Show Review & Photos: Cerebral Ballzy & Grave Babies @ Neumos

Posted on by

I was the first person to arrive at Neumos last Thursday night for the explosive triple bill featuring Black Lips, Cerebral Ballzy, and Grave Babies. The floor was dark and empty, save for a lone security guy on a bar stool at the back and a few other staffers. The next four people inside were, like me, there to photograph the show. As we staked out our spots at the front of the stage, I was wondering. . . ”Where is everybody? This is going to be one amazing show!”

Within an hour or so, the floor was packed into a mob of joyous punked out pit maniacs. Bodies were flying, beer was spraying, and fists were pumping into the air. I never should have doubted the inevitable. The three bands had commonalities – loud, noisy, with plenty of attitude – but their differences were more pronounced.


Grave Babies – photo by Alex Crick


Cerebral Ballzy – photo by Marianne Spellman


Cerebral Ballzy – photo by Dagmar

Continue reading →

Interview & Show Preview: fun. @ Showbox SoDo Friday, 6/24

Posted on by

fun., a super trio of former band members from The Format, Steel Train and Anathallo, began in 2008 as an inspiration from singer/songwriter Nate Ruess. Ruess moved from Arizona to New York, and contacted musicians Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost. They got to work on album one, Aim and Ignite, an immediately appealing and stirring CD. Since its 2009 release they’ve toured as openers for bands Jack’s Mannequin, Paramore and Weezer. Now they’re back on tour after nearly completing album two (plus releasing a deluxe edition of Aim and Ignite), and on Friday, June 24th they’ll be in Seattle with Panic! At the Disco. I can’t wait! Nate Ruess talked with me last week about movies, musicals and the great vocals in fun..

Is your follow-up to Aim and Ignite completed?

Nate Ruess: Almost finished and hoping to be out in late summer. It’s 90 percent done.

Have you made any changes in sound for this CD?

NR: I think so. Nothing that wasn’t natural as far as us progressing. As a songwriter I always want to look for something different but I never want to force the issue. I want it to be as natural as possible. I think we made some big changes but there’s still a naturalness to who we are.

How was making the video for “Walking the Dog”? It must have taken a long time to do all that painting.

NR: It was horrible. I was in the worst mood I think I’ve ever been in. We had 24 hours to do it and then we had to fly straight to England. It was one of those moments, like touring with bigger bands, when I see them get carted around so much I always feel so bad for them. That was my one moment to be carted around, doing 90 different things. Usually we space things out so that we have a moment to catch our breath. That wasn’t the case and I think I was just in a really bad mood so you can imagine taking 4 hours to paint my entire body.


fun.

Continue reading →

Show Review & Photos: Black Lips @ Neumos

Posted on by

Holy smokes, I lived through Black Lips‘ show. I went into it knowing it would be a wild event, but when Neumos filled up with super fans crawling all over each other, running up onstage, amassing in a bacchanalian orgy – okay you get the picture. The balcony was closed, not because of ticket sales, but I suspect because fans and band members would use that balcony in some frightening way. And the music? Outrageously great, of course: “Bad Kids,” “O Katrina,” “Modern Art,” “Go Out and Get It,” “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” and was I imagining “Noc-a-Homa” in the encore? I think I kind of lost all sense of space and time toward the end of the show. I found what I call the princess spot (that’s a relatively comfortable spot in a crowd, one where I can get a good view and hear the music) midway through the night and got to see the chaos from another view point. That’s where I got the photo of guitarist Ian Saint Pé swooping in and kissing a female fan in the front row. The entire band kept up a demoniac pace, with love given back to the band over and over. See what you missed, or perhaps if you were at the show you might see yourself in some of these shots.

Review by Dagmar


photo by Marianne Spellman


photo by Dagmar


photo by Alex Crick

Continue reading →

Show Review & Photos: Gruff Rhys @ the Tractor

Posted on by

Two weeks ago, patrons at Seattle’s Tractor Tavern were privy to a rare performance by Gruff Rhys, a true mad scientist of modern music. Better known as the frontman for Welsh experimental-pop group Super Furry Animals, Rhys is an accomplished and innovative artist in his own right, and was in Seattle as part of a North American tour to promote his third solo release, Hotel Shampoo.

Rhys is somewhat of a musical surrealist, and with Welsh surf-rock openers Y Niwl soldiering through the entire set to also play as his backing band, unveiled an ever more playful-yet-absurd host of instruments, from a vocoder to electronic drumsticks to demonstrating his corrugated plastic extension, which when applied by velcro to the body of his acoustic guitar, appears to be an electric – a device he says gives him more confidence in his upside-down guitar playing (yes, he is right-handed, but plays left-handed on an upside down right-handed guitar).

Continue reading →