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.

Margot & The Nuclear So and Sos, Mike Bloom, Emery Byrd, Casbah, 5.26.08

After a very, very lethargic Monday, I headed down to the Casbah for Anti-Monday League.

Local boys Emery Byrd kicked off the night and sounded ...um, is it okay to say 'delicious' when describing music? It had been too long since I'd seen them play and I was happy to have arrived in time to catch their whole set.



Actually, I really didn't take many pics the whole night because the lighting just wasn't in my favor. Someone put deep blue gels over the two center lights that used to be yellow and they were kept low for most of the night.

LA's Mike Bloom was on after Emery Byrd and was having massive issues with the sound. The monitors were kicking in and out randomly. That was only slightly annoying to the crowd but really annoying to Mike. Eventually Jake fixed it, but I was getting impatient already because the set change between Emery Byrd and Mike Bloom was really long...over half an hour just for a dude with a guitar. First song into Mike and I was about ready to leave for the patio, but I stuck it out and actually ended up really enjoying his set...vocals brought to mind Jeff Buckley at times. I was up front most of the set until the very end and moved toward the bar where I realized that if you weren't within 6 feet of the stage, all you could hear was the noisy crowd chatting. Actually, chatting is an understatement...people were carrying on quite loudly. It really, really can be grating and I'm sure it was frustrating for Mike as well, so he's forgiven for the minor whining.



Finally Margot & The Nuclear So and Sos hit the stage. It was already after 11:30. I twittered that perhaps I didn't pick the right night to not drink. I was getting antsy. But they finally came onstage, all 8 of them and their 300 instruments and gave the crowd a great show. Jake was on sound, as he has been for their whole tour, but it was funny because the band would be playing in complete darkness before he remembered to up the lights again, too, something someone else usually does on the tour, so like I said, minimal pictures.

The band sounded amazing and dynamic. They mostly played material I was familiar with but threw in a couple new songs from their "maybe new album, that may be released in the fall, maybe by Sony". The crowd dug on their set, too, particularly the one girl singing on the top of her lungs to most of the songs who was standing 6 inches from my ear. Could've done without that, but the show was excellent and I was thoroughly entertained once again by the percussionist dancing, banging things, and make Blue Steele faces at the crowd.

Here are the pics:






After the set I didn't much feel like hanging around, so I bolted to get my head in check for the short work week. I'm hoping I'll have time to post about the National later tonight before the Swervedriver show, but I have to admit- I just got Troy Johnson's book Family Outing and I could barely put it down last night. I'm already half way through, so this weekend expect a review of that, too. Till then, have a great day.