8/23/10 - Delta Mirror, Grassfight, Phantom Caste

At Haileys.

Phantom Caste (Ft Worth) - Pretty standard but solid echo-y rock. Nice falsetto on lead. Overly phallic stand for keyboard. Haircut 100 dude on guitar. Note to guitar player - sipping a drink on stage (complete with lime wedge still on the side of the glass), THROUGH A STRAW? Not likely to inspire the females in the audience. Just sayin, from one highball-drinkin' guy to another. Ur welcome. Grassfight (Dallas) - seen them a few times now, and I always enjoy it, but for some reason, the over-use of the bullhorn got on my nerves this night. Delta Mirror (LA) - lots of recorded electro backing tracks, and very earnest vocals. Was mesmerized by the bass player, who i swear is the Hobbit dude from that episode of The Office (you know, Ryan's friend in NYC), who was wearing a stocking cap in the middle of august. Pretty sure he has special powers. Wasn't overly captivated by the muzak, however. Well, Haircut 100 dug it, anyways.

2/13/10 - The Heligoats, American Strange, Grassfight, Another Year Colder, John Lefler

...at The Lounge. Gonna try and keep this one short - got some catching up to do.

'Twas very depressing to see The Bone and my beloved Club Dada shuttered, but it was encouraging to see all the new restaurants and bars that have opened recently in Deep Ellum. Also took a trip to Kettle Art between sets, and was happy to see it packed. Anyways, back to the show...

John Lefler, of Dashboard Confessional fame, was up first. Solo w/ acoustic guitar/keys. Decent, but nothing overly compelling. Another Year Colder was up next. Ugh. Totally generic alt rock. Headed for the door when they covered Roxanne about 3-4 songs in. Kill me.

Grassfight was next. Loved it. Dark, anthemic, beautiful. Right up my alley. Highly recommended.

American Strange was next. Nope - not for me. Really don't care for the over-vibrato'd vocals the lead was throwin' out.

The Heligoats (Washington) headlined. Pure. Effing. Genius. Quirky, catchy, smart, funny. Loved it. Kept hearing early solo Paul Simon, but also heard some Johnny Cash-type arrangements (not the voice, tho I loved his voice). Lead entertained between songs with some very interesting stories, including one about his "nervous tic" that involves sliding around inside AC ducts covered in vegetable oil in order to eavesdrop on party conversations. (OK, so you had to be there). Anyways, really enjoyed the set. Fantastic stuff.

short rant: k, look - to the moron who's running the show - when you've got 5 bands to get in before 2AM, you've got to start before 9:30, and you've got to watch the clock, goddammit. Don't let some spare band go on and on (I'll let you guess which one i mean), so the goddam headliner goes on after 1:30, and has their fucking set cut short cuz you gotta shut down at 2. My gawd, that pissed me off - The Heligoats come all the way from Washington only to have their genius set cut short cuz some stupid-ass can't fucking tell time and do some simple math. unbelievable.

11/8/08 - Frightened Rabbit, Spinto Band, Grassfight

headed to denton saturday night, mainly to catch Frightened Rabbit. very glad i did.

first up was Denton's own Grassfight. not bad. kinda gloomy art rock. very joy-division/interpol-ish. lead vocalist had a hard time keeping on-pitch sometimes. wouldn't mind catching them again.next up was the Spinto Band, from delaware. large band, many people on stage. very high-energy pop. a little too happy for my taste, maybe. don't remember a whole lot, but i know it didn't especially captivate me. Frightened Rabbit headlined, and these guys blew me away. I'd heard a couple songs from them on a podcast and really liked it, but I completely fell in love with them saturday night. these guys are officially my New Favorite Band. what an awesome set - beautiful, soaring, emotional, uplifting. the kind of music that makes your heart sing. absolutely love the lead's voice. was amazed to hear most of the crowd singing along to every song. absolutely outstanding set. check them out - you will thank me.