5/31/08 - Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Red Monroe

had a pretty good night at Rubber Gloves on saturday:


drove up to the place and wtf? a LINE to get in?? outrageous. never seen that before at RGRS. couldn't bleebe it. the place was packed (with squishy female goodness, no less). had to park in the weeds. was worried i was gonna start a grass fire and have nothin but a flask of vodker to fight it with.


first up was Red Monroe, who proved once again why they're in my top 5. i've seen them now too many times to count, and every time they kick my ass with their jangly, groove-filled rock. this time was even better cuz they played not only Blue Mountain Air from the first album, but they closed with A Return to the Old Way of Thinking (prolly my favorite RM song) and Carolina Cigarette. hell yeah! only one problem - waaay too much reverb on eric's vocals - so much so that you could barely hear him. i complained to the sound guy, who looked at me like i was insane, then took time out from eatin his dinner to defiantly swipe at some slider on the board, but i don't think it did anything, i think he was just tryin to get rid of me, cuz i didn't notice much difference. oh well, still enjoyed the set.
next up was Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, who also happen to be in my top 5. totally love their stuff - haunting, beautiful, spacey folk. love matthew's voice. dug their set, for sure, but it sure seemed like a damned short one - like only 4 or 5 songs, maybe? mebbe it was just me, but i was left unsatisfied, wanting a few more.
headlining was Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, from Indiana. was pretty impressed with these guys. 8-man band, with rotating line-up of instruments including geetars, keys, lap-steel, violin, auxilliary percussion, trumpet (dude was amazing when he finally let loose), french horn (!), trombone. lead singer separated at birth from dave grohl. hot chick on keys. unnecessarily illuminated bass drum. some really polished, multi-layered, sophisticated melodic pop/folk. some songs totally connected with me, some fell flat. about 3 songs in i realized - hory sheet, half the damn crowd is singing along! on just about every song! so that explains the huge crowd. these guys must be on college radio a lot or somethin (shows what i know). anyways, really dug the set. i'll never understand it, tho - why is it that kids will come out in droves for some out-of-town air-played band, when equally talented local bands play to near-empty rooms on a routine basis? hmmpf.


p.s. soory for the extra-crappy pics