Greetings! It was a bit on the lighter side for shows this week, but it’s quality over quantity as it kicked off with one of my favorite bands EVER! I never know what to write to expand these intros, so let’s head on in and take a look at this weeks action *cues frame wipe*
8/31/16 - MELVINS // Helms Alee
I’d been looking forward to this show for a while! The Melvins fucking rule, and anytime they play Ottobar it’s always incredible. I posted up close to the front and shortly after getting there, opening band Helms Alee took the stage. The 3-piece sludge outfit slammed together into the first song and we were off, the PA system literally smacking the crowd in the face as the band threw down! I was really impressed with drummer Hozoji Margullis who moved through the set with some awesome tom-heavy grooves and genuinely seemed to be having fun on stage. It was a killer opening set! I’ve seen the Melvins five or six times now and even if their studio albums can feel hit or miss, they are consistently one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, and seeing them in such a small space like The Ottobar makes it that much better. The crowd squeezed in tight and ran the gamut of X’ed up 19 year olds seeing the band for the first time, to old grizzled punk vets out to catch their peers yet again. Red Kross bassist Steve McDonald was holding down the low-end for this show, and his over-the-top facial expressions and stage antics were entertaining as hell. After about 5 songs the crowd couldn’t hold it in anymore and a mosh pit began to slowly expand outward for the rest of the show. The night ended with Helms Alee joining the band on stage to play Night Goat which caused the entire floor to seemingly explode into a mass of drunken pushing and screams. It was time to depart, and as fun as the show was it was less fun trying to locate our senile Uber driver in torrential downpour, but we finally flagged him down and got out of there.
9/2/16 - Sac Au Lait
As I pulled up to Joe’s on Friday I got the text “no sound guy tonight.” Still I popped in to grab food and booze, ran the monitor returns, coached the band through line checks, and managed the mix once they began to play. Cool gypsy jazz, but I left early to hang with some friends since I wasn’t on the clock.
9/3/16 - Okay Recordings Saturday Showcase - Mark Whiskey // Brian Kelm // Cara White // Ryan Teter // Bryan Dunaway
Saturday was a round robin style showcase of some of my favorite local songwriters. Quirky acoustic punker Bryan Dunaway, Appalachian roots guru Cara White, pop-centric/ hip hop MC Ryan “Big Tete” Teter, Americana twang-smith Brian Kelm, and western rockabilly expert Mark Whiskey all joined us Downsquares keeping the night as diverse as it was entertaining. At some point in the night there was these 2 drunk idiots that made loud and hilarious fools of themselves before basically being escorted away by the strong recommendation of their friends. It was more humorous than disruptive. Pizza, Chi-town gangsters, drunken sing-a-longs, Turbo Llama Lovers, and so much more filled the evening with an incredible energy, and I hope to see all of these great players back down at Joe’s again real soon!
That’s it for this week. Thanks for stopping by and checking out the happenings of a fader-monkey in Baltimore. As always I’ll be back again next week with tons more as these cool September days keep rolling. Until then!
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