Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Tuesday Night Recap: The Muslims, The Vultures, Swedish Models

What a night last night. Not only was last night the perfect representation of the great talent that is coming up in San Diego, but the community that is supporting the music was impressive, too. I was happy to hang out with fellow bloggers Natalie of "It's Too Sunny Out Here" and Mario of "SanDiegoish" (thanks for the beers), Troy Johnson of CityBeat, and even Kyle from SignOnSanDiego's Street was there. I saw the Loud Is Relative guys, too, but didn't have a chance to say hi. And of course, since it was their show, the Skull Kontrol guys were there. This doesn't even cover all the other local musicians that were there for support (Grand Ole Party, The Modlins, Vinyl Radio, etc.) and other people help driving the success of the music scene, like the San Diego House Party Girls and Owen from FM 94/9. And oh yeah, did I mention the three bands that kicked our little rock n' rollin asses? It is a good time to be in San Diego, for sure.

Since there were so many bloggers there, you'll get plenty of accounts of the show last night and tons of pictures were taken (bloggers are the new papparazzi) but here's what I got...

Swedish Models kicked off the evening and I think for only their second show, really impressed the crowd. They hop around the stage a lot...McNally on drums while Dustin's on keys, then Dustin on Guitar while Bern is on keys, then Dustin on drums when McNally is on keys. After their set, there were grumblings about the sound mix but to me, any issues were noticeable to the ear of musicians only and I thought they were great. I did notice the bass was a little louder, but I loved it because Mark is a strong bassist and is the backbone that drives the music.

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The Vultures were second onstage and I realized I'd seen them at the Tower bar before. I like their gritty sound and the singer was funny, telling the crowd after the second song, "That was probably the best song of our set, so if you needed to go outside and smoke, you can go ahead now." Self-deprication is sexy. What isn't sexy, however, is worrying that you're going to get spit on. The vocalist was launching spit all over the stage, never aiming at the crowd but after X-Fest, I didn't trust it so I hung back. Kinda gross, but rock n roll ain't always pretty.

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The drummer had a broken foot, but it didn't stop him from going all out durin the set.


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All in all, The Vultures get a thumbs up from me. And did anyone notice Adrien Grenier sporting a Vultures t-shirt on the last episode of Entourage? You can't really tell in this picture, but go back OnDemand and check it out. Maybe I'll go home and take a picture of my tv.

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Anyway, the night closed out with local buzz band The Muslims. The lights in the Casbah have new blue and orange covers and the band was really low lit in just blue, so being the brat I am, I asked Dusty to man the lights and turn them up a notch. He also got the disco lights going when appropriate so I was having fun paying attention to his light coordination. The band rocked as they always do and I have nothing new to contribute to that conversation...and at this point if I hear another "Velvet Underground" comparison, I'm gonna have to hit someone.

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After the show, people were allowed to linger in the smoking patio for a bit longer than usual, so I hung with my pals until after one and it was time to really leave. We were the last stragglers out of the bar and it was time to put the seal on another great night in San Diego.

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1 comment:

Natalie said...

Oops I just referenced the Velvet Underground comparison. You have my permission to smack me on Thursday.

Now that 1) I've introduced myself to Dusty and 2) I know he mans the lights, he's never going to hear the end of it from me. Poor kid...