Photos: The Box Social

I headed down to the Mars Bar last night to take in the Young Sportsmen, The Box Social and Speaker Speaker. It was, in fact, my second night in a row at Mars Bar, as I played there the night before with The Scheme.

So, before I get to last night, let me talk about Friday night. Model Photographer was added to the bill late, after The Colors Bars had to drop out. Well, it wasn't a let down, because they did a great set of catchy tunes. Someone said they were reminded of Sebadoh. I could see the comparison. But, they were tighter, more in tune and more controlled than Sebadoh. What popped into my head was a more-likable Lemonheads. In any case, they were good.

Now, onto last night. If there's one thing that the whole world should know about the Mars Bar is it's a small-ish space with bad acoustics. They have a lot of good shows there and of that I'm appreciative. But, facts is facts, and the sound is rarely great there. So, the concept of going to see the Young Sportsmen, who are probably the loudest powerpop band in town, there was initially off-putting. But, to my surprise, the Sportsmen sounded balanced and in no way harsh. Wesley told me they dialed their amps back a bit. But, it sounded great. In fact, I could hear them 20,000 times better than that last show at the Comet (which perhaps isn't a rining endorsement of the sound system at the Comet... but still!).

But, The Box Social then proceeds to load some ludicrously large gear onto the stage. I don't blame them, as they're on tour and possibly playing many venues that merit a full SVT bass rig and a Vox-powered Marshall cabinet guitar and such. But, in this setting it turns out that it was they, not the Young Sportsmen, who were too loud for the room.

That's not to say they were bad... just loud. Remember that old KISS saying, "if it's too loud, you're too old"? Well, I'm too old, apparently.

I did enjoy their set quite a bit. I'm not overly familiar with their music, other than what's on their myspace page. But, they did that material justice. They also did a cover of a Talking Heads tune, which always gets someone points from my book.

Here are some photos I snapped of them. Another thing that the Mars Bar shares with The Comet is that there is very little lighting to work with for photos, and frankly my camera just sucks with bad lighting. So, bear with me. If anyone out there wants to buy me a nice digital SLR, it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts.


The Box Social


The Box Social


The Box Social

Model Photographer tonight at Mars Bar

Alex Rose is a busy man. Last I checked he was playing with Heather Duby, Minus the Bear and Model Photographer. The latter band is his own songwriting. But, due to the hectic schedules of the former, the latter hasn't been playing much lately.

But, that changes tonight as they are playing at the Mars Bar with The Scheme and M Bison (full disclosure: I play bass in The Scheme).

Model Photographer made a record that was intended to be a regularly released disc. But, as Alex got more and more busy with Minus the Bear, they decided to release it for free on the web. I posted about it about a month ago. But, here are some links to my favorite tracks.

Before You Drive Away

Secret Club

Fully downloable album by Model Photographer

This is completely old news, since they posted a blog about it on their myspace page back in January. But, it is somehow only now, a full three months later, landing on my radar. So, perhaps I'm not the only one who didn't know that you can download the full album by Model Photographer for free simply by going to their website.

Here's what they say on the site:

In late 2006, Model Photographer finished recording an album they had been working on for over a year. After spending far too many days, weeks and months obsessing about the less glamorous "business" side of releasing an album, fate intervened and the band became a side project by default when the members began to spend more time focusing on their other bands. At approximately the same time, the idea of doing the standard "PROMOTE! PROMOTE! SELL! SELL!" method of getting the word out about this album became increasingly repulsive and exhausting to think about. All they really wanted was for you to hear it. So without further ado and with little regard for repercussions, the band would like to offer you their first album, in it's entirety, free of charge. Consider it an experiment. Feel free to participate.

So, on one hand we should lament that Model Photographer is totally on the back burner. On the other hand, rejoyce that you're getting some great music for free... legally free!

Alex Rose/Model Photographer mp3

As I mentioned earlier, there's a cool show tomorrow (Tuesday) at Chop Suey featuring Dressy Bessy and Model Photographer. The latter is a Seattle band vis-a-vis Albuquerque, NM expat Alex Rose, who moved here in 2004.

While I do not know whether or not this can be song can be attributed to Model Photographer or directly to Alex himself (who also plays with Heather Duby and is the touring keyboardist for Minus The Bear), I absolutely love "Before You Drive Away."