Saturday, October 18, 2008

Overdue Recap: Margot and the Nuclear So And Sos, David Vandervelde, Judgement Day @ Casbah, 10.8.08

Slowly but surely, I'm attempting to catch up on all the posts I need to take care of. On October 6th, I went to Anti-Monday league for Heavy Trash with Jon Spencer and Matt VertaRay, Powersol0, Pant Hoots and it was a great show. Unfortunately the bands opted to have the lights so dark that I didn't even attempt photos. It was a good night, though slightly out of my usual with more of a rockabilly/psychobilly style. I was surprised that the bar was relatively empty, though by the time Heavy Trash played it had filled up some more, but still, I'd like to see more people getting out on weeknights because that's when all the good stuff seems to happen.

The next night I stayed home a wrote a bunch, so nothing to report there, but come Wednesday, I was rearing for a good time and made sure I took a longer than usual nap before heading to the Casbah. I had no idea what the night had in store. Click 'keep on reading' for full post.




As I arrived at the Casbah, Ben was at the door. Smiling. I asked what he was smiling about and he said, "This shit is insane." I entered the venue and the other Ben was behind the bar. "When people ask me what I like, they don't understand why this is the stuff I most enjoy." Judgement Day was onstage and I instantly got what the Bens were talking about. The band was incredible. A three piece from San Francisco, the band consists of a violinist, a cellist, and a drummer. Though the instruments would lend themselves to a classical mellow sound, instead they were face-melting call and answer rock. Anton, the violinist, plays with Bright Eyes, and plays like a man possessed, punctuated by his wild curls.



David Vandervelde played second, and I came to regret only seeing about half his set, but I was busy catching up with Jake who has been on tour with Margot, and lots of other friends that I needed to catch up with. But, for the part that I saw, David was a great musician and had a great presence onstage, though I'm not sure he fit with this bill. (He didn't think he belonged on the bill, either, incidentally, but I'll get to that part in a minute.)



Last up was Margot and The Nuclear So and Sos, and in addition to their regular crowded stage of players, they were joined by 2/3 of Judgement Day. The bar was packed and they killed as they always do. I made a weak attempt to get toward the front but realized it just wasn't gonna happen. I took about 4 bad pics and decided to drop back and just take in the show.



Fortunately someone was kind enough to share their video of Skeleton Key, so now I share Booboobear's video with you.





The show was great and I was buzzing purely off the energy of the room and the people I was with. And then there was the after party. All of the bands were staying with Jake and Malinda and they were kind enough to let me join in on the fun. Malinda made some amazing pasta and salad and everyone sat around having a good time. And they let me take pics.





Everyone I had the chance to talk to was nothing but kind, specifically Anton, Ben and David. As things got later, little by little everyone started to go to sleep, but I ended up staying and got David to play some stuff on video. Unfortunately most of those came out really dark and they're just a bunch of short clips, but you can look at my YouTube videos for those.





David was an incredible person to talk to and we talked about everything...music, touring, writing, his upcoming wedding, 'indie rock', Nashville, San Diego, and feeling like his band doesn't exactly fit with the ones he was touring with. He was kind enough to give me a record and when it was time for me to leave I felt like I'd definitely made a new friend.



Unfortunately after working a few hours, I headed to a scheduled dentist appointment where I found out I had to get an extraction which pretty much wiped me out for the day and caused me to miss out on the good shit that night, but come the weekend, and after getting the can on Friday (ironically, because of my dental appointment), I was ready to get back to letting loose. More posts to come.

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