Show Review & Photos: Rob Zombie @ WaMu Theater

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Rob Zombie co-headlined with Slayer on Saturday night for the Hell on Earth Tour in a show that made me fear hell not one bit – with these guys it seems like it just might be okay. Still hot, but okay. I’m not sure how Rob Zombie and his band, John 5, Ginger Fish and the inestimable Piggy D. play every night on that stage. Standing in the pit taking pictures was a melting experience (those flames – real, real flames) and I wasn’t even wearing a cape as Piggy D. and Rob Zombie were wearing. Even if you didn’t like Rob Zombie’s music (but I do, I do!) you’d get a kick out of the entire stage set up. In addition to real flames there was a giant screen with B movie footage – including the original Planet of the Apes – if you like female nudity then there was plenty of topless females dancing and frolicking on the screen as well. You like amazing goth-rock-end of the world outfits? Then Rob Zombie and company are your guys. Piggy D., in a cape, pelts and shiny iron mask to begin with appeared to be what my imagination might come up with if you wanted to know what a real Viking would look like. Zombie, in what should have been mismatched attire somehow brought it all together – leather button trench coat? Check. Half-striped pants? Check. Armor chest coverings. Check.

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Show Review & Photos: Brent Amaker and the Rodeo @ the Tractor Tavern

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Brent Amaker and the Rodeo plus Bunny Monroe messed up the Tractor Tavern really nice and dirty for a Spark & Shine (that’s their label) showcase. I also like to think they played extra well for me, because I extended my birthday celebrations last month to include seeing five cowboys play some sexy, perverse country music with marvelous babe Bunny Monroe. The band played new songs “Captain of the Ship,” “Tiger Inside,” and “Tequila Cerveza” (also now known as my new favorite song). They played a great combination of previously released material too, including “Break My Broken Heart,” “Sissy New Age Cowboy,” “Blood Dripping Blood,” “Doomed,” “Man in Charge,” and a stirring cover of Kraftwerk’s “Pocket Calculator.” The Tractor is an especially good venue for the band – it’s got great visibility and of course a country vibe to it. It also has great sound so you can hear the lush vocals, and the crispness of both lyrics and music. Germany gets plenty of Rodeo shows – and Denmark gets one – starting in September.


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Show Review & Photos: Ty Segall, The Audacity & Idle Times @ the Crocodile

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“Ty always draws a sausage fest!”– Matt Schmalfeld of The Audacity, post-show.

Well, to be fair and balanced, that was not totally in evidence at Seattle’s Crocodile on July 29th – there were definitely lots of girls in the audience. But, sure, the vibe was a little testosterone-y, but in a good way. An evening spent with garage rockers Ty Segall, The Audacity, and Idle Times is a bit like hanging out with a pack of giddy and hyper junior high school boys, each one urging the others to do something really cool and/or stupid, because cool and stupid is really fun. We were all one big collective 14-year-old boy at the Croc, smashing around and dancing to 3-minute, 3-chord odes to post-pubertal fabulousness.


Ty Segall– photos by Marianne Spellman


Ty Segall – photos by Dagmar

Seattle’s own Idle Times opened with a harder, heavier take on the garage. The trio, fronted by Brian Standeford on guitar and vocals, also brings in touches of the noisy regalia of pre-‘80s metal – just touches, mind you – with longer, winding guitar solos reminiscent of mid-‘60s psychedelia. Standeford was an expressive and charismatic frontman and Idle Times easily gained some new fans.


The Audacity – photo by Dagmar

Sunny strip-mall-and-Disney-soaked Orange County, California was represented gloriously by Audacity, a group of shaggy pals who are not long out of high school themselves, and who definitely retain the teenage punk spirit. Their complete youthy adorableness aside, most of the band members have been playing together since elementary school wherever and whenever they could, so their experience shows in a set that built confidently with just the right amount of swagger and grime, and ended with joyous tumult and smiles from all. I was further mesmerized by guitarist/vocalist Mat Schmalfeld’s glowingly-bright blond hair; it’s kind of a “Surfer Cobain” look he’s got there.


Idle Times – photo by Marianne Spellman

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