10/9/08 - Mr. Gnome, Menkena, Les Americains

headed to the cavern to catch Mr. Gnome. knuckles came with, and the les savy fan showed up later, being as how his cradle-robbing activities were on hiatus for the night.

Les Americains were up first. i dono, seemed like some pretty generic pop rock. really failed to keep my interest. next up was Menkena, and they were...{yawn}......low-key ........ dreamy ...{yawn}... down-tempo..... ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
last up was Mr. Gnome, from Cleveland, who i'd heard at club dada back in may. two-piece band (one guitar plus drums, sometimes keys), but with an unbelievable sound. nicole on guitar was amazing, sometimes playing far-out trippy rock, sometimes blistering hard rock (knuckles, the metallica fan, was in heaven). loved her voice - sometimes breathy, sometimes an ear-shattering howl. sam on drums was insane, turning the drum set into an actual instrument, not just a rhythm section. he adding an amazing dimension to the sound, something i don't normally hear from drummers. my only complaint - it seemed like a really short set, but maybe that's because i didn't want it to end. fantastic stuff. don't miss these guys if you have the chance.
oh yeah - did i mention nicole was smokin hot?