Saturday dawned early for the Emerald City, sunny and with a hint of heat in the air. I arrived a little late due to traffic and the insane amount of tourists that crammed the streets on one of the prettiest days we will have all year, guaranteed – and the perfect day for CHBP to keep kicking some serious indie music butt. I arrived to find out that Blonde Redhead had cancelled for the evening, so the main stage schedule was skewed for the rest of the day, throwing a wrench in my plans- I had already missed the Redwood Plan and was more than a tad disappointed.
Even though I was late, I headed straight to the Vera stage to get set up and ready for Cold Lake. I had heard about them in passing and never had a chance to see them live. Needless to say, I was superbly stoked. Turns out, I wouldn’t be disappointed either. Frontman Cory Brewer came out and screeched breathtakingly into the mic to match the sharp, stinging guitar riffs. It’s almost hard to believe that that screaming actually makes it way out of the mouth of said singer, due to his rather small stature and the glasses that sit atop his nose. Even with that small distraction, it was great to see them actually rock the crowd for the first time all weekend on one of the all ages stages. It’s always a good thing to see a crowd full of younger teens rockin’ out to some seriously epic punk rock.
After this, I grabbed a cup of coffee and relaxed a bit, wandering around for the first time that afternoon to see if anything was going on. At one point, fellow local rocktographer Alex Crick snagged me and drug me to the Cafe Vita/KEXP Bean Room, a room full of bags of Cafe Vita coffee beans and the home of local indie station KEXP for the weekend for their live coverage of CHBP. !!! (pronounced chk chk chk) was just setting up and the energy was almost palpable in the room. Despite the mixed smells of dust, sweat, and warm roasted coffee beans, the place was absolutely packed. Soon !!! was done warming up, the KEXP dj announced them, and the best act of CHBP 2010 started playing.
In the small intimate venue that is the Bean Room, you can see some of the best acts playing for a crowd of less than 200 people- something that rarely happens. With !!!, the experience was almost religious. Their newest change in lineup, singer Shannon Funchess, came out to sing along with Nic Offer, banging a tambourine whilst spitting out some of the best singing in town. On the other hand, Offer danced around, interacting with the crowd famously: dancing with them, grinding on them, climbing on the bags of bean strewn around, and seriously had some fun with the small show. Backed by a great saxophone, some seriously low drum and bass, and some sick synth, the band throws out a truely dance-funk sound with a touch of dub thrown in. By far the best show of the festival, and one of the best I have ever seen EVER, I was 
hooked. Their show at the Main Stage that night was now a must see. After some seriously awesome tunage, I headed back to the Main Stage a little more excited for the night to come.
Avi Buffalo was up next at the Main Stage. The recent Sub Pop acquisition means that they are now being held to an almost impossible standard. That aside, the youngsters are doing pretty darn well for themselves, playing their own indie rock sound, complete with a bit of twang. Sounding mildly unfinished, they hold a ton of potential, something I am sure Sub Pop saw in them. Even though they are incredibly cool now, I am stoked to see what they come up with for the next few years. See them now while they are still green and wet behind the ears before they start selling out stadium shows. I was ready for a change of pace and was thinking metal.
Metal and I have a long, convoluted history. I was raised on metal gods, old 80’s hair bands, and newer, more technically complex metal. I love it all. When I head that Black Breath was playing CHBP, I was a little skeptical of their appearance at a mostly indie fest. Good god, was I glad I was wrong. Coming out and playing one of the best metal performances I have seen, the show was pure metal awesomeness. The roar of the singer, the chugging guitar riffs, ground-trembling bass, and their incredibly dec
ent drummer means this Seattle quartet definitely have a place amongst our local hardcore scene- and I think they just found a new place in my heart. I stayed for awhile until I had to bail to go figure out the main stage schedule.
Next up was Blitzen Trapper, a band that I was expecting to be a little too country for my tastes. I was pleasantly surprised with their lovely and mellow sound, and as the Stranger suggested beforehand, they did remind me quite a bit of the Eagles- but I have to admit that they do put their own little twist on the general sound. To top it off, their melodic and complex lyrics were a great breather for many from the general mainstage feel.
Once again, !!! turned the masses into one giant dance party. Nic once again hopped off the stage and mingled with the crowd along the barrier, the band danced their butts off, and frankly, I think everyone involved had a good time. You can tell that he was the kid that was made fun of in high school for his dancing, but up on stage, it is totally awesome. He worked the photographers wonderfully, including counting down in my face, giving me a chance to grab a few special shots. Shannon was dancing with her tambourine and the rest of the band was having a blast as well. Almost as good as the show in the Bean Room, but on a much larger scale. I walked my way down the Pike Street corridor to the sound of them laying down some seriously amazing beats. I danced my way down the street, past a band of naked cyclists (regulars to the Seattle area for events), past a group of people playing some seriously sick double dutch, and made my way home to grab some sleep and head back for a seriously busy day on Sunday.
Day 3 review up soon! In the mean time, check out the rest of the photos from Day 2 here! And the recap of Day 1 here!
