Photos: IPO Day 2

Whew... I'm too old to rock this much. My dog woke me up at 8am (in fact, that's "sleeping in" for him), and after two five-hour nights at the Sunset, I'm pooped! But, it's worth it, because last night was another good rockin' affair. Here are some photos and random commentary.

Smile Brigade started the night off. The lighting was different tonight than last night. So, I struggled all evening to get good shots. This one isn't particular good. But, it made me laugh, because I'm pretty sure their singer was flipping me the bird here. :)



Emilio Banda (formerly of Static Radio) came on second with a solid set of acoustic pop. He's got a strong voice and good songs.



The Broadcast Debut was on third. Although I loved their last recording, this was my first chance to see them live. I thought they had the best pre-Amateur Lovers set of the night. Last night I realized that one really can't take a good shot of a drummer at the Sunset. Sorry drummers! But, at least one of these includes the drummer!





Matt Southworth of the Capillaries followed The Broadcast Debut. I thought the full band was going to be playing. But, turns out it was just Matt, which is still pretty dang good. This photo represents what he would look like seven days after watching that video tape in The Ring movies.



Andy Werth was on next, and he and his band crammed onto the Sunset's stage. It was a bit less crowded this time, because they only brought one keyboard. The audience really dug their set. You know how they say that Germans love David Hasselhoff, well the ladies love Andy Werth. See evidence below.







Sixth on the bill was Twink The Wonder Kid, who grabbed everyone by the shoulders, shook us really hard and yelled "suck it" in our faces. Sounds harsh? Well, it was all in good fun. After the initial shock wore off, the crowd was digging what they were burying.





The Snakebites came on next, and a funny thing happened during their set. The Sunset started getting more crowded with people who came only to see the Amateur Lovers reunion. And, let me tell you, some of those folks just didn't know how to process The Snakebites. It was amusing to watch.



Closing out the evening was the aforementioned Amateur Lovers reunion. They were very warmly welcomed with a full Sunset Tavern (see audience shot below), and they did a great set. It was bouncy and poppy and included a medley about trees, as well as a debate as to whether two songs constitutes a medley. It looked like they were having a great time, and they hinted that they may do more shows. I'll dig for more info.

The Posies friday & Jon Auer video

The Posies (really Jon and Ken) are doing an acoustic show at the Triple Door this Friday, May 11, and Matt Southworth from the Capillaries is opening the show.

Via the Dear 23 email list, I just received a link to some live acoustic footage of Jon in New York just a few nights ago. Thanks to dreamingviola for the vid.

Powerpop Night photos

I snapped a bunch of photos last night during the Powerpop Night at The Comet. I forgot how hard it is to take good photos with my camera there. In most venues I get better shots without the flash, but since The Comet has no stage lights, it's too dark without it. So, none of these are stellar. But, not horrible, either.

The night went quite well, overall. I think The Comet folks were somewhat befuddled by the running order of the night, which went band-solo-band-solo-band. For some reason this seemed to confuse them and resulted in longer change-overs than necessary.

They also wouldn't let us start until 10pm instead of the pre-determined 9:30pm, which meant the Young Sportsmen were going on as 12:30 instead of midnight. Sadly, the crowd of close to 100 had dwindled by that time. Their loss, however, as the Sportsmen rocked it out like they were in an arena instead of a sparsely populated club.

My band The Scheme started the night off, and since I was on stage, I didn't get any photos. But, trust me, we were very handsome. :)

Here are some snapshots of and comments on the rest of the bands.

James Hall, from Shake Some Action, came on second and did some nice solo acoustic version of SSA tunes. The songs hold up very well to that kind of stripped down setting, which is a testament to how good they are to begin with. I took a handful of shots of James, and he looks absolutely possessed by some kind of demon in all of them except this one.


James Hall - Shake Some Action

Up next were Ghosts & Liars, about whom I received more comments than any other band on the bill. I think lots of folks were surprised at how good they were. Descriptions of them from other folks to me ranged from "like The Decemberists without the sea chanties" to "like a folk-rock Jellyfish." Great songs, great sound.


Ghosts & Liars - Chris DuBray


Ghosts & Liars

On after G&L was Matt Southworth of The Capillaries. Matt played a lot of new tunes, as well as a Beatles cover, and sounded great. He was also pretty entertaining with funny in-song banter.


Matt Southworth - The Capillaries

Closing out the night were Young Sportsmen. As always, they rocked. As I mentioned earlier, it's to their credit that they played that show with all the heart and performance irrespective of the number of folks left in the house. Once again my friend David and I were trying to find decent comparisons for these guys. We settled on a little bit of Superdrag and a little bit of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can give them, however, is that my wife -- who normally doesn't like live music unless she knows all the band's songs -- enjoyed their set. That might not seem like much. But, she's a tough critic. So, that bodes well for their appeal to people who "like music" but are not necessarily music fans. Based on this, I say they have a hit record within two years.


Young Sportsmen - Richard and Wesley


Young Sportsmen


Young Sportsmen -- providing a very big ending to a fun night of music

Matt Southworth on Radio 8 Ball

I've talked about Radio 8 Ball here on the blog in the past. But, they're worth mentioning again, as Matt Southworth, main dude from The Capillaries is appearing as their guest on Tuesday, November 28th from 6pm until 8pm. The show is on KAOS FM, which is 89.3 out of Olympia. Or, you can listen live via their website, as well.