is up, they will be in the 'free' bin. That's right. Why wait for a month and get a copy for free when you can spend actual money and know, in your beautiful, blood-filled hearts, that you've done the right thing. So walk, don't run, to the Capital Hill store and purchase your copy today. If you trip on the way, an angel gets it's wings. Or the terrorists have already won. I forget.

Love-

YS

Review: Brides of Obscurity's "Extended Play"

The guys of Brides of Obscurity (and don't let the bride reference fool you, they're all dudes) have a new EP out, titled Extended Play. I'm going to give my initial thoughts here as I listen to the record, because I've not yet fully digested the album. I have the sense that it's one of those records that really needs to marinate over time to really achieve its full flavor.

Track 1 - "Bombs Away"
This song opens with a dusty, reverbed-out guitar and a driving bass line and leads quickly into a verse that features a vaguely Dylan-esque delivery. But, that quickly turns into a chorus that manages to be a foreboding warming and a catchy toe-tapper at the same time. There's something very "American" about this song, and it wouldn't sound out of place on, say, a Travelling Wilburys or Tom Petty record.

Track 2 - "Positively Me"
Now this is bouncy little track that would've fit in nicely on the most recent Vanilla CD. By that I mean it mixes organ driven powerpop sounds a la Jellyfish with a "classic rock" approach. And don't cringe when I type the words "classic rock," because I mean it in all the right ways that the word classic should imply.

Track 3 - "Don't Get Me Wrong"
Things get a little more quirky on Track 3. Okay, the vocals just kicked in and I retract my description, it's more in the psychedelic realm than quirky. The main riff and verse of this one has a nice groove, although I could use more drums in the mix. The chorus falls a little flat for me here, but still not a bad tune.

Track 4 - "Told You So"
The Dylan delivery returns a bit on this one. I like the chorus of this one quite a bit. It's catchy and melodic while again sounding classic/familiar without being a rip off of something in particular. This would make a nice soundtrack song, and I dig the "bah bah bah" sing along.

Track 5 - "All Because Of You"
Although it's last in the running order, this might be my favorite tune of the record. It's got a strong Beatles vibe and a great guitar solo. There are children's playground voices sprinkled through the song, and I can't quite figure out why they there... is the song about some one's kid? If so, then it makes more sense. If not, I'm confused. But, that confusion doesn't keep me from appreciating the tune. Great song.

You can hear samples and pick up the disc over at CD Baby. By the way, did I mention there is a naked lady on the cover?

More reviews coming

Just wanted to let folks know I've got a bunch of new CDs to review over the coming days, including discs by the Brides of Obscurity and The Femurs. See, stay tuned for those.

In the meantime, enjoy this moment of silliness:

Review: Kurt Hagardorn's "Ten Singles"

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of Kurt Hagardorn's new CD, titled "Ten Singles" when he came up to play the powerpop night at Mars Bars about six weeks ago. I'm only now getting around to doing a review. But, I'd recommend you not be so lax about picking up a copy, because it's a really solid release.

Kurt assembled this album over the course of about eight years, primarily recording whenever inspiration and time would allow. Usually when you pick up an album it reflects a small portion of an artists mindset -- typically a year or so of their songwriting life. The interesting thing here is we get insight into Kurt over a longer period of time.

The results are pretty wide in terms of genre and production value. But, rather than coming across as uneven or inconsistent, it plays as interesting and varied. The perfect example of this is the transition from song one to song two on the disc. The opener, titled "International Travel Advisory" has a Beatles-march feel with a slab of Elephant 6 on the side. Kurt somehow manages to have this song lead comfortably into "You Are My Girl," replete with pedal steel opening and laid back Bakersfield vibe.

And there you have it, a mix of indie/powerpop and alt.country. Of course, this reflects Kurt's own background, having spent time in both of those worlds (he was in Chapel Hill band Gumption and played guitar for Thad Cockrell).

Of course my favorite tunes are the ones that fall down on the powerpop side of the fence, and songs like "Rock Scissors Paper," "Leanne," and "Last Time Rewind" all fulfill my harmony jones quite well. Interestingly, if you visit Kurt's myspace page, you only hear the quieter, more acoustic side of what he's doing (including a cover of Harry Nilsson's "lifeline."). I'm not sure why none of the more rockin' tunes are represented there.

But, the disc is out now on Bladen County Records, who have some other interesting artists like Montauk Ghosts that are worth hearing.

Blogger's update: You can hear Kurt's more powerpoppin' side by vising the CD Baby site that has the disc for sale. Not sure why I didn't think of that before!!

Shows for week of 4/9

Happy Monday, all. Here's some stuff to do this week:

Monday, April 9
"Mod Night" at Chop Suey, featuring Persiphone's Bees, Lusty, DJ Christo, DJ Mama Casserole and Tangerine Toxic.

Wednesday, April 11
Jim's Big Ego at The Ego & the Oracle (Radio 8 Ball offshoot) at the Lower Level at CHAC

Friday, April 13
Boss Martians, The Fucking Eagles and the Hopscotch Boys at the Sunset Tavern

Young Sportsmen, Patience Please and others at Atlas Clothing

Saturday, April 14
Central Services, Shorthand For Epic, and Patient Patient at Atlas Clothing

The Long Winters, Stars of Track and Field and The Broken West at Showbox

Sirens Sister tour photos, video & show

The folks in Sirens Sister had themselves a tour last month. They just posted photos from the tour, and there are some really nice shots in there. Take a peek.

You can also see some footage of them driving, while one member sings along with the great Cyndi Lauper.



While we're on the subject, they have a show tomorrow night (Friday, 4/6) at the K.T.U.B (Kirkland Teen Union Building). If you're into big, dramatic, sweeping rock music, you should go. I dig what they do quite a bit.

Band links for EC cover night

The Elvis Costello Cover Night really is a great line up. Here are links to some of my favorite bands on the bill. I don't know what order they're taking stage. So, this list is random and includes a few thoughts or comments from me.

Young Sportsmen - Among the most "powerful" powerpop bands in Seattle. Great hooks and lots of rock.

Cantona - Melodic and engaging, if somewhat inconsistent (but only when their bass player doesnt show up!..:)

Central Services - More "pop" than "power" usually, but creative and engaging to watch.

The Capillaries - Difficult for me to pin down. Definately powerpop, but somehow quirky and angular, too. Their page has newly uploaded songs, including one called "Atlanta" that is truly great.

The Sea Navy - Very "welcoming" and downhome, but melodic and fun, too. I like them live more than on record.

Central Services stuff

Central Services is one of the groups on the Elvis Costello cover night bill tonight. I hadn't searched for any youtube clips for them in quite sometime. But, I found this one posted by Ms. Q back in December from a performance down in Olympia.

I should also note while I'm here that they've updated their myspace page and have some downloadable tunes, including two of my faves -- "Tear Me Down" and "Get To You."

Elvis Costello night at the Croc

Tonight the Crocodile Cafe is hosting Elvis Costello Cover Night, featuring a ton of great bands. Since I'm a huge Elvis Costello fan, this makes me happy. I'm going to try to get my lazy arse out to the club for a rare (for me) mid-week rock throwdown.

In tribute to the show, I'm going to post a few things related to both the bands playing the show and Elvis himself this afternoon.

I actually posted this last year, which is some video from the "Decades Rock Live" that was a tribute to Elvis that featured Death Cab (who are not on the bill tonight, to be clear).



There's also some footage available from Death Cab's soundcheck for that show.



More to come later!

Shows for week of 4/2

Holy crap, it's already April! This year is flying by! Here are some shows to see this week:

Wednesday, 3/4
Elvis Costello Cover Night at the Crocodile, featuring Young Sportsmen, Ghosts Stories, the Sea Navy, Cantona, Central Services, The Capillaries and more. I'm all over this show and will be writing a bunch about EC and the bands on this bill.

Pris is at Chop Suey, and they wrote one of my favorite NW pop songs ever - "Doobie Down Down," which you can hear on their myspace page.

Friday, 3/6
Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, Sean Nelson and His Mortal Enemies at the Crocodile Cafe

Saturday, 3/7
Shake Some Action, Coho, The Hands, The Cops and The Whore Moans at the High Dive (KEXP Audioasis show/benefit)

The Trucks, Speaker Speaker (CD release), and Shorthand For Epic at VERA