The second of two shows I was able to check out in London back in September (check photos from the first show) was the great Pittsburgh band, The Modey Lemon. If you have never seen them live, you must do it and get your ass rocked off.
A few months ago I was lucky enough to get to take a trip out to London for work and actually had some spare time in the evenings. I met up with Doug Cowie, review extraordinaire, for a couple shows that week at London’s Barfly. The first show featured a line up of three UK bands (Colour, Pennines, and This Town Needs Guns and also a great group from Denmark (Mimas). The place was absolutely packed and got even more crowded as the show went on so photo positioning was not the greatest, but I did my best.
Colour
Colour were super energetic – especially the bass player. I was on his side of the stage so most of the photos included his bouncing around and musical antics.
Mimas
Mimas really might have stolen the night. They were ridiculously great and had a lot of pedals!
This Town Needs Guns
The guys in This Town Needs Guns have ridiculous chops. They played and moved around too fast to get a decent photo, especially with the large, sweaty crowd, but if you have the chance, check them out.
31Knots were the second of three bands performing at Seattle’s Paradox on December 2, 2006. The other two bands performing that night were the opener Evangelicals and headliners Menomena. The night overall was great and 31Knots seriously tore it up despite some drum monitor issues.
Vocalist/Guitarist Joe Haege often stumbled around the stage (and crowd) apparently drunk on the music—the performance was held at an all ages venue attached to a church so it definitely wasn’t alcohol. Towards the end of the set Haege changed on stage into a more uniform-ish outfit before heading into the crowd with the mic stand for the closing songs.
Following The Slats at the October 13th show at the Sunset Tavern in Seattle was Thee Emergency. Although they’re from Seattle, I wasn’t familiar with them and if you aren’t familiar with the group, let me give you some advice, check this band out NOW!
They have a few tracks posted on their website and on their MySpace Page. My favorites Revolution 1. If you have the chance, you must see them perform live. They give so much energy it’s ridiculous and just a great experience. Their album Can You Dig It? was released this past June on Blue Disguise Records.
The only non-Seattle group performing at the KEXP sponsored show at the Sunset Tavern, Minneapolis’s The Slats put on a show that certainly gained the respect of the Seattle crowd. In case you can’t tell from the photos, they really get into their performance!
For a sample of The Slats, check out “Teena” (MP3) from their album Pick It Up as well as the other MP3s on The Slats site. The tracks “Ironman” and “King of Hawaii” from their newest album Boom Patrol are posted on The Slats’s MySpace page for your listening pleasure.
