Overdue Recap: The Shys, Army Navy @ Beauty Bar, 11.22.08

From Sight & Sound I went to the Beauty Bar to see Takeover UK, Army Navy, and The Shys. Mostly I was there for Army Navy. I had a great time at the show and the bands all delivered a great night of music. Unfortunately I was inhibition free and by the number of pictures I took (with flash, sad to say), I'm surprised someone didn't kick me in the head, especially the bands. I was having fun and when I have fun I go a little crazy with the camera. I caught only the tail end of Takeover UK and certainly not enough to write about, but I was there for all of Army Navy and The Shys and they definitely kept me smiling ear to ear for the night.





That is sometimes difficult, too, because when I see new-ish bands based on recommendation or press releases, I sometimes only get one or two songs to listen to beforehand, and I prefer being familiar with an entire album so I'm not blindly walking into something, though lately that seems to happen a lot for me and I just have to go with it. I thought Army Navy were great, and I was especially impressed by the guitarist's energy while playing since he had a broken foot and didn't seem to slow him down.



The Shys followed with an equally engaging set. Though I think this was a pose of "Good God, Woman, STOP TAKING PICTURES!"
The rest if you 'keep on reading'


I had the chance to see The Shys at the Beauty Bar once before and it was nice they came back. There are a lot of bands around right now with a similar pop/rock/dance thing going on and these boys do it well.






Slowly but surely I will catch up with all of these way overdue posts. 13 more to go.

Tonight: Army Navy @ Beauty Bar with The Shys

I intended to post this earlier this week. My bad.

Army Navy - "My Thin Sides" (feat. Paul Scheer)


From the press release:

Army Navy has released the music video for their first single "My Thin Sides" off the self-titled debut album. The album of some of the sweetest power pop was produced by Adam Lasus (Yo La Tengo, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). Two songs off the album are featured in the critically acclaimed film "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist." The video directed by cult web-video director Jeremy Konner known for his hilarious Drunk History series, stars comedian Paul Scheer from MTV's "Human Giant" and "Best Week Ever."

After a successful week of performances at CMJ Music Marathon in late October, Army Navy kicked off their first nationwide tour. The tour's final date end this week on November 21st in San Diego.

Army Navy frontman Justin Kennedy moved to Los Angeles from Seattle after co-fronting the band Pinwheel with Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard. While in Los Angeles, Kennedy concentrated on developing his own project that soon found its way into LA's music scene.

Weekend Recap: Friday Night

I hope every one had a good weekend. I could've gone another 2 or 3 days non-stop myself if it weren't for Monday creepin up so quickly.

My weekend started off with a party at Larry's (the original hip hipster) house. Larry lives in a cute little house in Uni Heights and instead of a BBQ, he busted out the outdoor deep fryer and made tons of snacks...taquitos, egg rolls, battered veggies. Gotta love the non-traditional fiesta. The weather, as you well know, was perfect this weekend in San Diego, so it was a great summer kick-off.





From the party, I headed to the Beauty Bar to catch the Shys and Dynamite Walls. I missed Lismore but I got there right before the Shys and per usual, the bar was packed. I'm not really sure why people judge the crowd as a "hipster" crowd. To me it seems like a ton of SDSU Hot Topic/Urban Outfitters clones who only go to the Beauty Bar. Sorry, but sometimes you all look the same. I was really happy to see that the Beauty Bar has marked summer by pulling back the tarp on the patio, so while the stage is still covered, the patio opens to the fresh air, and best of all, all the smokers' smoke doesn't get trapped.

So anyway, the Shys got to playing and were really energetic and had an enthusiastic crowd dancing up front with everyone else sardined into the patio to watch them. At one point, one of the Delta Spirit guys joined them onstage to bang around on the drums while the drummer played which I suppose was apropos because I can see the Shys getting on well with Delta Spirit or The Colour. Their sound is similar though The Shys have more brit-pop tied into their bluesy rock sound.











Later in the evening, Dynamite Walls played. They had their projections going again and it appears their residency has paid off, because they had a good portion of the Beauty Bar crowd crammed on the patio, even those who were probably just there for the post-band dancing. Seeing as I've seen them a ton lately, I'll just say that they're more seasoned every time they play, and Tom becomes a more charismatic frontman with each performance. I'm going to assume that Dynamite Walls will be playing at Street Scene this year and I think they'd be a great addition since they are one of the few bands that really plays a ton of shows for both 21+ and the underage set, so they'd have a good crowd of people from both.



During their set I had to use the restroom but someone clearly had consumed too much and made a fresh mess all over the floor. That was my cue that my time at the BB was over for the evening...rookie drinkers getting overserved is not my scene.

Instead, I headed back to Kensington and finished off my night at home base, the Ken Club. Screamin Yeehaws were wrapping up when I got there, so I just chilled with some friends on the bar side until it was time to call it a night. Not a bad start to a weekend.