A big thanks to everyone who came out last night to support the show! It was a great time, through and through. Excellent performances, loud and crystal-clear sound, and lots of good friends.
Rabid Rabbit kicked off the night with a powerhouse doom set, and the talk of the night was about how strong and focused they continue to feel with the addition of Dan on guitar. Amazing stuff! But as I told Arman, when they began their "Suicide Song" (AKA, their cover of "Gloomy Sunday"), I got a little teary not being up there.
Neil Jendon was up next and the massive low-end belching out of his synth set-up literally caused one of the giant speaker towers to vibrate off of its table/stand, and somehow, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it sailing through the air and I managed to grab its handle before it hit the ground. He straddled a very interesting line between unsettling, powerful noise and nearly minimal techno, in a bizarre way. Like the throb-throb I mentioned in the Cities In Flight" CD write-up. And what a great ending/outro!
We (Anatomy of Habit) were up next and we tried a new way of starting "Torch," by entering the stage one man at a time, which seemed to add a nice layering effect to the song. We did a pretty stretched-out version of it, before shifting gears and playing a very "bright" (? - maybe not lyrically) version of "After The Water." I believe that we all felt really good about our set and from the sounds of the recording that I made, we seemed to have a good night... It certainly felt great while it was going down.
Wolf Eyes were left to play a truly dynamic, slow-building set, that moved from those classic dark basement creeper moments to full-blown hard, rubbery beats with Nate's full on screams. Of the many times that I have seen them live, this was probably the most varied and multi-dimensional set that I can think of... I don't think I want to wait another year to see them again, but this certainly made the wait worthwhile. It was a monster!
Thanks to Whitney and Robert at the Viaduct Theater for hosting us, and major thanks to Shauna for such kick-ass live sound all night!
After loading the gear back in, we had late night take-away tacos and burritos - from San Juan, of course - enjoyed backyard-style until the mosquitoes proved to be tougher than we were. The Wolves fled the throne room early, heading back home to Michigan as we speak...
