5/23/09 - The Octopus Project, This Will Destroy You, Ume

headed to yet another show at the granada, which is quickly becoming my favorite venue (alas, what's happened to you, club dada?)...

i could not believe the crowd at this show - absolutely packed. never seen it so full. maybe because it was all-ages? dono, but it was great to see a full house in dallas for once.

Ume was up first. i've seen these guys a few times now, and i swear they get better every time. they totally brought down the house with their ass-kicking, high-energy, snarling but very catchy brand of guitar rock, with Lauren at her whirling-dervish finest (how the hell does she still manage to play, as she thrashes about like a woman possessed?). truly awesome. probably the highlight of the evening for me.

This Will Destroy You was up next. 5-piece post-rock instrumental band. they definitely have the whole ambient, dark, atmospheric, epic Explosions-in-the-Sky vibe down pat. they are very good at what they do, but to me, all the songs started to sound the same after a while (at one point i actually asked my date, isn't this the first song they played? and i was only half-kidding). i've said it before - if you're gonna make a go of it as an instrumental outfit, you've really gotta have something special, and you've really gotta work hard at mixin' things up to keep it fresh (see below for inspiration...). kudos to the drummer, whose energy was the only thing keepin the crowd awake (kidding!)

The Octopus Project headlined, and they were awesome. what a blast they were to watch - tons of interaction with the crowd, lots of cuttin' up and general goofiness - i loved it, and you could tell they loved what they were doin, too. super-high-energy performance with beautiful theremin solos, very cool electronic beats, all layered with aggressive guitar riffs and keys. and what an extremely talented bunch, too - seemed like everyone played every instrument on the stage at some point. this is the kind of band you watch and say, goddam, i'd give my left nut to be in a band like that - how much fun would that be? don't miss this band if you can help it...

2/26/09 - Ume, Record Hop, League of Fucking Decency

went to a parade of flesh show at the lounge on thursday night, with Knuckles in tow:

The League of Fucking Decency started things off. 4-man band, pretty standard guitar rock, pretty average. two leads traded off vocal duties, neither voice that great. for some reason, i kept thinking of a bunch of 13-year-olds jamming on their first guitars in their parents' garage (and i think that might be what they're goin for, believe it or not). couldn't get that thought out of my head, especially when they stopped down in the middle of a song so all four of them (including the drummer, who stood up) could shout/sing the chorus, which was some sort of rock-n-roll manifesto about rebelling or stickin it to the man or somesuch. i thot that was pretty damn funny. dono if it was supposed to be or not. anywho, i'm not tryin to be mean, i guess i just wasn't that into what they were doin. plus which, the guitar player's permed-out ted nugent hair offended me (kidding!). next up was Record Hop. seen them a number of times, and have been blown away each time. that night, however, i think they fell victim to a poor sound mix - the vocals sounded awfully muddy and muffled. one of my favorite things about RH is Ashley's voice, so to not be able to hear that clearly diminished their performance. not their fault, tho, at all. still dug the set overall. Ume was up last. saw them at Hailey's a while back, which is when Knuckles fell in love (blistering guitar rock + hot female lead = Knuckles In Love). amazing amount of sound coming from only three people, nice strong voice coming from pixie-like lead. i enjoyed the set, tho it's not exactly my kind of thing. Ume was the band Knuckles came for (he and the lead have this "thing", wherein he stands down in front and leers at her, and she pretty much ignores him (they're practically married)). and wouldn't you know it - just like last time, he damn near had to bitch-slap some guy, this time the nugent dude from LoFD, who parked himself right in front of Knuckles and proceeded to fling his rock-n-roll hairdo all around, thus obstructing Knuckles' view. too damn funny. have to say, that was another strike against that band, as they all pseudo-moshed with each other at the front of the stage, distracting the shit out of me, anyways.

show was done at 12:15 - not bad for a school night. wish more promoters would do that during the week (fuck you, cavern, and yer goddamn 1030 start times!)

8/30/08 - Zest of Yore, Ume, Record Hop

made the journey westward to hailey's in denton to catch record hop. managed to drag Knuckles and The Piledriver wif me, cuz i knew they would enjoy the greatness of record hop, plus which, RH and Ume both have hot chick lead singers, and those two are just like that.

also enjoyed the company of a local denton gal, who apparently knows everyone in the denton music scene, being as how they all apparently have hung out at Dan's at one point or another (where she apparently has a chair reserved in her name).

first up was Record Hop. i've seen these guys 3 times now (previous write-up here), and they kick my ass every time. blistering, visceral, & gut-wrenching are terms i've used to describe them. small problem at hailey's - couldn't really hear ashley's vocals very well. still don't understand how the sound guy can't hear that, too, and fix it. knuckles and the piledriver seemed to be offended when ashley and scott turned their backs and jammed for like 5 minutes, but i thot they were kickin ass. great set.

next up was Ume, from austin. very similar in style to record hop - some incredible, high-energy, hard-rockin bluesy stuff. 3-man band - 2 guitars and drummer. awesome vocals (sounded just like ashley to me, and you could actually hear them (maybe the sound guy woke up)), plus some amazing guitar playing from the whirling dervish that was the lead. fantastic set - would definitely like to catch them again. knuckles and the piledriver actually liked them better than RH.

knuckles damn near had to kick some indie-rocker ass when the dude dared to get between him and the hot-chick lead (knuckles was front and center, as he is wont to do when there's a hot chick singin lead). too funny. he also had to dodge Drunken Lame' Boy, whose shirt was so shiny he served as a mobile disco ball as he stumbled around.

last up was Zest of Yore, and they were turrrrrrible. not sure what it was, but dear gawd, we couldn't wait for it to be over. didn't like the vocals, the guitar playin, the musical style, nothin. maybe it was because they were a let-down after two great bands, i dono. i'm not sayin they were bad, just that all three of us didn't care for it. at all. they closed their encore (!) with "purple rain", which just about killed us.