Thanks to everyone who came out to support the show last night! I know that the weather was a bit of a deterrent, as was it being the day after Valentine's Day, and all, but we still had a pretty respectable crowd on hand. Thanks also to Rabid Rabbit for asking us to join them, particularly as we had unfortunately had to back out of a proposed show last Friday at Reggie's. Hopefully we can make up for that cancellation in the near future.
My apologies for not getting the webcast information posted... I still do not have the details... but the entire show was broadcast/streamed last night -- and I will try to find out if it was archived. I know at least one person who was on their computer ("I watch you guys like a stalker") and witnessed possibly the most un-metal song intro ever -- as we opened with the debut of "After The Water -- and started it with everyone in the band clapping -- the audience joining in, too -- before launching into the song itself. The new piece went really well for us, and we were all pretty excited to finally reveal this new creation. I will be curious to hear what people thought of it... it is a bit more "indie"... for the first half, at least, before the heaviness kicks in. We followed with an extended version of "Torch" that ended with me singing/screaming into the empty soda fountain cannister that Blake drums on, adding to the echo on my voice... and Greg building an epic backwards loop that apparently ran for at least five minutes after we had all finally left the stage.
It was also great to sing with Rabid Rabbit on their closing number, "Gloomy Sunday," AKA "Suicide Song." I really enjoyed being part of the recording process and getting to sing it live with them was a treat. Bruce Lamont was also a part of the song, adding sax and deeply chanted vocals. It could not have gone more smoothly and effortlessly. That also had to be the most residents of Garfield Park to ever stand on the Empty Bottle stage at one time (5). Sorry Bruce, you need to move further west. No, not really. No one should.
The overall curating of the night needs a mention... Andrea and Rabid Rabbit put an excellent line-up together... from Let's Pet, who combined Neu-flavored Krautrock with a mix of dense shoegazer and(maybe) New Order-esque elements... lot of synths and keyborards mixed with chiming guitars... in a sense, pretty true cold wave music, in fact. And Reds and Blue played beautiful organ-driven proggy-psych-pop... at times calling to mind a less-motoric Stereolab, possibly??? Hazy and very pretty stuff. So, yeah, overall, a night of dark, romantic, and atmospheric music... at times heavy, at times not...
Also of note, last night Rabid Rabbit released a beautifully packaged, limited edition cassingle of the studio version of "Gloomy Sunday," and it includes a truly mind-warping backwards b-side. Guest players include Bruce Lamont, Dave Rempis, Michael Zerang, and me. The cassette is in a Norelco case with a jcard, and is housed in a hand-adorned, heavyweight tar-paper outer slipcase, maintaining the style of Rabid Rabbit's two vinyl releases. If anyone wants to acquire a copy, I would suggest contacting the group through their MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/rabidrabbitlives
Finally, thanks to everyone at the Empty Bottle, for helping to make it such an enjoyable night!
Oh, and thanks to Andre and Terence from Locrian, who surprised me with two big boxes of assembled "Territories" LPs that I had to drag home (ha!)... Holy fuck, it is great to see it done! Release announcement to follow, once the three other labels get their boxes...
