Scandal At The Parkade

Apparently I’ve missed a whole bunch of other shows coming up, so I’ll just add another post on it.
Mr. David Lee of Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers I just found out will be playing a show, so I’m excited to catch that. I saw Th’ Shack Shakers maybe six years ago and it was an amazing show. I have no idea what he’s going to be playing though, his myspace page is lacking in any music.

I’ve been debating the Mates Of State show. I’ve missed them the last few times they’ve come around and this time is on the pricier side. The opening act, Judgement Day might be interesting, but it’s nothing I’m that impressed with. Considering the amount of other things I need to be working on, this one is on the fence. Though, the new songs I’m hearing are pretty enjoyable. We’ll see.

There’s rumors going around that the Rx Bandits are playing, but there’s no official word on the matter. Portugal, The Man and Maps & Atlases would be opening the show. I’m almost certain it’s not going to happen. The Bandits’s straying from ska has caused me to lose some interest in the band. Not so much in their own sound which I still enjoy, but in the fact that they don’t seem to be a part of the ska community anymore. They’re playing with some experimental/indie whatever you want to call them, and last time they came around, they were touring with two hip-hop acts that at best just didn’t fit with them at all. It looks to me like they did some shift and the show isn’t happening. I don’t really mind, especially having seen them probably five or six times now.

Zolof is coming nearby too, it seems. I’m not that thrilled about it, but I might go because Robert will probably want to.

Psyopus is also having a show in a couple weeks where they’ll be filming video for a music video or dvd or something. Jason explained the whole thing to me, but I don’t really remember at this point. It’s free. August 20th. Be there.

I recently saw Daughters play with Russian Circles. Most of my friends were more excited about Russian Circles, but Daughters was my main draw. This was my first time seeing them, and I had heard a few things about their shows, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. People had told me that at least the singer gets pretty sloshed during the show, and then he strips down, sometimes all the way. I wasn’t really thrilled to be looking at this, I turned down Dinosaur Jr. (I believe) some time ago because those guys are not pleasant to look at.
Before I get to the reviews, Daughters has a shirt that they’re selling that I think I’d like to get a copy of. It’s got a nice Yoshi-dinosaur font that says “Daughters” and several bats flying around it that are actually vaginas. In case you are like at least one of my friends who can’t make out the vaginas, I drew this guide:

They didn’t have the shirt at the show, or any small shirts for that matter, according to a note next to the pricing. On top of that, there was no vinyl. I picked up a copy of Daughters’s Live At CBGB’s. I’m a sucker for anything limited edition and when I heard that there’s only 1000 copies or some such, I couldn’t pass it up. The next thing I heard was that “they were really drunk when they recorded it.”
I ran into Jason, the drummer from Psyopus there, an old friend of mine, and we were chatting in front of the merch table. One of the guys from Daughters rooting around some boxes and pulled out something that looked like a 7″ record, and it turned out to be Daughters’s s/t EP. The girl, who has a British accent despite the band hailing from Rhode Island, placed it on the table with a note that said “$4 – Last one ever!” Jason called dibs on it, but I was closer, so I turned and asked her for it. Jason looked like he was about to flip out, and then I explained to him and the merch girl that I was just ensuring that he’d be able to grab it before any of the few fans near us eyeing it could snipe it. Jason was happy, and said he’d let me digitize a copy for him, so I’d be able to give it a listen. I need to wait right now before I set up my system, since I’ve still got a ton of stuff in disarray from a move.
The Merch girl also pulled out another vinyl, this time a 12″ and offered it to us while we were still talking with her about the record we now had reserved. I took it, a black vinyl version of Hell Songs. After I got it and I realized how little I had in terms of cash, I felt like perhaps I should’ve capped it at the one CD, especially since it was just the black vinyl. At least I got it at a decent price.

The show was quite entertaining, they played for quite a bit, and the singer didn’t get all the way naked, he stripped down to his shorts and stayed there. They played several new songs, which were all quite enjoyable, and some songs almost felt like they were just waiting for the dance remix to come out. It was pretty intense overall, and they closed with highlight of the set “Recorded In A Pyramid” which is also probably my favorite track on Hell Songs.
Russian Circles came on next. I really wasn’t that familiar with the material, and instrumental type stuff I can be very particular about, but I stuck around because my friend Liz hyped them up, and was also there. They did remind of me of a more metal Pelican. It was a nice set though, and they did seem to make decent efforts to keep it interesting to look at. They did have a wind-swept look, and had a strobe light on too.
On top of all of this, I ran into Neil, the guitarist from Bensin, who was looking to start up a little side project, so I need to give him a call about that, I was supposed to last week. Whoops. More details on that as they come to me.

Still 12 days until X-Files!