Quote of the Night: From the opener... "Let's fight to make this world safer for all of us."
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
The Gun Outfit - Fell Types -- Black Cat - Apr 30 2013
Fell Types - This area trio is doing the post-punk thing with a touch shoegaze and goth in the male vocals at least. They have the power and a bit too much volume early on which the sound man reigns in just enough. I am in a really foul mood tonight for a variety of reasons which has me thinking... A great band can take me out of that mood and lift me up into some sense of normalcy. A bad band will have me reeling and leaving the room. But a good band like this (and with the appropriate style) will grab me and guide me along the murky path I am on for a 30-minute jaunt through the thick jungles of guitar, bass, and drums. There may be an end to this path some time soon.
The Gun Outfit - This twin-guitar quartet is from Olympia, Washington. Oh, there are so many analogies or jokes I could make about that, but I'll just leave it alone and focus on the music. They begin with some fine grinding rock music with rock steady drumming and some pop hookery in there, not completely unlike the Wipers, which a certain other Olympia band used to follow. But back to the Gun Outfit... they continue rolling out songs with some rather significant style twists within their steady inviting sound. I am hearing a Wooden Shijps style psyche drone at times and then some slower material that invokes thoughts of Jessie Sykes or Bardo Pond (finally a non-Pacific NW reference). The sound is excellent and when the songs work, this band is a real pleasure to drift off with. They got just a little too loose jam oriented late in the set which had me doing a bit of clock watching. The Tuesday night turnout was a bit smaller than I would have liked to see, but the dozen or two that were here did appreciate these sounds. I hope they push themselves in the writing department because the highlights are well worth returning for.
Quote of the Night: From the opener... "Let's fight to make this world safer for all of us."
Quote of the Night: From the opener... "Let's fight to make this world safer for all of us."
You mention that there was a small crowd for this show. Are small crowds becoming more common? Last month, the Black Cat was less than half-full for Chelsea Light Moving, though Thurston Moore (billed as Thurston Moore) sold it out a little over a year earlier. Last Wednesday, there were maybe 15 paying customers at DC9 for Empty Mansions, and maybe a couple dozen at Beats Monday for Wax Idols. I hope this is an unrepresentative sample and not a trend, but a second opinion would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteGreat question. It seems to me to go in streaks, but that could be a false conclusion due to limited data like you say. Only the bookers know for sure, and even they make mistakes at times (not as often as I would). I thought things had been trending up during the early part of this year and maybe even late last. Velvet Lounge was strong 5 years ago, was tailing badly, and has done well recently. BUT, that still depends on the shows you go to. Even something like this one, which was publicized at web sites much bigger than mine, I was a bit surprised. I don't predict young bands as well as I do as the veterans (and the seniors), but I have kind of given up on predictions. But... if I spread out all the shows I have seen over the years, I would say my surprises have been on the side of more than expected over less than expected in the last year or more.
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