made a rare friday night appearance at club dada (spring break schedules, you know). fellow local music aficionado tk, whose wifey-poo was nice enough to give him a hall pass (ca-rack that whip!) came along for the ride.
was runnin late due to a wreck on central, so prolly for the first time ever, i was completely sober upon entering dada. was none too happy aboot that, but i didn't want to miss any of sunward's set- i'd liked what i'd heard on myspace.
and holy shit, was i right. i fucking loved this band. right up my alley - dark, lush, wall-of-sound, sometimes moody, anthemic art rock with a splash of psychedelia thrown in. but what really blew me away was the incredible collection of talent on the stage. 5-man band: lead on guitar/violin, chick on keys & back-up vox, 2nd guitar (sometimes lap-steel), bass and drums. let me tell you, what that dude can do with a violin is stunning - it was run thru filters and such, and he could make the sucker sing, shriek, shred, whatever. it was absolutely phenomenal. half the time it didn't even sound like a violin - you'd swear you were hearing an unbelievable electric guitar virtuoso. anyways, the rest of the band was fantastic, too. loved the harmonies from the backup vocalist (who also jumped around in her red sundress to a pleasing effect). also loved the lap-steel - damn, what an awesome sound. didn't think it was possible for that thing to not sound hillbilly, but he managed it. the sound fit perfectly in their songs. bass player was kickin some ass back there, and i don't usually notice the bass player. anyhows, easily one of my favorite performances of the last year. definitely a band i will keep an eye on.
got to talk to doug (lead of sunward) for quite a while after the set, whilst D Numbers was setting up their super-conducting super-collider. really nice guy. bot the cd. seems doug and i have been leading parallel lives the last couple years, what with our, um, life-changing events and all. however, the parallellisms came to a screeching halt when doug described his recent successes regarding the fairer sex. won't go into detail, but let's just say there won't be any calls to $4300 hookers from his loft.
tk nearly got bitch-slapped by the keyboard chick's gal-pal when he called her "keyboard chick".
now THAT would've been funny.
chatted with dave of the felons, who informed me that he has, in fact, quit smoking, which is cool for two reasons - one, he really needs to, to save those beautiful pipes of his, and two, it means he actually reads this pieceofshit blog.
talked to greg from hendrick - warned him about the life-force-sucking ability of the firewater bands he was gonna be playin with on saturday night.
d numbers, from santa fe was up next. incredible number of machines and wires and such on stage. 3-man band, two guitars and drums, plus loops, effects, etc. some really fantastic psychedelic grooves, some absolutely incredible beats, wonderful stuff (i was blitzed by then, which really enhanced the effect (is that so wrong?)).
last up was sydney confirm, and they were teeeerible. maybe i should give them a pass cuz they were worn out by sxsw, or maybe this is just a genre i don't "get", but shee-ut i was not diggin it at all. 3-man: guitar, drum, and keys/vox, tho there didn't seem to be much need for the actual keyboard, since all he did was hit one button and a track would start, and he would then sing (horribly) over it. at one point early on, tk leans over and says "it's napoleon dynamite, with pedro on guitar and uncle rico on drums". ok, i couldn't take them seriously after that. again, i freely admit that this type of stuff just ain't my bag, so mebbe they're the best ever at it (whatever it is), but i just couldn't take it, so we left.
went to zini's, as usual, but my alt-universe girlfriend was nowhere to be found. we ate their pizza anyways.
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