*Click the main picture to see the full album.
“Put on your helmets, bitches!” Fort Collins Natives Elway & Friends Play 3 Kings
Fort Collin’s invaded Denver on Friday, Dec 1st, well okay, not necessarily an invasion, but they definitely sent some hard rocking ambassadors.
Arliss Nancy and Sour Boy Bitter Girl opened for Elway, who all brought they’re respective, yet intermingled genres to 3 Kings Tavern. One band, a little country, another a little Conor Oberst, and the last a little more punk, and in that order too.
The schizophrenic sounding line-up all complimented each other and the venue well. 3 Kings Tavern, a venue that jostles between super awesome and extremely frightening, somehow manages to get a different genre, and thus new crowd every night of the week. One night you could be enjoying a ska-punk show, skanking and chugging 40’s with strangers and the next night you could be seeing “The Show is The Rainbow” (Lincoln, Nebraska) and watching a coked-out, half-naked version of Jack Black running around in circles strangling himself with a microphone chord while spouting off some paranoid nonsense.
And yeah, tonight would merely add to that eclectic mix.
Live Review: Priory @ Hi Dive 11/20
Technical difficulties lead to a brutally brilliant performance by Priory.
Now I’m not saying this because my comped tickets were in fact not comped, or because the time it took to correct the technical difficulties came dangerously close to the amount of time actually spent playing by the Oregon based band or even because the laser lights during the show may have caused permanent retina damage, but seeing Priory live brought the fucking house down. And for all 12-ish of us that stuck around (bartender, Priory, four weird kids sitting on the ground by the Contra machine, sound guy and assumed guy doing coke in the back NOT included) Priory was well worth the ticket price.
The quartet, choosing to travel by bus, have been on heavy rotation on my iPod ever since I heard their first track off their self-titled album. Consisting of bass, guitar, drums and a killer mix of keyboard, glockenspiel and whatever else you can beat the shit out of, Priory can easily fit under the umbrella term of “Indie, but with a sub-genre labeled “Awesomeness.” I have yet to see a band handle technical difficulties with such ease. Having to stop several times midway through a song, giving the audience only a mere taste of there self-titled album, and finally having to take a 10 minute break to put the problem to rest. The guys of Priory did not just bounce back from what could have been a set ending malfunction and a long night at the bar, but exceeded expectations by keeping the audience involved and making them part of the show. I can’t even say that they “recovered” because the guitar and drum instrumentals kept the toes-a-tappin’.
Live Review: The Morning Clouds @ 3 Kings 9/8/2011
Took me forever to actually post the pictures from The Morning Clouds first show. Opening along side the excellent arrangement of Josh Wambeke and his backing band were Shady Elders and Tube Top Crush who at the last minute changed their name but I cant remember what to so I’m leaving it as Tube Top Crush. Great sets by all 3 bands especially Tube Top Crush who carried the Bikini Kill vibe rather well for what looked like a band just starting out. Shady Elders were a little less my style sans a few songs but good god their drummer was fucking glorious! Keep that shit up sir!
The Morning Clouds though for the short time I was there were performed pretty much what you would expect from a band who formed out of the heart and mind of one man Josh Wambeke who wrote and performed all the songs on the EP. I think after a few more shows which from what I hear they have plenty of them coming up, they will meld a little more and become comfortable enough to have a little more fun with the low fi, hook laden songs Josh has composed. Cant wait to hear more from them and keep that shit up Josh Denver has it’s eye on you now.
Live Review: Cults @ Larimer Lounge 8/1/2011
I’m gonna make this short and sweet because even trying to remember the show makes me break out in a sweat. This was by far THE hottest show I have ever been to. Hot like in temperature not hot as in “Yo boy this new joint being blazing hot, where be my crew nukka”. I have been watching a lot of Boondocks and it’s weighing heavily on my vocabulary.
But good fucking god Larimer, can you please install some box fans or hire some hobo’s with huge leaves to fan the crowd off, having a packed show and damn near 100 degree weather at night does not make for a comfortable standing room only experience. You will notice in the pictures people just dripping of sweat, but I digress, on to the music. “Writer” was a a pretty nifty little 2 piece and energetic.
A great opener to what everyone knew was gonna be a great show. After their little foray into a Death from Above sound with a folksiness attitude ended it took an hour for the next band “Guards” to appear on the stage…
Live Review: Hindershot @ 3 Kings 7/8/2011
The Hindershot show was heck of a time. I have reviewed their sound in a previous post but they do put on a high energy affair with a very communal type of song style that forces the crowd to get involved and enjoy the hell out of it. Force Publique was the stand out band though and I will be seeing them again definitely. Achille Lauro was just ehh and may require another visit to their live show. The Show is the Rainbow is the lone long haired mad man below. Even though I really didn’t dig his groovy songs, the guy was just a pure ball of white hot light energy. Dancing on tables, bumping into hipsters all the while his laptop of techno beats belted out his siren song that although no one seemed quite into, still remained entertaining. I think his core audience was not the people in that crowd that night but give him some time and you might see him blow up in the Chip Tunes type of fan fare.
Live Review: The Blow @ Larimer Lounge
The picture above although fucking brilliant does not even begin to tell you the mess that was The Blow on Tuesday night at Larimer Lounge. I was not able to see the opening acts so I can confirm if they were any good but who they opened for was a little worse for wear. She got on stage to talk for 10 minutes in between the 5 songs she did sing. The songs were performed rather well but you could tell something was off. In-between songs she raddled on about shoes & preached about other random shit. Her frame had been washed down to the point that I felt the need to buy her a burrito but I obstained. She had lost quite a bit of weight & gone were the days of the healthy looking awkwardly cute girl everyone had a crush on. She was obviously gacked up. Was she fucked up while on stage? Hard to say because for the few songs she did sing they were done well, but she tried to treat a few songs like impromptu photo shoots, which is how you get the amazing picture up above. Even had I had my camera this night I still don’t think I would have posted pictures of her because I honestly felt bad for how haggard she appeared. What the hell happened here? Was it finally one of those boys breaking her heart that she finally just said, “Fuck Boys…..HEROIN!” or maybe “METH!”. Again it’s hard to say, I don’t know if the rest of the crowd caught on to this but it was blatantly obvious to me & my friend Lucas. But I had never seen someone perform under the influence of heavy narcotics so I went with it & was kind of glad when it was over with. The closest I can get to describing the feeling while trying to dance to her songs is liken it to pulling teeth. You’re numb, mouth agape & it just feels like someone is tugging something precious out of you. I wish her luck & hopefully she will get better & make some more rad ass music soon, in the meantime my burrito offer still stands.
Photo Credit-Rachel Smith
Live Review: White Denim @ Larimer Lounge 6/2
Everything was working against White Denim on June 2nd. People were turning away from the show as Larimer Lounge had posted the cover charge at $15 instead of the previously thought of $12 and with only 2 bands people were failing to see the logic. I was beginning to question it as well, at 9:30 the show had still not started and the crowd was scarce at best, like city tumble weeds of hipster culture just passing through, people came in asked if that was the real cover and quickly turned away. Not looking good at all.
Me and my friend Keith decided to check the open mic at the Meadowlark and were able to circumvent the cover by telling them we were waiting for the White Denim show to start and would only be a few minutes. The Meadowlark was packed for an open mic, some unremarkable music plaid in the background as some guy wailed into a microphone over a synthesizer. There was also the lead singer of Snake Rattle Rattle Snake too. I was able to swallow the need to talk to her Keith and I grabbed a few brass monkeys and considered staying since this was obviously where people wanted to be and not at the White Denim show.
Live Review: Snake Rattle Rattle Snake @ Hi Dive 4/12
Let me first start off by apologizing for the utter lack of quality photography that you usually see on this dog and pony show of a music site. I’m gonna blame this weak ass set on the 2 bands that opened for Snake Rattle Rattle Snake, they played regurgitated California surf rock shit. I don’t even remember the names of the bands who opened, but if I did I would forget them within a few hours anyway. I found myself going to the bar just to get away from their fans and gain some peace found only in a glass of Pabst. This was my first time seeing SRRS live and I again was pretty impressed like with most of the local acts going on right now. The few songs they do have available are promising if only the build up in each one was cut a little short but when they do hit their stride they can easily get lodged in your head where each one buries itself and puts up shop.
Reminded me of a less distorted Kills but remained danceable and as demonstrated with the crowd that was corralled into the small venue. They have a few members so the small stage was pretty crowded and didn’t allow for allot of energy to be conveyed sans some head movement and arms raised but still managed to be fun.
Live Review: David Dondero @ Hi Dive
David Dondero was unknown to me until picking up his album “South of the South” which after one listen through I dismissed in favor of something more familiar. Then while doing whatever the hell it is I do while listening to music, probably looking at porn or staring at girls in sun dresses a random song from “South of the South” would come up and at the end I would hit replay and listen to it again not thinking it was David Dondero but knowing that I really liked the song and was starting to become a fan of something new I found in my record collection. Come to find out that not only do I have a fetish for girls in dresses but I also have a fetish for the David Dondero, words simple yet poetic and put to a basic guitar ring true and belong in summer settings. His music belongs with you on a porch in the middle of July with sun tea brewing and sweat dripping from your brow.
