popwreckoning

Thursday started out as a gorgeous spring day here in Seattle. The cherry trees are blooming and downtown was buzzing with a rumor about a super secret Soundgarden show at the Showbox. Diehard fans spent hours tweeting, digging and looking for some confirmation of this, finding it rumored on a few different blogs and news outlets, such as local radio station 107.7 the End’s Harm’s blog and Billboard.com.

We all waited anxiously into the next morning, Friday dawning bright and sunny with a chance of Soundgarden tickets. 10 a.m. brought thousands of fans frantically refreshing the Ticketmaster link, hoping that they would be one of the lucky few to snag a ticket. Anyone lucky enough to be on the Soundgarden newsletter list was emailed the password to the Ticketmaster login (and was promptly retweeted, facebooked, texted and transmitted through other social media), selling out the limited number of General Admission, standing-room-only tickets in under five minutes. (It has been touted as 3.4 minutes, but the actual time has been unannounced by Ticketmaster or the Showbox as of yet.) I happened to be sitting at my daytime desk job, along with four of my other colleagues and my boss, all refreshing and hoping to get lucky. Thanks to Twitter and a well-timed Ticketmaster update, I managed to snag a single ticket to possibly the most sought-after Seattle show this year, Nudedragons (a carefully crafted anagram for Soundgarden).

Seven o’clock found me walking across the infamous 1st and Pike intersection in front of Pike Place Market and the location of my all-time favorite Seattle venues: The Showbox at the Market. Personally, I have been to over a hundred shows at the local landmark, and everything about it was perfect for a reunion show for a local band such as Soundgarden. The brilliant marquee proclaimed “Nudedragons: Sold Out” and the line was already around the corner when I arrived. A typical spring shower added just another reminder that the show was a true Seattle show- Seattle fans, Seattle band, Seattle venue in the heart of Seattle. The fans were a good mix of older, grunge era rockers and the next generation of 20-somethings who have heard the band on radio stations and in their parent’s cars as kids and teenagers. Everyone waited patiently through the incredibly stringent bag check and past the signs proclaiming “no cameras, no video, no audio, NO exceptions.” Since the tickets were Will Call only, the usual scalpers were replaced by fans with signs scribbled in black Sharpie on free copies of the Seattle Stranger that said “Let me be your +1! NAME YOUR PRICE!” and “Do you need a date? I am a HUGE FAN!” Venue security carded everyone and weren’t allowing “Hand-offs” of tickets, so if you paid for the show, you were the person who got in- no exceptions. Fans waited patiently through the long lines and were rewarded with entrance to the iconic venue for yet another long wait.

Upon walking in, the general floor was virtually empty, leaving both bars incredibly packed. The crowd mingled, twittered about the excitement, facebooked about running into old friends and chatted in knots of two or three. Over the next three hours, the excitement continued to build (and the now drunken revelers were wandering around to add to the crowd). There were a lot of familiar faces, including most of the members of Seattle-based Black Houses (new era grunge) sitting on the floor, and were rumors of other famous Seattle musicians such as founding Soundgarden bassist/former member Hiro Yamamoto, Mark Arm, and Kurt Bloch, to name a few. Also, localite Tre from Epidemic Presents was lurking about, along with Sub Pop frontman Jonathan Poneman. With a lot of familiar faces and a barely packed floor, there must have been no more than a thousand people in the venue, including the staff (which were incredibly numerous for such an exclusive show). After the almost agonizing three hour wait, the energy was truly incredible, and Chris Cornell stalked out onto the stage and began one of what will be one Seattle’s most historic shows to date.

Over the next ninety minutes, it became very clear that Soundgarden did not lose their touch during their 13 year hiatus from the stage. The band was all smiles during this “rehearsal show” for their upcoming August Lollapalooza gig. If the band felt any animosity towards each other, there were no telltale signs of it on stage as they all rocked out during their incredible two hour set. The fans moshed, head-banged, and sang along, having a ball as the quartet rocked their socks off. Security wandered through the crowd, making sure no one was taking video, pictures, or audio, even shining a light on my phone when I was tweeting about the show. Honestly, I have NEVER seen Showbox security be that tight, but considering the circumstances, it was understandable.

Soundgarden picked up right where they left off 13 years ago, sound-wise, and with the growing out of Chris Cornell’s signature curly locks, the show had the feel of the early ‘90s. Cornell’s voice was a little rusty through the beginning of “Spoonman” but managed to find its way back to where it belonged and continued throughout the rest of the set without complication, sounding just as good as they day Ultramega OK was released. The guitar riffs were spot on and edgy, the bass loud and thumping, grunge at its finest thanks to Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd’s flawless finger work. Accompanied by legendary Matt Cameron’s amazing drumming, the floor of the Showbox was literally vibrating. They played loud enough that you could hear two blocks away, and security was doing crowd control out front for fans that wanted to try to catch a tiny bit of the show. “Rusty Cage” was perfect in its own gritty manner and “Outshine” was brilliant as the day it was recorded, starting just after one of my favorite quotes of the night.

Chris stepped up and stated, “This is technically a rehersal. If we f—k something up, we are going to go back and do it again, until we get it right.” For as many musicians and diehard fans that were standing on that floor right then, it was the icing on the cake for a brilliant show.

The lighting was simple and bright, hues of blues and orange to make even the most amateur concert photographer swoon, but alas, no cameras allowed. The band treated it as a rehearsal, not necessarily as a show. There was a little banter occasionally, but for the most part, the band came out and did what they do best- played for almost ninety minutes STRAIGHT, a full eighteen song set of older songs and some rare materials. According to Cornell, “We aren’t playing stuff that we stopped playing in 1997. We are playing stuff we stopped playing in 1990.” The list of songs is quite impressive and is lacking a few of their more “popular” and well known songs, such as “Black Hole Sun” and “Jesus Christ Pose” were surprisingly missing from the set list and may have disappointed some of the younger crowd present. They closed with a noteworthy rendition of The Door’s “Waiting for the Sun.” The entire show was near perfect with a sense of historic significance- something Ear Candy’s Travis Hay noted as well. After the Lollapalooza show in August, many are wondering if there will be a tour announced or what is in store for the future of Soundgarden.

Combined with the reunion show of Mother Love Bone at the Showbox on Wednesday night, there are more than a few Seattelites wondering about the resurgence of grunge in Seattle again. With great grunge bands such as Black Houses floating around, it wouldn’t be a surprise. As for Soundgarden’s future, I am hoping for another show here shortly, and agree with Mr. Hay that Bumbershoot would be the prime time to do so, and a great place for a tour kickoff as well. However, if this is truly their comeback, they have made it very plain that they would be calling the shots, and last night’s show serves as one heck of a welcome back from the Emerald City grunge crowd.

Set List:
Spoonman
Gun
Searching With My Good Eye Closed
Rusty Cage
Beyond the Wheel
Flower
Ugly Truth
Fell on Black Days
Hunted Down
Nothing to Say
Loud Love
Blow Up The Outside World
Pretty Noose
Outshined
Slaves and Bulldozers
Encore:
Get On The Snake
Big Dumb Sex
Waiting for the Sun (Doors Cover)

Written by: Annastasia Gallaher

The organizers  behind music festival Lollapalooza continue revealing clues to the 2010 line-up.

So far, fill-in-the-blank line-up has clued in the following letters: O, R, I.

The headliners are for the most part agreed upon: Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes and Phoenix.

However, forums still have a few blanks leaving them stumped.

Here are the guesses from the folks over at the official Lollapalooza forums. The bands in bold, while not confirmed, are the most likely guess:

1. soundgarden * green day * lady gaga * arcade fire * the strokes * phoenix
2. social distortion * mgmt or ween or cake or sade or… ? * jimmy cliff * hot chip * the black keys
3. the national * spoon * devo * cypress hill * cut copy * the new pornographers
4. slightly stoopid * grizzly bear * gogol bordello * chromeo * wolfmother
5. yeasayer * x japan * mutemath? * metric * dirty projectors * afi
6. mavis staples * matt & kim * the xx * drive-by truckers * blues traveler
7. edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros * the temper trap * jamie lidell
8. frightened rabbit * fuck buttons * deer tick * blitzen trapper * stars
9. raphael saadiq * the cribs * minus the bear * switchfoot * the walkmen?
10. mumford & sons * wild beasts * rogue wave * los amigos invisibles
11. the big pink * the dodos * hockey * cymbals eat guitars * sloan or B.o.b or aloha? * YACHT or dawes… ?
12. warpaint * the antlers * the soft pack * rebelution * balkan beat box? * K’Naan or…? (6spaces)
13. american bang * the ike reilly assassination * company of thieves * YACHT or dawes or wheat…?
14. harlem * the constellations * miniature tigers * mimicking birds
15. the kissaway trail * K’Naan or…? (6spaces) * delphic * the morning benders * foxy shazam
16. violent soho * royal bangs * neon trees * freelance whales
17. semi precious weapons * the heavy or hey champ? * the band of heathens * dragonette
18. my dear disco * buddy miller or…? * the heavy or hey champ? * jukebox the ghost
19. these united states * mynameisjohnmichael *  “and many more!” or…?

perry’s
1. 2manydjs * empire of the sun * digitalism * perry farrell * tiga
2. felix da housecat * rusko * erol alkan * kaskade or malente… ? * flosstradamus
3. wolfgang gartner * joachim garraud * mexican institute of sound
4. caspa or MANDY or benga? * peanut butter wolf * dirty south * darko or nervo?  * cut copy (dj set)
5. beats antique * steve porter * didi gutman of brazilian girls
6. _ _ _ / _ I _ * team bayside high * dani deahl * dj mel?
7. _ _ _ *  _ O _ _ _ _ _ _ _ * only children * _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ R _ _ _ R O _ _

Time to call up your old hang-man partner or your Wheel of Fortune loving friend. Lollapalooza is set to officially reveal the 2010 line-up on April 6, but in the meantime, the festival organizers are teasing fans with a fill-in-the-blank line-up board viewable here.

The only letter given so far: ‘O’.

So how far can that single letter get you? Pretty far actually. From counting blanks and using the clued in O’s, it looks like rumors of  Soundgarden, Green Day and Lady Gaga are correct for the headliners. That fourth blank? Arcade Fire fits perfectly.

Previously confirmed The Strokes fill in the fifth blank.

Advanced pre-sale VIP tickets went on sale Tuesday for the festival.

What other guesses do you have? Comment and let us know.

In an age where digital music is supreme, album art is easy to lose in the shuffle. So perhaps when handed Belief in the Process, carefully pondering the mysteriously blue cast series of cylinder objects that look like a cross between buttons and compartments on the front cover, then flipping over to wonder why the album had divided itself into three parts for the track list and then even continuing to wonder over the selection of incomplete lyrics on the inside was a mistake. Yet, when considering the band is the Belated, then analyzing every little decision made on this record doesn’t seem so insane.

Kansas City’s the Belated is a rare breed in the city. While many of the new bands in the area are busy experimenting with electronic loops and whistles and other bizarre gimmicky sounds popularized by the hipster crowd out of Lawrence, the Belated is staying more traditional to the guitar-rich, lots of cymbal-crashing rock band sound. The band does have a nostalgic 90s sound (which isn’t that surprising when considering one of the members hosts a ’90s at noon’ radio show), but that isn’t to say the Belated is stuck in the past. No, what it does say is that the band is aware of the past and knows how to respect it. So perhaps, carefully examining something like album art isn’t so crazy for a band like this.

The album starts with the band’s first single, “Intelligent Redesign,” a song ripe with big rolling drum crescendos ending with even bigger cymbal crashes.  A low bass riff trickles throughout the song. The pre-mentioned 90s vibe is most evident in the Soundgarden-like vocals. It’s a big song with a title that promises exactly what it delivers. The music video for the song says a lot about the band, too. A 90 percent serious video lightened with brief interludes of dancing from Kansas City’s favorite concertgoer.

From “Intelligent Redesign,” the band continues mixing broody vocals with even moodier instrumental patterns. The lyrics are dark, yet an aire of sarcasm and irony serve to lighten the mood rather than darken even deeper into a lyrical black hole. Just like the video, the band is mostly serious, but still fun. Singer Michael Richardson showcases phenomenal, dynamics as he goes from whispering “I Don’t Remember” to yowling down the scales like on “Someone – Somehow.”

The only problem with his vocals is that this is the element that is almost too unwavering. While the band, instrumentally progresses between bluesy riffs from the keyboard on songs like “Sacred” to the latina marching band sounds from the percussion on “Someone – Somehow” to the straight up rock on many of the others, the vocals seem stuck creating a slight tension. Yet, the diversity of the instrumental sound is something that is quite welcome on this album. The band shows that they are capable of engineering a new sound with just their skills and not modern music’s common desire to make “new” with computers. Sure, there are effects like reverb and echoed layering. There’s even the occasional synthesized string, but this is still very organic and fresh. They’re ranging from early Smashing Pumpkins to Silversun Pickups in the instrumentals and it works well for the Belated.

Though there are strong single possibilities with “Intelligent Redesign” and “Escalation,” the band crafted an album: not a collection of singles. Check the whole thing out, and yeah, the album art is significant. The album does seem to have three distinct sections. The first two thirds of the album is bigger than the last third, which serves as more of a catharsis by the time “Daily Rose” comes about. The selected lyrics are some of the more significant stand out lines in the songs. Yet as for the image and the arrangement of those lyrics? Those are best left to the imagination of the album’s owner.

As said before, the Belated is a rare breed not just for Kansas City, but for music in general. This is an album worth checking out.

The Belated is celebrating the album’s release this Friday, January 8 at Crosstown Station. They’re joined by fellow locals Nutchhatch 47 and Pet Comfort. Doors are at 8 and tickets are just $10. It is one of the first chances to see new drummer Stephanie Williams in action as well as hear the new tunes.

Track Listing:
01. Intelligent Redesign
02. I Don’t Remember
03. Sacred
04. Someone – Somehow
05. How Did You Know
06. Easy
07. Escalation
08. We Don’t Belong
09. Lazy Fascination
10. Wound
11. Daily Rose

After Mapquest took my friend and I on the most illogical route to El Corazon in Seattle, we arrived just in time as the doors opened to see Rooney, Tally Hall and Crash Kings on the Wild One tour on Wednesday. Thankfully, we only had to wait outside for about ten minutes, because it was pretty darn close to freezing.

El Corazon is a small, but fairly intimate venue with a great view from all vantage points. That night, the teenybopper crowd filling El Corazon differed starkly from those who worked there, covered in piercings and tattoos, dark hoodies and unkempt facial hair. I liked the odd juxtaposition, as it fit the contrasting lineup. The Crash Kings were up first, with their three-piece of Tony Beliveau on vocals and keyboard, his brother Mike Beliveau on bass and Jason Morris on drums. Tony was quite the showman, rocking out with a clavinet, a customized keyboard with guitar strings and a large whammy bar. Mike played with multiple amps, making music both full and raw without a guitar, leading to rather a unique sound.

The three-piece Crash Kings played a short, but strong set, including first single “Mountain Man,” as well as other crowd-pleasers “1985,” “Raincoat,” “You Got Me” and “It’s Only Wednesday,” which was recently featured in the film “Zombieland.” I hadn’t heard much of their music before the show, but I was thoroughly impressed with their stage presence, matching the intimacy of the venue with their brotherly synergy.

After their half-hour, Tally Hall came up on stage to set up their instruments, clad in suit shirts and vests, as well as fake mustaches to match their hair color. It fit Tally Hall’s persona perfectly, as they’re pretty much the nerdiest band I’ve heard since They Might Be Giants. Seriously, they referred to their own music as “wonky rock.”

What I love so much about Tally Hall is how funny they are, but they are genuinely good musicians, and they harmonize wonderfully, with guitarists Joe Hawley, Rob Cantor, keyboardist Andrew Horowitz and bassist Zubin Sedghi all bringing their own vocal style. To my delight, Tally Hall played some new songs, meaning a new record coming possibly soon, as it’s been a good three years since Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. But they did play a few of the hits from ,MMMM: “Welcome to Tally Hall,” “The Bidding,” “Ruler of Everything,” and “Good Day.” My favorite song was actually during Horowitz’s one singing part, “The Whole World and You,” and they got the whole crowd clapping with Horowitz’s adorable subtle lisp. The crowd surely loved the dapper crew, as the youngins surrounding me sang along to all of the words.

Cantor and Hawley had the most charm, saying that it was “an honor and a pleasure to be playing with Rooney and Crash Kings,” causing everyone to cheer loudly, so then they’d say it randomly throughout the half-hour set. I would have preferred longer than half an hour, and it would have been plausible, as we hit the road just after 11. An hour would have given them more time to banter, showing off their unique personas. But I was happy just the same.

Rooney was up next.

Following a long intro of the “The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly” theme music, building the palpable anticipation, it was obvious that most people there came to see Rooney. They were met with screaming girls, reminiscent of the reaction that the Jonas Brothers might get, but with a few token drunk guys.

The foursome came out cool and casual, and started off with “Stay Away” off their eponymous debut back in 2003. It gave me a weird flashback to a little film that you may have seen at one point – “The Princess Diaries,” yeah, cause front man Robert Schwartzman was in that movie as Michael Moscovitz, Anne Hathaway’s love interest. As was the rest of Rooney, as Michael’s band. Sure, the movie was eight years ago, but I just can’t seem to get it out of my head.

That soon left my mind, as I moved from the one side of the stage where bassist Matthew Winter seemed to not be having any fun to the other side of the stage where guitarist Taylor Locke captivated the crowd with his sweet riffs and undeniably flowy hair. Schwartzman did most of the talking, leading the room through a set list of oldies but goodies such as “Blueside,” “Daisy Duke”  and “Popstars,” which Schwartzman said they hadn’t played in a while, as well as brand new songs. One new song titled “Wild One” let drummer Ned Brower actually sing and he was quite good.

Around 10:40, Schwartzman thanked Seattle profusely for being so great, and it caught me off guard, but made everyone laugh and cheer when Locke started playing random opening riffs from classic Seattle rock songs from Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden.

“Ned’s from here, so we can do that,” Schwartzman said, “Well, born in Chapel Hill and raised in Seattle.”

It made me smile. But nothing made anyone smile quite as much as the guy standing behind me who kept shouting “I Should Have Been After You” all night. He finally got his wish during the encore.

“Who wants ‘Simply Because?’” Schwartzman asked the crowd.

People cheered.

“Tell Me Soon?”

People cheered.

“How about ‘I Should Have Been After You?’”

And people went nuts.

“Okay, we’ll do it for that guy this one time.”

I was fine with that, as “I Should Have Been After You” is one of my favorite Rooney songs.

At the end of the night, my friend had a completely different experience watching Rooney on the opposite side of the stage as I did. So I guess it’s based on your vantage point. Robert’s the conversationalist, Ned’s got the charm and Taylor’s got the charisma.

And Rooney’s surely got the light and bouncy pop rock to get you dancing, even on a Wednesday night before finals week.

Rooney: website | myspace