Wooden Shjips/Black Whales - Red & the Black - Oct 25 2009

Black Whales - Seattle offers us another indie rock band with a couple guitars, bass, drums and a percussionist/hammond organist. I heard decent songs, the usual indie feel and a few nice individual players. Like many sets, this one went out with a bang with two really strong finishers. The hammond was inaudible for one song and barely heard on a couple more. I was looking forward to more from that and frankly, van space could have been saved. My mind always wanders during these sets as to what, if anything, will catch for a band like this. Could they break with a track on the new Garden State type film? Or will this be the last I see of them.


Wooden Shjips - With the recent demise of Dickie Peterson from Blue Cheer, it is only fitting that these San Francisco psychedelic jammers come to town. I saw them previously outdoors at Terrastock last year and enjoyed it, but something didn't quite work. Tonight, they were in a dark and (too) small club and the psychedelic sound was much more explosive and fun. They are closer to Hawkwind than Blue Cheer and feature a really primitive driving rhythm section, especially with the minimalist drums. Keyboards thicken the mix and the guitarist jams along, singing now and then and going into freak-out fuzzfest solos when the time was right. I now see why the band generally gets favorable press. They have locked into some classic sounds, but do them in their own personal way.

Quote of the day: "Thanks for coming. This is day 17 of our first US tour. It's kind of beating us senseless so thanks" from the opening band.