Great show (outside) Atlanta!!

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Great, great, great show in Atlanta (well, really Marietta, 30 minutes or so north of ATL) tonight! Wow! I went on a whim (all I'd heard was the MP3 on the Matador site and I wasn't exactly blown away by it) and totally loved 'em. Openers S. Process were also most excellent. There was another band but I kinda hated them so they will remain nameless.

[bitterfruit]

How was the venue? I've never even heard of that place.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

It's a "teen club" in Marietta. It apparently used to be clothing store, judging by the layout. It seems to be run by kids for kids, primarily. I've been there four times now and, other than feeling really old when I go (some of the kids at shows have to have been at most one third my age), it's a decent place for a show (and it's non-smoking so I don't come home stinking like an ashtray). They mostly have "punk" shows, I guess, judging from the band names usually listed on their site. The first time I went, it was all teeny punk bands (and all bad) opening for Floor, who were devastatingly heavy and incredible, like if the Melvins wrote short pop songs instead of their typical (and excellent, I should add) fare, and they drove the kids right out and all of a sudden I was surrounded by long haired crusty punk types. Interesting.

Here's their website, if yer interested: www.SwayzesVenue.com.

[bitterfruit]

I bet the place was packed with ironic t-shirts and other Urban Outfitters gear.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Nope. There was one kid in a way too small 1983 Heart tour shirt (his parents probably hadn't even met when the shirt was printed). Other than that, some kids had "punk" badges and patches and stuff but most looked pretty normal. It was nothing like an "indie rock hipster/snob" crowd.

[impossible]

I'm looking forward to their visit to The Met at RISD on the 20th. I like what I've heard from them, so I have high hopes. Thanks for the review HCI.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Originally posted by impossible
I'm looking forward to their visit to The Met at RISD on the 20th. I like what I've heard from them, so I have high hopes. Thanks for the review HCI.
Aah, that was just some info. Below is the review I posted at www.StonerRock.com of last night's show.

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Another long trek out to Swayze's but this time I didn't miss the band I came to see! Whee!

When I got there I had to go potty pretty bad so I headed directly for the lone restroom only to find it occupied. A helpful couple on a nearby sofa informed me that there was a "hot slut in there" and "He's got big ears!" What? Do I have HOMO tattooed on my forehead?

















OK, I went and checked and I don't. Whew!

Up first were S. Process from Philadelphia. I thought they were local since they're playing again on Sunday at Neutron Bomb but I guess I was just WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! The singer/guitarist quickly established a nice raport with the audience by informing us that the area in front of the stage was dragon-free and, therefore, safe for us to stand there rather than farther back. Then they had a guy come out and blow fire at another guy on stilts wearing a small child's disturbingly tight Batman costume. Yeah, safe. Sure. Anything you say. Well, anyhow, his guitar was too quiet so I said (after the first number) "Hey, singer guy, turn up your guitar; the other guy [another guitar slinger was present] is drowning you out!" He informed me that his name was Bob and asked for mine and we had several more short but pleasant conversations during their set.

Oh, you want to hear about their music? Well, let me put on my dancing shoes. They were very rhythmic and reminded me a bit of early Queens of the Stone Age mixed with early stuff by The Fall but with more "sung" vocals than either of those bands and, beyond that, the singing was sort of like the guy in the Electric Eels if he could sing. The guitars were nice and dissonant but not particularly distorted (hence the similarity to early Fall, sweetie) and the bass was nice and fat with what seemed to be an almost reggae-influence which made for an interesting mix with the guits, sangin' and pounding drums. BTW, the drummer was of the feminine persuasion and I hope I don't sound sexist if I say I dig the heck out of it when a woman plays a "non-standard-for-the-fairer-sex" instrument in a rockin' band. I bought their CD and am seriously considering going to see them again on Sunday, depending on how their set time conflicts with the show I also want to go see at Eyedrum that night. Luckily, the two venues are less than five minutes distant by automohicular device, of which I am possessed one. It's a Saturn. It has a CD player and a moonroof and gets good milage. I like it.

After that came Cobra High. They claimed to be from Seattle but they sounded nothing like Skin Yard or Beat Happening (yeah, I know they're from Olympia but thanks for trying to correct ME WHO IS NEVER WRONG [except for that bit a couple of paragraphs ago] [seriously, go check; I'll wait]



































[see?]) The guitarist looked familiar but maybe 'cause he looked like the guy who played drums with Mudhoney in 1989 and who maybe still does (I have no clue, which is different from being wrong, by the way). Anyhow, they had five keyboards set up when they hit the stage and that was the cause of much consternation and trepidation in the crowd. Well, it was a concern with me; what do I care what other people think? Especially when I'm probably 25 years older than a lot of them. Like this punk rock boy wearing a way too small t-shirt from Heart's 1983 tour. He couldn't have even been alive then and I doubt he would even know more than one or two of their songs but who am I to judge? I'll tell you who! I am MR. HCI, dammit! I WIN!!!!!

So, they sounded OK (there was guitar and bass in addition to the stacks and stacks of electronic ivory) but then the singer came in with overwrought, 80s new wave vocals and ruined everything. See, my consternation was WELL FOUNDED! The best song of their set was the third 'cause it was an instrumental and actually reminded me of early Yes rather than MTV wave. Overall, their music was just too busy: the guitar/bass/keys were all playing different things and they just didn't MESH. Maybe VelcroTM would have helped but I doubt it. Oh, and the simple, almost militaristic drumming reminded me of U2 and that's not exactly what I'd call a good thing. Luckily, they didn't play very long.

Pretty Girls Make Graves have an odd name and had nine different t-shirts for sale. I've read some really positive and interesting stuff about them and have been curious about them for several months now. The fact that they recently signed to Matador Records (home of several excellent bands) also had me intrigued. The fact that they ended up playing Swayze's (a suburban store-front "club" catered to primarily by punker teens) had me surprised. Then again, they apparently have an early record on Lookout Records, I think (see, I said, "I think" so if they don't then I'm not wrong but rather just mistaken). I listened to an MP3 at the Matador site earlier today and wasn't exactly blown away but I decided to risk it anyway (Good Lord, I hadn't been to a show in days! I was in danger of the debilitating effects of withdrawal. Bats! BATS! EVERYWHERE! Under my FLESH and in my EYES! Oh, wait, that's bugs not bats. Sorry!) Well, they took way too damn long to setup their two keyboards, laptop, two guitars, bass, drums and sampler. I am not a patient man! Then again, I was in the emergency room only three months ago. So anyhow, the multitude of shirtage combined with the slowness to GET FUCKING READY had me all prepared to hate them. And you know what? I did






n't! They were fantastic! The singer woman reminded me a bit of Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex and the rest of the band were no damn slouches. The guitars were angular and edgy. The bass lines were muscular and cool. The drumming was nice and pounding. They would have fit right in with the more aggressive, arty post punk of the late 70s but also sounded nice and "modern" what with the, uh, modernity of their sound. In other words, they were retro but not retro. Whatever. Write your own damn review, Mr. Snotty Pants! I was boppin' around and lovin' it and even broke down and bought their newest CD (the only one they were sellin') after their set even though I had vowed to buy it later at a store since I'd already plunked down ten bills (poor ducks) for the S. Process CD.

I spoke briefly with the singer after their set and she said with the CMJ Convention coming up in NYC, so many bands are touring (the East Coast specifically, she didn't say but I inferred) right now that they couldn't get an in-town gig. I responded that it was nice that the kids who obviously loved them (they got a bang up reception and lotsa kids were singing along the whole time) got a chance to see them without worrying about age-related hassles at more "conventional" clubs.

[bitterfruit]

Originally posted by Mr.HCI

Pretty Girls Make Graves have an odd name and had nine different t-shirts for sale.

Borrowed from a Smiths song by the same name.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Originally posted by bitterfruit
Borrowed from a Smiths song by the same name. Ewwww! Good thing I didn't know that ahead of time. Few bands make my skin crawl as successfully as Mewling Morrisey and The Smiths Band.

[bitterfruit]

Originally posted by Mr.HCI
Ewwww! Good thing I didn't know that ahead of time. Few bands make my skin crawl as successfully as Mewling Morrisey and The Smiths Band.

You secretly do up your hair like Morissey and dance around like the guy from "Silence Of The Lambs." Admit it.

[Miss Tasty Princess]

Originally posted by bitterfruit
You secretly do up your hair like Morissey and dance around like the guy from "Silence Of The Lambs." Admit it. So is that chip on your shoulder really painful or have you pretty much gotten used to it by now?