On Friday, January 21, you should avoid the Bowling for Soup show at Studio Seven (because Bowling for Soup are currently the worst and most annoying band in America… although opener MC Lars is actually quite funny). Instead, check out Vancouver's Raking Bombs, who are playing Bellevue's Ground Zero with the Fall of Troy, Ancille, and Joules. Raking Bombs are a frantic and fantastic attack of arty and experimental math noise. If you're a fan of Fall of Troy, you're gonna love 'em. The show starts at 7:00 p.m. and costs only five bucks if you bring a canned-food donation (and there's a QFC just a few blocks from GZ, so you have no excuse for not picking up a dollar's worth of soup or beans).
And if you're in the mood for a road trip, go to Olympia for Metalfeist III, happening at the Manium Warehouse (421 Fourth Ave) both Friday and Saturday (Jan 21-22) nights. Shows start at 7:00 p.m., cost eight bucks, and feature stellar lineups each night, including Akimbo, Serpens Aeon, Wormwood, the Abodox, Golgothan Sunrise, 3 Inches of Blood, Book of Black Earth, Blöödhag, Playing Enemy, and Iron Lung.
Finally, congratulations go out to the nine 2005 Sound Off! finalists. Handshakes, the Neons, Paper or Plastic, Aluzjun, the Last Romance, Nameless Danger, the Gruff Mummies, the Paramours, and Squid vs. Shark all made the cut from the slew of entries the Experience Music Project received this year. Now the bands will play three at a time every Saturday night in February, and the winners of each night will advance to the finals at the EMP Saturday, February 26.
And, in completely unrelated news, the band Mclusky broke up. Damn it. MEGAN SELING
