Saturday in Kansas City was quite the conundrum. What show to go to? Lawrence venues were filled with indie rockers for the Scion Fest, bros and hipsters mixed at Vampire Weekend at Starlight, and the edgier rockers checked out Alice and Chains. But not to be overlooked was the line-up at the Record Bar, which was hosting some of the best local acts Kansas City has to offer in celebration of the Record Bar’s 5th anniversary.
The beautiful voice of songwriter Jenny Carr started the night, followed by the Spanglish danceable songs of Making Movies, then Lawrence’s Cowboy Indian Bear showed off their new harmonies with their latest addition of Katlyn Conroy. Finally, headlining the night were local indie gods The Republic Tigers, whom had been absent from the live music scene for nearly a year.
The Tigers have not been idle during their absence. They’ve been busy working on new material, some of which is expected due out on a EP hopefully later this year, and some of which is for a full-length album that the band hopes to release in Spring 2011. They started off their set with one of these new tunes, “Manny Feathers.” They played a few other new ones, including the two (“Whale Fight” and Kingsly”) that they had introduced at some of their prior shows. From what could be seen and heard from the first introduction to this material, is that the Tigers sound hasn’t gone through any drastic changes. There’s still plenty of keys, guitar solos and big drums. But the main change of note is that they have upped the amount of backing vocals being contributed to the songs, which is always a welcome addition.
The Tigers have definitely gained confidence in their overall performance capabilities. “Fight Song” continues to be the Tigers big show stopper with the demanding drum bangs of that song screaming ‘dance to me NOW!’ However, now, some songs that seemed a bit boring live before, came across as livelier and more passionate. Maybe it was the blinding light show (a rarity at this particular venue), an eagerness to play after the long break, the increased confidence or something else, but whatever this new quality is to their performance, it’s fantastic. Let’s hope it is here to stay.
Set List:
Manny Feathers
Golden Sand
Feelin the Future
Made Concrete
The Drums
Merrymake It
Whale Fight
Lonely as I Was
Contortionists
Fight Song
//
Buildings and Mountains
Kingsly
One of Kansas City’s most beloved venues, Record Bar, celebrated 5 years serving the scene this past weekend. They celebrated with a weekend filled with some of the best local and global acts.
After a month-long tour in the U.S., London band Klaxons are set to appear at Filter Magazine’s Culture Collide Festival on Oct. 7 in LA alongside such acts as Tokyo Police Club, Black Lips, White Lies, and Sea Wolf, just to name a few.
Having just released their new album Surfing the Void, Klaxons will be playing one of the final shows of their U.S. tour in Seattle tomorrow at Chop Suey with Baby Monster, then two more shows in California after the Culture Collide Festival at the Echo. For more information on how to get tickets to any of those shows, go to http://www.klaxons.net/
Once they leave the golden state, Klaxons will embark on a long few legs of a European tour starting in the UK and ending with a couple festivals in Australia.
Tour dates:
10/5/10- Chop Suey – Seattle
10/7/10- Great American Music Hall – San Francisco
10/8/10- Filter Magazine Culture Collide Festival – Los Angeles
10/9/10- Troubadour – West Hollywood
10/21/10- Bristol University Anson Rooms – Bristol
11/11/10- Manchester Academy – Manchester
11/12/10- UEA – Norwich
11/13/10- O2 Academy – Bournemouth
11/14/10- Rock City – Nottingham
11/16/10- HMV Forum – London
11/20/10- HMV Institute – Birmingham
11/21/10- Barrowlands – Glasgow
11/22/10- O2 Academy – Leeds
11/23/10- Tripod – Dublin
11/26/10- Astra – Berlin
11/27/10- Amager Bio – Copenhagen
11/29/10- Luxor – Koeln
11/30/10- Melkweg – Amsterdam
12/2/10- Maggazzini Generali – Milan
12/30/10- Falls Festival – Lorne, Melbourne
12/31/10- Falls Festival – Marion Bay, Tasmania
1/3/11- Southbound Festival – Brusselton, Perth
1/6/11- Sunset Sounds Festival – Brisbane
Wednesday morning I got an email re: Seattle press inquiry. It was a notification that my photo pass and ticket would be waiting at will call and that “AF” would be playing at 8:45.
AF? Who was I seeing with the initials “AF?”
Arcade Fire? Wait, what? You see, I requested to shoot Arcade Fire about three weeks ago, on the off chance that I’d get it. But I never heard back so I forgot about trying, and I wasn’t about to spend $40 on a ticket when I’m a poor college student. So when I got the confirmation email, I literally started screaming in my car at the stop light on my way to school.
That night I drove to Seattle for the fourth time in a week to see the Canadian geniuses that they are, and let me tell you, I’m so darned glad I got that confirmation email.
Arcade Fire played at the Key Arena that night, which is the largest indoor venue in the area, and they took full advantage of the ginormous room. With eight people in the band running around the stage and breaking instruments matched with a mesmerizing visual the background reminiscent of old home movies, the show managed to be intimate even with the thousands of people filling the seats.
To begin their awe-inspiring 90-minute set, the band appropriately jumped right into “Ready to Start,” perhaps the best song off their new album The Suburbs, and I could feel the energy from the small circle of the diehard fans right behind me as I maneuvered around my friends in this narrow pit between the stage and crowd barrier. At the end of the second song “Month of May,” I heard some guy behind me scream “MAY IS NOW MY FAVORITE MONTH!” Good for you, dude.
Keeping the energy up, next we got the driving force of “Keep The Car Running” off Neon Bible. Really, you’ll be hard up to find another band from this last decade with a catalogue as impressive as Arcade Fire. The brilliance of the songs along with the fact that the stage was literally filled with the eight musicians in Arcade Fire made it a truly memorable performance. It would be easy to clutter the stage with that many performers, but the Arcade Fire have this fantastic formula for music with all the band members as variables, and it always equals awesome.
A couple of my favourite moments of the night came when Regine Chassagne took the mic during “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),” and “Haiti,” her French/English lament about her birthplace. In fact, at the end of the show, Butler told the audience that a dollar of every ticket went to Haiti relief efforts.
The crowd on the other hand, kind of sucked. As I couldn’t linger right up front the entire time, once I found where my ticket had placed me, I danced at my seat, along with a few other people who were equally as stoked as I was. Seriously, when I started doing this a year ago, I made a “bucket list” if you will, of bands that I wanted to see live and shoot – and Arcade Fire was one of them. But I looked down upon the people inhabiting the floor with their general admission tickets, and a good 70 percent of the people I could see just standing there. It was only during the last few songs that they threw their arms up and rejoiced.
You paid $40 to see this show. Why aren’t you dancing around like a crazy fool? There weren’t even any crowd surfers. There were crowd surfers at the Matt & Kim show I saw the night before at the Showbox – a small club. Why not take advantage of the giant cluster of people and just let loose? I’ve heard criticism from some out-of-towners that Seattle’s pretty chill when it comes to shows – that we stand around with our arms crossed and bob our heads.
Frontman Win Butler said it best last night when he proclaimed, “for being the birthplace of grunge, you guys are pretty fucking polite.”
We don’t want to be polite. It’s an Arcade Fire show. Loosen up, Seattle!
Even though the crowd’s energy was luke warm most of the night, during the encore – “Intervention” and “Wake Up” – I finally felt like I was at an Arcade Fire show even up in the nosebleeds.
Set List
1. Ready to Start
2. Month of May
3. Keep the Car Running
4. Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
5. No Cars Go
6. Haïti
7. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
8. Modern Man
9. Rococo
10. The Suburbs
11. The Suburbs (Continued)
12. Ocean of Noise
13. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
14. We Used to Wait
15. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
16. Rebellion (Lies)
Even though I’m a relatively young person, sometimes I do feel quite old. When I went to go see Matt & Kim on Tuesday, I felt old.
Why?
Well, there was no way I could match the energy of the couple duo, and the constant pushing by the teenagers behind me could not have annoyed me more. It was like we were at a Jay-Z show.
The odd, but intriguing lineup started with one of Seattle’s best hip-hop acts Champagne Champagne. Matt actually proclaimed that Champagne Champagne was his “favorite Seattle band, even more than Nirvana!”
I don’t know if I’d go as far as saying that, but Champagne Champagne are surely one of the best Seattle has to currently offer.
Mixing hip-hop and electro, Champagne Champagne is what Seattle is all about these days, and the sweaters also add to the local vibe. Quite literally, the band shed a total of 5 layers of clothing, and 3 of which were Pearl Dragon’s denim jacket, his sweater, and button-up shirt. Underneath all those layers actually, he was sporting his own band merchandise.
As the trio rhymed their way through an enjoyable setlist, they engaged the crowd with their familiar two-way chant.
“Champagne Champagne!” The guys would shout.
And the crowd would reply wildly, “Champagne Champagne!”
After Champagne Champagne finished their set, the positively unstoppable math rock band Fang Island took the stage, adorned with a plethora of Halloween paraphernalia, even though it was over a month early for the holiday decor.
Fang Island played through most of the songs off their critically-acclaimed debut, but honestly it seemed to drag on, as the crowd was waiting (not-so-patiently) for Matt & Kim. And most of Fang Island’s songs contain little lyrics and were at least 5 minutes long of pure, loud jamming.
Fang Island’s raw energy made for a really good live set, they just didn’t have a lot of range within the songs.
With one more intermission to go, the roadies came out and literally took everything off the stage. All the amps and mics and guitar stands – gone. Instead they wheeled out a platform with Kim Schifino’s drumkit stocked with an arsenal of drum sticks and Matt Johnson’s keyboard and microphone.
With such an easy set-up, Matt & Kim stepped out on stage frantically, both giving rounds of high-fives to people in the front row. Starting off with the ecstatic “I Wanna” off their second album Grand, Matt & Kim put on a fantastic show – one that seriously made Tuesday not seem like a Tuesday.
Matt & Kim’s happiness and energy was infectious, and it was impossible not to smile a long with Kim’s constant megawatt grin.
She was so excited that she was breaking drum sticks at an alarming rate. She beat the symbols so hard that you could see the bits of wood flying off them before she’d toss the broken stick behind her and grab another one from the bag hanging off her floor tom.
“Lessons Learned” was one of my favorite moments of the night, when the band first instructed the crowd, “you just have to sing da da da da. That’s it!”
“Ladies, you never want to see your ass bouncing from behind,” Kim advised us all, in reference to the music video for “Lessons Learned,” where the two of them walked through Time Square and stripped down to their skivvies. And then, because he’s a guy, Matt said guys, we always want to see their ass bouncing from behind, or something like that.
Along with the broken drum sticks, as I stood off to the side, I could see the speakers stacked adjacent to the stage shaking back and forth, and the floor had easily turned into something close to a trampoline.
“Okay, so I want all of you to take these balloons and blow them up. Then throw them way into the air, along with your dignity!” Matt shouted as Kim tossed balloons around the full room. Later on, since so many of the balloons ended up on Kim’s drums, Matt instructed us to pop the balloons. It was like a giant firecracker exploded by dozens of people.
The set was half songs off Grand, half songs off their self-titled debut, a couple of covers (I’ll get to that in a minute), and the nice addition of “Silver Tiles” off the upcoming Sidewalks out November 2. In fact, right when the doors opened, we got to hear the entirety of Sidewalks over the loudspeaker as part of the tour-long listening party.
The pre-show listening party definitely added to the whole experience, seeing that people obviously wanted to hear a lot of their old favorites, like “Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare,” “Cinders” and of course “Daylight” as the closing song.
Now about those covers. When I saw Matt & Kim play just over a year ago, I remember them playing a cover of “Just A Friend” by Biz Markie, and sure enough they played it again as a hilarious sing-along. Even though I’m pretty sure a lot of the room wasn’t nearly old enough to know the original song. What was even funnier still, we got a cover of “Better Off Alone” by Dutch dance pop group Alice Deejay (now that I looked up the song again, I realize that it’s only about 12 years old, but still), and again I’m almost positive all the people in the bar were the ones who sang along to that one.
Way to get the crowd going, Matt & Kim – pull out some obscure 90s Europop song! I’m not being facetious, because only a band with as much blistering excitement on stage as Matt & Kim could pull that off.
Surely I will be hard up to have a more fun Tuesday night for awhile.
The exciting debut album from Manchester, England’s Delphic will for sure be in my top 2 albums of 2010. The electro / dance / rock trio is currently touring as support for the Temper Trap, and this is their first significant tour of North America to boot after just playing three gigs in America in June. It was my distinct pleasure to speak with Delphic‘s accomplished guitarist, Matt Cocksedge, before their gig at the House of Blues in Boston, the second night on a month-long tour of our continent. I have to say, he’s probably one of the most (if not the most) eloquent musician I’ve ever had the chance to interview. In part 1 of this interview, we discuss the cynical music media and why they seem intent on comparing Delphic to fellow Mancunians and hometown heroes New Order, why he thinks their tourmates the Temper Trap are actually more similar to them than you might realize, and how Radiohead is a real inspiration to them.
Mary Chang, PopWreckoning: I think every single blogger I know of wants to be different [taking a different album review approach] than Pitchfork, endeavor to not be like them. My mom doesn’t get the blogging thing, when I was explaining to her what Pitchfork was, she thought it sounded like people who were going after other people with pitchforks. That was the way she interpreted it, not knowing what it was. Matt Cocksedge, Delphic: Yeah, makes sense. PW: But when you’re talking about promoting music to the masses… MC: But it seems like an accurate description of the press, doesn’t it? Hanging them out to dry. It’s difficult really. PW: Maybe I can ask you, have you discerned a difference between the British media and the American media? Have you felt one given you a harder time than the other? Or maybe you haven’t had a lot of exposure to American media, yet. MC: That’s the thing. I don’t know too much about American media reaction to us. All I know is that Pitchfork [when Pitchfork reviewed their debut album, Acolyte, released in June onDangerbird Records here in America], that was out ages ago. I don’t know what else has gone with the release of the album, beyond that, I haven’t really heard [anything]. PW: To be honest, I don’t think I ever read that review. I’m sometimes scared to look… MC: Yeah, I’m scared to look! Really nervous. [smiles] PW: So you said that they slagged off Everything Everything? [the fellow Manchester band's debut album, Man Alive, was released in August in the UK] MC: They did, they did. And I just can’t help but feel there’s some sort of…the Everything Everything album was critically received in the UK… PW: Yeah, I reviewed it for another site and I really liked it. MC: It’s a great album, with so many ideas. PW: And very original. MC: So original! And even it doesn’t connect with you, potentially you can still appreciate the ideas, the originality, the experimentalism. You know, they’re trying to do something new with guitar music in a band. And certainly with our review, it was more an indictment of British music than an actual review of the record.
PW: Oh you know what, I think I did read it. I think they focused on the New Order aspect… MC: Yeah. PW: Which is interesting, because in almost every single American article I’ve read about you guys, it’s always focused on New Order. Now, I was too young to appreciate New Order at their height of fame and you also, neither of us were there for the wholeJoy Division / New Order thing. So I don’t come from it from that perspective. MC: That’s the thing. We know New Order‘s music a bit. What I always think about the New Order thing, if “Doubt” wasn’t on the album, if you kind of take “Doubt” out of the equation of the album, and then look at it in terms of New Order, it’s very, very different. But when “Doubt” is included, I think it’s the most New Order, most obvious New Order kind of touch point on the record. I’ve always wondered about that. But people will hear what they want to hear and say what they want to say. And we’ve made this music and put it out, and then you take what you get given. It’s certainly interesting, you know, going around the world…especially places like Japan, there’s much more positive feeling, I think. There’s a lot of cynicism in the UK especially And the UK press and the UK audience. It’s because we’ve been spoilt for choice [when it comes to music], we’re just completely spoiled.
PW: That’s the thing, I think that’s the reason why I’ve gravitated towards British music in general, because you have people like Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens championing the little guys. MC: Every evening there’s a new band starting out… PW: Yeah, like clockwork every Wednesday I listen to Lammo’s “New Favourite Band” feature and while we don’t see eye to eye on every band, but it’s nice to hear different opinions. MC: Definitely. PW: It’s hard to hear about new [British] bands on American radio. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Delphic song played in Washington. Back in February, VV Brown played the same dance night you guys will play in DC next Friday, and one of the songs being spun that night was “Halcyon”. Me and a girlfriend, we’ve got our tickets and we’re coming up the stairs and it’s coming out of the speakers. And we went crazy because we knew the song! We were very excited. But we were the only ones in the club that knew it. MC: That’s great! [grins] PW: So to have you guys come to DC is really exciting. I think it’s the only date you’re doing by yourselves on this tour? MC: Yeah, I think so. I don’t know if we’ve got one in LA… PW: I know you guys are doing Club Nokia [in Los Angeles] with the Temper Trap… MC: Yeah, we’re doing that…yeah, basically we’d come over here to tour with the Temper Trap. They’re lovely guys, which makes things a lot easier. Always a pleasure when you’re on tour with a band that is just nice, and good guys. Makes it a lot easier. PW: When I saw you guys in Denmark [at Roskilde Festival], Rick [Boardman, Delphic's keyboards / synths player] already knew you were coming to America to support someone else but couldn’t tell me because he’d get in trouble. The Temper Trap never even crossed my mind…when I first saw this tour’s bill, I was kind of surprised because I think of the Temper Trap as more of a straight forward rock sound. Did you have any reservations supporting them? Not that you really had much choice as support but…did you wonder, is this going to be an issue when we play to crowds primarily there for the Temper Trap? MC: No, not at all. We were really excited about it. We respect the Temper Trap a lot. I think what we do is very similar but we put it in different clothes. We both try and write songs and yeah, we’re songwriters…we put them in different contexts. Theirs is a more guitar-based thing and ours is a more synth-based thing. At the heart, we’re quite similar and something we share with them. I think it’s good. We’re not trying to steal fans, we’re not trying to be a better Temper Trap or trying to compete with them in that way. We’re a band on a similar tangent, but doing our own thing. They’re doing their own thing. Hopefully when people come see us, they can understand the similarities but appreciate the differences. And yeah, we’re really excited and thrilled that they asked us along. And really, really happy to be out here with them. We’ve only done the one show [at Philadelphia's Trocadero on Sunday night, 3 nights earlier], so I’ll let you know how it goes! [laughs] But at the moment, it’s been good!
PW: I have to ask, what did you think, coming back to America after 3 months since your last shows here? Did you approach that with trepidation? The last “gig” you had before that was Bestival, that was a couple weeks ago? MC: Well, it’s certainly different than a festival. You can’t do so much jumping up and down and getting people to clap. You’ve gotta be a bit cooler! [smiles] Yeah, we’ve done the support band thing for a while, we know how it works, we’re just happy to be back out here. The crowd was good. It was a really stressful gig, to be honest with you, because it’s the first date of the tour. Backstage is always bit hectic. You hope everything works. It was really hectic, but I really enjoyed the gig myself. Great venue, the crowd was loud, yeah, I enjoyed it a lot. PW: I have to say, as your set progressed, I could feel the audience getting behind you. I was in second row on the floor, which I was very happy about. I was surrounded by devoted Temper Trap fans and I basically explained who you guys were, and who the Hundred in the Hands were, because they’ve just put out their debut album last week. MC: Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get it. PW: It’s really good. I’d say that along with yours and Two Door Cinema Club‘s [Tourist History] albums, it’s up there in my top 5 albums of 2010. MC: Oh wow, cool. PW: And I heard smatterings of conversation after your set. One girl said, “yeah, it was kind of a slow start but after the third song with all the synth action, I really liked it!” MC: Yeah, what was really cool were the pockets of people who were really going for it! PW: [laughs] Yeah, that was us! We were the ones jumping up and down and pumping our fists. Expect that, I’ll get people excited for you guys tonight. MC: Cool, I’ll keep a look out for it.
PW: Going back to the album, having heard what people have said about the album, one thing that I found very interesting was that people were comparing my favorite song, “Submission,” to Duran Duran. MC: Really. PW: What would say about that? MC: Uh…I’d be quite speechless! [laugh] PW: Me too, and that’s because I’m a Duranie. MC: I’d never have saw that coming! Yeah, I dunno…I’m not offended by it at all. Certainly didn’t see that one coming. I dunno, it’s one of those things, you make music to put it out there and people will read into it what they want. “So this bit is like this…” and we would’ve never even heard of that band! And then sometimes they’ll write, “so this bit is like this…” and yeah, we did just rip it off a bit. [grins] Yeah, I don’t know if it was Duran Duran influenced, but I can honestly say I didn’t think anyone would say that. PW: It reminds me of what people said about We Are Scientists‘s second album [Brain Thrust Mastery]. I liked it better than their first because it was more polished and had the synths. People said it sounded like Duran Duran because it had synths. Just because they have synths doesn’t mean they were influenced by Duran Duran. Similarly, some people think anything with synths can be classified as ’80s new wave.
PW: “Submission” has the right balance of synths, guitars, beats, and everything is so clean. The echoes are absolutely perfect to me. It’s the perfect song. I can put on my headphones and go into my own little world listening to it. Do you remember how the song came about? How do your songs usually start, does it start with someone’s lyric, “hey, I have an idea“, or “hey, I got this great guitar riff, let’s work off of this…” MC: I think with “Submission”, I really think it came about from the beat, you know? We wanted a more down-tempo number. It’s still quite quick, but it feels a lot slower than a lot of the record. We really wanted a bit darker of a tune, more of… that kind of feeling, and it came from [Matt starts tapping the table with his hands in time to the killer main rhythm of "Submission"]… PW: I think that’s why I like it, it’s so funky. MC: Yeah, we’ve got the guitar riff at the end, that came quite early as well. Yeah, all the songs, they all come from different places, there’s no set way of doing it, at least in terms of the initial idea. When we have an idea, and we’re developing it, then you kind of have your way of working on it, trying to flesh it out and make that transition from idea to song. And that’s difficult, because not all of them make it through. Sometimes you have a great idea but you can’t fit it in the right context. That can be difficult. But that came from a beat. Other tune came from a sound on the synth, or a chord sequence, and there’s no rules with this sort of thing, is there? We have strong instincts with these things. We try to work within a concept or the framework of an album for the set of songs we want to write. And once you have that framework established, it’s constrictive yet freeing because you can explore all areas in a certain kind of musical world, in a way. That definitely how it happened with the first record. We knew the kind of record we wanted to make in terms of sound and what we were talking about, and really then it was seeing what worked within it and what didn’t work, and how best make an album flow and what we needed to do to give it more depth. There is no real right or wrong, it’s whether you get that feeling. James [Cook, Delphic's lead vocalist and bassist] might play me something. So do I get it, do I feel it in my gut? Does it give me that kind of emotion? If the answer is no, let’s write another one. And if the answer is yes, okay, let’s take it to the next stage, let’s develop it and put an arrangement around it, put words to it. Are there any words that fit that we have already? You know, so you build it from there. But the initial idea is always the most important thing. It’s whether you get a buzz off of it… PW: Like a spark of inspiration. MC: Yeah, definitely. Sometimes…we’re writing ideas for the second album now, and there are some things…James played me something he’d written the other day, and sometimes you can just hear immediately, “that’s a finished song,” even if it’s just something on the piano with a bit of melody. I just know what that’s going to be. And that’s the most exciting thing. That’s when you know at the heart, there is something really special. It doesn’t happen all the time, but then it’s something you really need to grab onto and protect, in a way. You want to keep it true and make something real out of it.
PW: I think it is a gift when you’re able to create a timeless melody. A lot of music today, say hip hop, doesn’t necessarily have a great, underlying melody. It’s just not there. Or even some harder rock stuff. I saw Biffy Clyro 2 weeks ago at their first headlining gig of America, in Washington. They couldn’t even sell out DC9, and that’s a 200-capacity venue. MC: Really? That’s madness. They’re really big in the UK now. [Biffy Clyro regularly sells out stadiums there.] PW: I’m not a huge fan of theirs but I wanted to see history in the making. I consider Biffy kind of thrash metal, and my issue with thrash metal is that there isn’t a melody running through the whole thing, a melody that really grabs me. I’m not going to remember that song next week. Before or while you were in a band, were there any other bands that you looked to as idols? MC: Hmmm…Radiohead really, for me personally. They’re the bosses, aren’t they? The big kids in the class. I just think…they don’t put a foot wrong. They’re the band that I think always…I remember when we were working on parts of the first album, “what would Thom Yorke do?” kind of, that we said to each other kind of jokingly, but with a serious tone. They don’t seem to make missteps. And I think as a band they’ve always been so inspirational, because they’ve always done their own thing. Believed in what they do. Writing OK Computer and then bringing out Kid A, the most incredible movement in modern music, right? I think they’re certainly a band we have immense, immense respect for. And a band whose career path we look to and we’re like, if we have a career anywhere near that, we’d be happy. As a band who’s just released a first record, you’re very much at the whim at the reviews and the whim of word of mouth. And people are very open to speculation on things. And open to New Order comparisons! [laughs] But I think as we release more records and release more, people see what we’re actually about. I think looking at a band like Radiohead, at Pablo Honey or even The Bends, and seeing how they were labeled as, like, Pixies‘s wannabes, and all that kind of thing. Then they kind of emerged and blossomed into their own thing. I think we’re really eager to kind of move on and keep developing, and show people…we’ve still got a lot to prove, I think, and we’ve still got a long way to go, and a long way to improve. We’ve got a lot to prove to ourselves and everyone else as well. And who we are. And we’re just excited to be given the chance to do that. Some people [in bands] do that to them [finger gesture], and some people, “thanks for believing in us, we want to pay you back.” You know? I think that’s the Manchester spirit a little bit, that bit is anyway. Sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you doing that! PW: Haha, no worries. Was that a bit of anti-Southerner kind of thing? MC: [laughs] Oh, no no! It’s just that kind of gang mentality in Manchester. PW: “All for one, and one for all” kind of a thing? MC: Yeah, it’s a band thing as well, but we don’t feel like part of London. We’re a Manchester band and proudly so, but we don’t feel like we’re a part of any scene in Manchester. There are three or four of us versus the world as it were. You’ve only got your mates to rely on, they’re the ones you want to see it through with. And so to kind of prove ourselves is a massive, massive thing. And it’s something we are working on and will hopefully achieve.
Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon…
Tour Dates
Oct 05 – Phoenix / Toronto*
Oct 07 – Newport Music Hall / Columbus*
Oct 08 – DC9 / Washington, DC^
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit*
Oct 12 – Metro / Chicago*
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee*
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis*
Oct 21 – Popscene / San Francisco&
Oct 22 – Fox / Pomona, CA*
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles*
^ Delphic only
* supporting the Temper Trap
& with the Hundred in the Hands
Of late, it has become rather trendy in independent music to be country without actually having ties to the genre. I’d say close to 99 percent of the time this shift in sound comes from trend, not musical roots. The Avett Brothers are absolutely an exception to that rule. Their Grand Ole Opry (by way of North Carolina) sound is as real as Grace Potter’s dress is short, both of which made their way to Kansas City’s Crossroads recently.
Opening the show with her larger than life vocals and over the top energy, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals snagged the crowd’s attention from the moment they took stage. Yelling to the large pond of on-lookers, “It’s the opening band’s job to warm up the crowd,” Potter seemed to poke fun at Kansas City’s depressing climate, which which cold and drizzly. “I’m even wearing two pairs of underwear tonight. Let’s call them Long Johns,” she later exclaimed. However, cold couldn’t keep Potter and company from burning up the stage. With a near perfect set and well managed sound, Potter proved to the near 2500 in attendance why she’s quickly becoming one of the most respected vocalists in the game. Long story short, Potter has some pipes on her.
She also helped set the stage flawlessly for the bluegrass, folk-rock to follow. Though the sound quality of the Avett Brothers seemed slightly diminished from Potter’s set (possibly from a wet stage), their energy was no doubt intact. Swapping instruments from song to song, their set resembles what bluegrass should be. It’s very reminiscent of the back porch jams of a southern home. It’s little more than a group of guys gathering to play music for the sake of making music. It’s real.
They calmly shift in and out of banjo, cello and guitar based tunes, keeping time with a make shift drum set resting at the front of the stage. However, it seems important to point out that regardless of how backwoods that might sound, they still somehow manage to linger somewhere close to the hearts of the everyday listener, managing to come just 50 tickets short of a sellout on a night as disgusting as they come. “It’s good to see a little rain can’t scare you off, Kansas City.”
Kansas City rejoiced in cheers.
Set List:
left on Laura, left on Lisa
January Wedding
Tin Man
Colorshow
I killed Sally’s Lover
Bella Donna
Salina
Will You Return
Open-ended life
Distraction No. 74
Please Pardon Yourself
Head full of Doubt/Heart full of promise
In the Curve
Denouncing November Blue
Slight Figure of Speech
November Blue
Pretty Girl From Michigan
Go To Sleep
I and Love and You
Kill Drum Heart
Frankie and the Heartstrings are a indie rock band from Sunderland, the same Northeast England town that also gave us the great Futureheadsand Field Music. Despite being a relatively new band, they won many hearts on this summer’s European music festival circuit and already have a pretty devoted fanbase back home. Frankly (no pun intended), I can understand the attraction. This is not music with lots of electronic bells and whistles. They play feelgood guitar pop, taking a back to basics approach to craft their sound and creating utter perfection. Below is the video for “Ungrateful,” the band’s forthcoming single to be released next Monday (October 4th) in the UK on their own record label, Pop Sex Ltd.
If you live in New York City, you can catch them when they appear at CMJ later this month (date and time TBA).
The day after my birthday and still slightly hungover, attending a show was not my ideal plan. After convincing myself, and a friend of course, I ended up going to Crosstown Station to seeTim York andNot A Planet. And once again, iPhone pics!
We arrived mid-way through York’s set. I really enjoy his sound, especially the use of Bongos; although I may have a weird obsession with percussion.
Backed by a percussionist and bassist, York keeps the crowd entertained with his upbeat tunes: almost Jack Johnson upbeat, but still low key.
Forget using the word indie to describe a band, Not A Planet is straight folk rock and they fucking own it. Very dancey and fun to watch, NAP has tons of catchy one liners and hooks. However, it’s not catchy bad pop punk hooks. This is rock n’ roll baby.
Bringing the majority of the crowd, they debuted two new songs; which you can hear acoustically on their upcoming PodWreck episode.
NAP left the stage with confidence one by one as the instruments dropped out. Only to leave singer/guitarist Nathan Corsi to finish their last song.
Look for a new album out at the end of October, I highly recommend picking one up.
PopWreckoning has been given a grand opportunity, thanks to Velocity Media, to give our fans the chance to see the Valient Thorr for free. The show will take place at Record Bar in Kansas City, Missouri on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 8 p.m.
PopWreckoning will be giving away 4 pairs (8 total) tickets to the show.
This contest will end at 5 p.m. the day of show. You will be emailed day of show. Winners’ tickets will be at the door when you arrive at the show. Please make sure you include your full name and email in the comment, otherwise I cannot get in touch with you to tell you that you have won.
Winning is simple (and only two steps).
1. Comment in this article the answer to the following question: Why do you deserve to go to this show? PopWreckoning staff will read your opinions and choose the best four day of show.
2. Repost this article on either your facebook, twitter, myspace, blog, website or other social media tool. Spread the wealth, then send us the link (by posting it in your comment).
Then show up at the bar and have fun watching a great band on us.
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
The exciting debut album from 
PW: Going back to the album, having heard what people have said about the album, one thing that I found very interesting was that people were comparing my favorite song, “Submission,” to 
