From the Jul 8 – Jul 14, 2004 issue

Music

Up & Coming

THURSDAY 7/8


C AVERAGE, MIGAS, MICO DE NOCHE
(Sunset) Okay, don't say I didn't warn you--get ready for some heaviness that just might blow the windows out of the Sunset. C Average is a bone-shaking duo from Olympia, and so is Austin's Migas, a detonation of hard rock made by two men who may or may not have mustaches. The ear-blasting sound of Mico de Noche (also from Austin although one of its members lives in Seattle) has been described as "freak metal" and it's heavy on guitar and drums (fuck the bass). Judging from their album Hits-Mrs. , I can tell you they have lots of screaming vocals and that on occasion, they also feature songs that one could consider a little mathy, too. I'm just sayin'. KATHLEEN WILSON

SKATEAPALOOZA 2004: IS SHE WEIRD IS SHE WHITE, HARD CORE UFO'S, TOM HEINL, THE KARMA POLICE, DJ TACO SUPREME
(Crocodile) I thought that KEXP's John Richards was the world's biggest Pixies fan, but Bobby Bare Jr. may have him beat. While preparing to tour with his band, the Young Criminals' Starvation League, Bare made time for a week's worth of rehearsals with his Pixies cover band, Is She Weird, Is She White. This show is essentially a one-off (they did one other show in their Nashville hometown), but their collective enthusiasm was strong enough to compel drummer Doni Schroader to take a break from his new role in ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and fly into town just for the occasion. Gigantic, indeed. HANNAH LEVIN

FRIDAY 7/9


BOBBY BARE JR., TON HEINL, GUESTS
(Neumo's) See preview, page 35.

EDDIE SPAGHETTI & THE SAUCE
(Sunset) See Drunk by Noon, page 53.

THE LISTENING STATION, FAREWELL ADDISON, THE FRONT, MORTIMER, TRUCE
(Studio Seven) Farewell Addison currently hold the title of Seattle's cutest band. But they're not even from Seattle, they're from Mt. Vernon. We'll forgive them for that, though, because the four boys who make up Farewell Addison are quite cute. And their music is cute as well--sweet-sounding indie rock. Singer Jonathan Warman, who has a whole Harry Potter/Conor Oberst lovechild look to him, engages the crowd with his boyish charms, but also does a little magic with his guitar and Rhodes keyboard. The band can get mellow in a Death Cab way, glittery and full in a Jealous Sound way, and good in a good way. They're young(ish), so as you might expect, the lyrics are a little typical, but as they grow into their own, they just might be a (cute) force to reckon with. MEGAN SELING

ALAN WRIGHT'S MEMORIAL PARTY W/THE EARACHES, MORE
(Lobo) For the friends and fans of Alan Wright, this event is a celebration of the life of the Earaches drummer/manager and local writer. A proper "rock 'n' roll memorial" has been promised here tonight, with Wright's close buddies filling in on Earaches songs, and other acts signed on to play here as well. JENNIFER MAERZ

THE DEAD SCIENCE, THE PLANET THE, THE CARIBBEAN, JOHN TSUNAM & WHIMBLY, THE SLIDE RULE
(CoCA) Portland trio The Planet The give prog rock a proper smack on the ass, crafting keyboard-centric songs that do a spastic dance between art and math rock and outrageous pop. With its odd timings and odder sense of play, the band features frontman Charlie Salas of Panther fame, and they're truly a spectacle to behold live. JENNIFER MAERZ

SATURDAY 7/10


I SUNK YOUR BATTLESHIP 2004: THE FITNESS, INFOMATIK, DJ JOHNNY MAYDAY, GUESTS
(Spirit of Seattle/Pier 55) See Stranger Suggests, page 25, and Live Wire, page 49.

FINN BROTHERS
(Moore) See preview, page 39.

DOC MARTIN, PETER CHRISTIANSEN, WESLEY HOLMES
(Chop Suey) See Data Breaker, page 61.

MARMALADE, PIECE, STINGSHARK, DJ WHEELZ, MISS JEVIOUS, DjML, DIEM, SHAPESHIFTER, SCOTT, FAUXFAUX
(Pacific Science Center) For those who've never been to Burning Man, the Labor Day Nevada desert party isn't just a bunch of stinking hippies. Okay, it's a lot of stinking hippies, but that's not all a week down there has to offer--there's more crazy art, crazy drugs, and crazy people than ever come together anywhere else, and there's something pretty fucking cool about that. Tonight is a taste of Burning Man as some of its Seattle fans throw a Space Ball at the Pacific Science Center complete with bands, science exhibits, DJs, sci-fi costumes, and a laser show. It's a little pricey (between $20 and $37 a person) because all money goes to help a group called Flight to Mars build its camp, but there's more info at www.flight2mars.com. JENNIFER MAERZ

HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE, THE ABODOX, GUESTS
(Sunset) There are moments on San Francisco quintet Hammers of Misfortune's albums that are so huge and majestic, you have to double check and make sure you're not listening to some stadium-packing metal superstars from a parallel reality circa 1979. We're not talking indie-friendly irony à la the Fucking Champs or lame fantasy-metal like Stratovarius or something--this band is the real deal. Their new album, The August Engine (tUMULt), combines the heaviest aspects of Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, and Queen with a punk-bred attitude, unexpected songwriting turns, and the unusual co-lead vocals of baritone crooner Mike Scalzi and Janis Tanaka (who has since left the band to play with Pink and Fireball Ministry). It's like nothing else out there in the metal (under)world these days. Hammers leader John Cobbett has since replaced the multitalented Tanaka with two new members who are making their first tour with the band this time out. WILL YORK

PEDRO THE LION, JOHN VANDERSLICE
(Showbox) I wouldn't miss my top-of-their-game Northwestern heroes for all the bunnies at Green Lake. First, John Vanderslice: Last January's Cellar Door is a heritage quilt of an album, stylistically patchworking first-person familial memoirs against harrowing parabolic tales from the dark side. This is the 'Slice at his masterful best: "They Won't Let Me Run," a wrenching account of a young man's estrangement from his prison-plagued relatives, reads like Salinger. And "Up Above the Sea" is Vanderslice's Coleridge dilemma, only instead of the classic symbolism of the albatross, a paranoid John has a shotgun aimed at the voyeuristic songbird outside his window. "Can't figure out if he brings me luck," he sings, "or if he's trying to tear me down." In addition to boasting the most touching bum-out narratives since his 2001 release Time Travel Is Lonely, Vanderslice's new material is stunningly varied, seamlessly weaving chamber pop notes with gothy synths, and it'll be K-I-L-L-E-R live. Pedro the Lion will undoubtedly visit material from this year's pop-perfect Achilles Heel; on Dave Bazan's ballsy, career-affirming hit "Bands with Managers," he asserts that "bands with 15 passengers/are rolling over/but I trust T. William Walsh/and I'm not afraid to die." One of my favorite songwriters ever? You betcha. JOAN HILLER

MS LED, BEAUTIFUL ENGINES, RACETRACK
(Cafe Venus) Racetrack began as a Griffin & Sabine-esque correspondence between a boy and girl separated by college campuses. They met online and would record during breaks, yielding the perfectly delightful Distance EP. Now that school's out, however, Racetrack is a proper band, busily fulfilling the Bellingham legacy of using sweet pop modes to express powerful human urges. Lest you mistake their smart melodic/poetic sensibility with a failure to rock, however, do yourself a favor and see them live. Frontwoman Meghan Kessinger may be no bigger than a sprite, but she embodies a genuine rock 'n' roll spirit that will eventually destroy worlds. (The rhythm section is excellent, too.) Racetrack is in the studio right now (literally, as I write) busting out their debut full-length with the ubiquitous Chris Walla at the helm. See them now, before you have to pretend you saw them when. SEAN NELSON

THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES, MURDER BY DEATH, PARIS TEXAS, COMMUNIQUÉ
(Graceland) Giving Modest Mouse and Minus the Bear some competition for which band can come up with the longest album names, Oxeneers/The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Goes Home is the title of the forthcoming release from These Arms Are Snakes. Set to come out in September on Jade Tree, Oxeneers is a wild ride, with lots of distorted keyboards and samples, craploads of shredding guitar and heavy bass, and breakneck-speed drumming. Steve Snere is always a charismatic singer live, and on this latest album he shows a range that moves from quick-paced, angry sarcasm to screaming rage. It's a fucking great sophomore effort. KATHLEEN WILSON See also Some Candy Talking, page 78.

BEATLES COVER NIGHT: THE CAPILLARIES, ASAHI, SOME BY SEA, THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS, GUESTS
(Capitol Hill Arts Center) KEXP/KMTT DJ Matt Nichols is turning 30 today (though he still looks like a teenager), and so has enlisted many of the bands he admires most in the city--bands he name checks and champions at the slightest opportunity with indefatigable airplay--to play songs by the greatest band of all time, indeed the most important art project of the 20th century (FACT!), the Beatles. As we all know, it takes serious stones to cover John, Paul, George, and Ringo, so it should be fascinating to see which tunes these Seattle stalwarts choose to assay. And Nichols is an important civic resource, so it should be at least fun to give him some birthday licks. SEAN NELSON

SUNDAY 7/11


THE BRIEFS, THE SPITS, SCHOOLYARD HEROES, THE DISKORDS
(Vera Project) See preview, page 37.

THEE SHAMS, INVISIBLE EYES
(Sunset) Unlike that other Cincinnati frat rock combo who kicked out "the fat guy" 'cause he was bad for their image, Thee Shams have retained their big boss man, singer/guitarist Zach Gabbard. His gravelly vox and catalog of sludged-out Pebbles riffs keeps these guys going despite their generally generic garage sound. Even before the whole garage thing became as played out as that Jet song, the Cincy scene was populated with this kind of unimaginative retreading. But palling around with the White Stripes and Little Steven will buoy you in the indie lake for a while. Though thankfully avoiding any kitschy "look," Thee Shams never supplanted that with over-the-top energy or songwriting tweaks. So they go down fine like pizza and Coke, but you'll get lethargic and chubby with just that. Not that there's anything wrong with being chubby. ERIC DAVIDSON

MONDAY 7/12


THE GOURDS, eszter balint
(Tractor) See Drunk by Noon, page 53.

TUESDAY 7/13


BRAID, RECOVER, MONEEN, LIMBECK
(Graceland) See preview, page 41.

THE WALKMEN, the cops (formerly hello from waveland
(Neumo's) See Stranger Suggests, page 25.

WEDNESDAY 7/14


PATTERSON HOOD, CARY HUDSON
(Tractor) See preview, page 35.

SONIC YOUTH, WOLF EYES
(Showbox) See Live Wire, page 49, and CD Reviews, page 47.

THE PEELS, THE CHARMING SNAKES, THE PYRAMIDS, DJs PACO, BRIAN EVERETT, LADY KERRIN B
(Chop Suey) When the Peels played Chop Suey last year--before moving onward to San Francisco, SXSW, and a Capitol Records recording contract--they exuded star power. I was impressed by frontwoman Robyn Miller's gawky yet captivating stage presence, as well as the band's retro-Blondie meets raucous garage-rock bravado. Seattle's Charming Snakes likewise nod to new wave nostalgia while maintaining a melodic grit firmly rooted in the present tense. Wear your low-heeled, colorful pumps and off-the-shoulder top and you'll fit in, for either era. DANA BOS

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