Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tuesday Recap: Still Ill & Los Esmiths @ Ken Club

This week has been relatively mellow for me thus far. Kind of taking some time to get my life in order. With work being hectic, I've been cozying up at home. Maybe nesting is a good word for it. My house was feeling like a disaster and I've needed to get it back to comfortable, especially since it looks like work is going to be such that I'll be putting in more time than ever since we can't seem to fill out our marketing team. It also might have to do with my 32nd birthday coming up, like a subconscious attempt to actually act like an adult. On the blog side of things, I had about 400 unread e-mails, tons of promos I haven't been able to listen to, pictures I hadn't organized and events I completely missed because I just don't have the time.

But, I still prioritize 'me time', so when I heard there were going to be two Smiths cover bands at my local haunt, The Ken Club, I made sure to check them out. I arrived at the Ken on Tuesday in the middle of Still Ill's set. The singer's voice is incredibly accurate and the band's covers were really good. I guess I've mostly only ever listened to The Smiths in the privacy of my home or among close friends, so listening to songs that soundtracked my life as far back as junior high seemed a little strange because I was surrounded by strangers who obviously have had their own Smiths moments and in reality, it didn't matter who was playing them. You could close your eyes and be wherever you let the music take you. I especially liked that the band dedicated a song to Jose of the Sweet & Tender Hooligans, arguably the best Smiths cover band around.

Los Esmiths came out from Mexicali, and were equally as impressive, though I did notice that many of the songs they played seemed slowed down a bit. My theory was that this allowed the singer to enunciate the lyrics that are not in his native tongue. Between songs he spoke almost entirely in Spanish to the mostly hispanic crowd, what Joe Escalante of Sweet & Tender Hooligans calls the 'tacobillies'. They were good, but I was told he's a newer frontman for this group. For Smiths fans, these two bands do what they do well and I recommend checking them out when you get the opportunity to do so. I think Still Ill is playing the Beauty Bar next Wednesday.

I did take some pictures but the room was really dark, with two of the stage lights out, so perhaps I'll post later when I'm not lying in bed hoping to get tired enough to fall back asleep.

1 comment:

Itchyfingers said...

Fellow tacobilly here, and I also had a great time at this show! Still Ill will be playing on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at the Beauty Bar. See you there!