Sister cities – Reykjavik and Seattle – came together at the Croc on Friday for an evening of music. Nathan Wade, Petur Ben, Jason Dodson, Lay Low, Rachael Flotard, Rusty Willoughby, Sindri Mar Sigfusson, John John Roderick and Mugison played four sets with everyone back on stage for the encore.
The Crocodile had the Henry Clay People as headliners on October 25th. The Los Angeles band’s MySpace profile announced their first national headlining tour – congratulations to the Henry Clay People for now completing this first tour. Alex Crick has brought back some mighty fine photos of the band from their Seattle date:
the Henry Clay People
Back in May of this year I saw Two Door Cinema Club play a show at Nectar in Fremont. I write that and it sounds so usual, yet I assure you there was nothing usual about it. The Northern Irish band blew my music mind. They got on that stage and proceeded to play a glamorous, feisty, perfectly tasty set of pop rock. I will admit that I am wired to give a Celtic nations band more of a chance than anything, but this band needed no additional lures to get me into their music. Go check them out tonight, Saturday, November 6th at Neumos – and buy their wonderful debut CD, Tourist History – you’d need to be made of stone not to like these guys.
Two Door Cinema Club
Also definitely worth catching is openers, Los Angeles’ Funeral Party, whose roaring opening performance for New Politics I caught at El Corazon. A larger stage such as Neumos’ will let this young band, and the young Two Door Cinema Club, fly. Get there early, get there early.
Funeral Party – photo by Dagmar
Get tix here – show is all ages.
Gorillaz brought their Escape to Plastic Beach World to the KeyArena on Tuesday night. The British band, led by former Blur singer Damon Albarn, now heads to the UK before moving on to the European leg of the tour. Plastic Beach, their third CD, is out now and appropriately taking over world music charts. Gorillaz also brought N*E*R*D, back from a small music breather, along for the trip. Enjoy some extra fine photos from Alex Crick:
Gorillaz
N*E*R*D – all photos by Alex Crick
I got the opportunity to shoot one of my favorite alternative rock bands of all time, Stone Temple Pilots. STP (as fans call them) had broken up a few years ago and the band members decided to join other rock projects. Lead singer Scott Weiland became the front man for rock super group Velvet Revolver and the DeLeo brothers formed Army of Anyone with vocalist Richard Patrick of Filter. The band reformed in 2008 and headlined Bumbershoot of that year. Now with a new album that’s blazing on the charts, the band made a stop this week at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
I grew up as a teen in the 90s and STP was one of the bands that got me hooked into the Alternative/Grunge rock scene in Seattle. So getting the opportunity to be able to shoot one of the bands that influenced me was a dream come true. The band didn’t disappoint either, they know how to put on a show and keep the fans wanting more. Scott Weiland and company know how to rock and during some parts of the show, the band had an Aerosmith vibe to them. I was really impressed with ShoWare Center and its staff; the venue reminded me a lot of KeyArena and being this is the same venue that the Seattle Thunderbirds play, it brought back memories of going to Supersonics games at the Key.
I was a bit disappointed with the set list as they didn’t play any of their hits such as Big Bang Baby, Sour Girl, or anything off their 5th album Shangri-La Dee Da. But hands down, this had to be my favorite shoot this year. I know it’s a bit premature for me to say that as the year hasn’t ended yet, but getting an opportunity this huge comes only once in a lifetime.
To see more photos of Stone Temple pilots, click here
By Xander “XD” Deccio
Stone Temple Pilots
Crowd Shot