9/13/08 - Airline, Sunward, Homer Hiccolm and the Rocketboys, Here In Arms, King Bucks

braved hurricane ike to head to dada for method entertainment's second annual bbq bash. knuckles and the piledriver came with, and josephus, batman and wifey showed up, too. damn near a real crowd, eh?

pretty big turn-out at dada, i thought, especially since it was only 7:15 when we got there. and as knuckles put it, the place was crawlin.

doorman made my fuckin year by doin a double-take while checkin my ID and sayin, "man there's no way you look that old". ha!

first band we saw was the King Bucks, and they were damn good. really enjoyed their set, which surprised me, being as how i am not a fan of the country. i would say they probably lean closer to the americana side of the country genre (since i actually liked it), but whatever it was, i dug it. really talented group of musicians, great vocalists. loved the multi-part harmonies. don't know how many were covers and how many were originals, but i liked everything i heard.

next up was Here, In Arms, who i've seen once before. some really nice folky, bluesy, alt-country-ish pop.

Homer Hiccolm and the Rocketboys were next, with the Unabomber making a guest appearance, sittin in on lead. really like these guys - very well-done piano/guitar-pop tunes, with a little wall-of-sound thrown in every once in a while. everyone in my crew (except for josephus, who has taste) let out a collective yawn and headed over to zini's after a couple songs, but screw them - whattatheyknow. joe and i really dug it. great set.

at one point, john solis (method entertainment head honcho) bought me, the piledriver, and knuckles a shot (a red-headed slut, if you must know), thereby instantly making him Our Hero.

next up was Sunward, who was easily the highlight of the evening for me (but you coulda guessed that, eh?). one of my earlier descriptions of their sound: dark, lush, wall-of-sound, sometimes moody, anthemic art rock with a splash of psychedelia thrown in. loved the new visuals. loved the radiohead cover (i think i might like it better than the original, actually), love the scorching violin, love the psychedelic guitar and lap-steel. fantastic, high-energy set. shoulda been the headliners, no doubt.

at one point, my man pete blew through at ninety miles an hour, just to make an appearance and secure his indie music cred, i guess.

Airline headlined the evening, since Deadman had to cancel, being as how it was raining and all. i've seen airline a couple times before, and i usually enjoy it. maybe it was because knuckles kept screaming in my ear "this band sucks ass" over and over, but for some reason, i just didn't get into it. they played their usual brand of guitar/piano pop, but i had to agree wif knuckles - after a while, it started to get repetitive. i won't hesitate to catch them again, tho, since i've enjoyed them in the past, but last night, they just didn't connect with me.

managed to prove my "creepy old man" status by rapping to manya of blue petal, tellin her how much i liked their set at the ultraviolet show, which caused her to run screaming from the room (kidding, but she did move a few chairs away from me. great ego-boost, that was).

at some point while airline was playing, some fire-twirlers showed up and started flingin fire on the patio. apparently, they were associated with some sort of art show goin on in the far-bar. also associated with that was holy diver, who somehow showed up on the bill. i really wanted nothin to do with what they were bringin, so we went and checked out the (seemingly way-overpriced, at least to this art novice) art in the far-bar. didn't buy anything, case you were wonderin.

all in all, a pretty good night. so i can say what i said last year - nice job, solis.