Michael Darpino – We Love DC http://www.welovedc.com Your Life Beyond The Capitol Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:00:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.9 The Ten Best Concerts In And Around DC For 2011 http://www.welovedc.com/2012/01/06/the-ten-best-concerts-in-and-around-dc-for-2011/ http://www.welovedc.com/2012/01/06/the-ten-best-concerts-in-and-around-dc-for-2011/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:00:10 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=79299
“The Foo Fighters” by Andrew Mark

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“The Foo Fighters” by Andrew Markowitz

Time once again to calculate and list the ten best musical performances I saw in the past year in and around Washington DC.* This ‘best of’ article is one of my favorite activities as a music writer because it embodies the very essence of why I take the time out of my increasingly busy schedule to attend so many concerts and write about them. Simply put, I am a fan of great live music and when someone or a group of someones delivers a really special performance I want to tell as many people as I can about it. There is real magic happening during a great musical performance that is unlike anything else I have ever experienced; if I manage to share just a fraction of that magic with my readers by exposing them to a band they might not otherwise have heard then my job as a music writer is done.

In the last six months, positive events in my personal life have greatly affected my ability to cover as many concerts as I’d like too with the quality of writing that I feel they deserve. Because of this I have been writing much less than usual and I predict that this trend will continue for most of 2012. I know from reader feedback and from conversations with some of the great people I’ve met at shows over the years that my writing about music has had an impact on their musical world. Knowing this enables me to walk away from music writing fulfilled.

2011 was kind of a weird year for live music. The entire year felt like an odd hang-over from 2010 (one of the greatest years of live music ever). In recent conversations I think I have been undervaluing 2011’s shows, because now as I revisit all of the sets I saw, I realize that there were plenty of great performances, they were just obscured by a lot more mediocre ones than I have seen in recent years. Once I dusted away the humdrum and the disappointing, I was left with about 35 really great sets to choose from for my top ten list this year.


“Brandt Brauer Frick” by Michael Darpino

10. Brandt Brauer Frick @ Red Palace: This ‘acoustic’ techno trio proved to be both the most unique and most high-energy of all the dance acts I saw locally in 2011. With their vintage analog synths and self-sampled chamber orchestra sounds these inventive Germans retconned Kraftwerk through the woodshed and I loved every second of it. (Special award for most criminally under-attended, brilliant performance of 2011).

9. The Ex @ Black Cat: Interviewing Andy Moor of The Ex in advance of this show was a personal highlight in my 10 years of writing about music. A landmark moment for me that could only be topped by seeing my favorite post-punk act deliver a blistering performance at the Black Cat. It was fantastic to see their new lead singer Arnold de Boer continue in the tradition of former singer G.W. Sok and wholly surprising to see how his presence reinvigorated this already frenetic group of amazing musicians.

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“The Ex” by Michael Darpino

8. Liturgy @ DC9: Liturgy’s performance at Comet Ping Pong in 2010 was just shy of making the ten-spot on my best-of list that year. So I was thrilled when they came back to DC not once but twice in 2011! Their cultish “transcendent” spin on Black Metal philosophy combined with their speed-brutality-shoegazer sound makes Liturgy one of the most interesting American metal acts around. While I’ve absolutely loved all three times I have seen them, it was the second set at DC9 that really sticks out as the best for me. DC9 was the perfect setting for Liturgy’s “transcendence through sonic annihilation”-thing to really work for me. For a band that is always intense to watch, this performance at DC9 had an atmosphere that took it to a higher level.

7. Kyuss Lives! @ 930 Club: Before The DPD Project, I could not have told you a single Kyuss song. After The DPD Project, I could sing along to almost all of them. This highly influential 90’s stoner metal act was long gone by the time my cohorts introduced me to them and after they did, I never imagined the chance to see them in concert would ever present itself. Under the moniker Kyuss Lives! (to acknowledge the absence of their most famous former member, Josh Homme) 3/4 of the original Kyuss line-up along a brilliant Bruno Fevery on guitar transformed the 9:30 Club into a southern-Cali desert camp site and rocked the heavens for two hours. John Garcia’s voice was everything we secretly hoped it would be; and the instrumental prowess of the band was off the charts. I walked away from the show in a daze, thinking to myself that it would be hard to imagine them having sounded better during their original run in the early-90’s.

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“Clutch” by Michael Darpino

6. Clutch @ Red Palace: A free show from one of the area’s most respected and bad-ass rock bands in one of DC’s tiniest performance spaces + the debut of a really strong new beer named after the them, resulted in one of the most fun concert experiences of the year. The atmosphere amongst the small crowd of lucky fans was electric, the beer was delicious, and Clutch delivered an amazing blend of acoustic arrangements and plugged-in jam versions of some of their best material.

5. The Foo Fighters @ Verizon Center: For epic rock showmanship in 2011, it did not get better or more heartfelt than Dave Grohl of The Foo Fighters. This show was ridiculously good. So good that it defied all of my (low) expectations and melted my frozen Grinch heart just long enough for me to fall under the spell of their big, mainstream rock sound for the night. This show was a three hour monster and was packed with so many genius rock gimmicks, guest-spots, solos, and song re-arrangements that I am still sorting through them. The only reason that this show does not place higher here is that the more distance I get from it, the more my momentary connection to their actual songs fades.


“The Foo Fighters” by Andrew Markowitz

4. Dillinger Escape Plan @ 930 Club: From various conversations I have had around town, I know I am in the minority of opinions in thinking DEP totally stole the show from Mastodon last year. DEP worked the room better than Mastodon and utilized the 9:30 Club sound system like it was the return of a long lost member of the band.** This was a great, great double-bill and I fully expected to enjoy both bands (which I did) but I was totally flabbergasted by how tight Dillinger Escape Plan sounded. Any band that can be that spastic AND that technically precise in a live show gets huge respect from me. While the median age of their average listener skews much younger than me, I was still all smiles during their 40-minutes of amp-tower jumping, emo-screaming, complex as advanced algebra, controlled chaos.

3. Little Dragon @ State Theater: I really talked Little Dragon up before their show at the Black Cat in the beginning of 2011. I was still high on their magical, festival-stealing performance on a Coachella side-stage in 2010. The Black Cat show turned out to be a fun one but it had a terrible warm-up act, was mired by technical difficulties, and the crowd was full of jerks. All told it was a nice show, but could have been better. So when Little Dragon made a swing through the area to play The State Theater in June, I kept the hype low. Of course now I wish I hadn’t. Everything magical about their Coachella performance that was missing at the Black Cat show, was back with a vengeance for their State Theater set. The sheer joy of this set can’t really be expressed in words (which is why I didn’t review it originally) so I’ll simply let its high ranking on this list speak for itself.

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“Kid Congo Powers” by Michael Darpino

2. Kid Congo Powers and The Pink Monkey Birds @ Comet Ping Pong: It takes a ton of charisma and a heap of charm to make the back room at Comet Ping Pong the coolest, classiest, oddest spot on the planet and that is exactly what the mighty Kid Congo Powers did in early 2011, when he and his band performed as the opening act for Chain & The Gang. Their set of goofy, spooky, rockabilly, surf punk was a sheer delight that simultaneously tapped into multiple generations of basic rock principles to tickle the universal good music receptors in the brain of every human in the room. This set was so off-beat, good-natured, and down-right fun that as soon as it ended I knew it would easily trump 80% of what I would see the rest of the year.

1. Meek Is Murder @ Firehouse Grill: And so this is what it is all about. A random room in Fairfax, a bunch of bands almost no one has heard of, and a crowd so small it is easily outnumbered by the members of all the bands on the bill. The absolute joy of discovering an amazing new band well ahead of the curve and then spreading the word about them to every ear that will listen or eye that can read. It’s also about that gut feeling that gets me to go to these kinds of shows and the exhilaration of being rewarded by a set of music nirvana in one of the most unlikely places I can think of. Ever since I started ranking the concerts that I see each year, my criteria for the number one slot has been music nirvana; that eyes closed, ears open, transcendent spot when hearing music replaces ever other sense I’ve got. Not many bands can take it to that level, but the few that do…damn are they special. Last year it took just about the biggest band on the planet to take me there. This year it was a little known indie-metal band from Brooklyn called Meek Is Murder. As I reflect on the past year of live music, I almost can’t believe that this tiny show in Fairfax is the one I keep coming back to as the best one I saw. But I can’t deny that it was. As big as The Foo Fighters or as legendary as Kyuss or as favorite to me as The Ex all are; it was Meek Is Murder and their incendiary sonics, passionate rage, and unpolished performance that takes the top prize. Check them out!

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“Meek Is Murder” by Michael Darpino

To check out my past lists click on the year:
2010, 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.

* I know, I know – why is this article a week late? – see paragraph two.
** No hard feelings Mastodon!

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We Love Music: The Foo Fighters @ Verizon Center, 11/11/11 http://www.welovedc.com/2011/11/15/we-love-music-the-foo-fighters-verizon-center-111111/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/11/15/we-love-music-the-foo-fighters-verizon-center-111111/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:00:34 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=77889
photos by Andrew Markowitz.

When We Love DC was i…

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photos by Andrew Markowitz.

When We Love DC was invited to cover The Foo Fighters on Friday night at the Verizon Center I offered it up to one of our other music writers because, frankly, I just don’t listen to their music too much. I have much respect for Dave Grohl and all of the interesting projects he is responsible for, or has been a part of, but of all the music he has made The Foo Fighters is the most vanilla to me. When compared to crap on mainstream radio The Foo Fighters shine as one of the last examples of successful good rock music. But when you stack the band’s output up against Killing Joke or Nirvana, Probot or Scream; I am much more interested in all of the above. So I was content to pass this show up (even though the triple bill with Social Distortion and The Joy Formidable was intriguing). Then last minute scheduling conflicts reared their ugly head and I ended up pinch hitting this one anyway.

So I found myself sitting in a damn good seat at the Verizon Center not really knowing what to expect. The Joy Formidable, Social Distortion, and The Foo Fighters are all bands that somehow I have never seen despite my prolific live music experiences and their reputations as excellent live acts. To be quite honest, like The Foo Fighters, Social Distortion is a band that although I respect I never really listen to either. I’m much more of a DK or Black Flag man when it comes to West Coast Punk. A friend of a friend has been trying to talk me into The Joy Formidable for a couple years now and I went into the show probably the most curious about them. A few days before the show I posted on FB about the show by saying, “I’m expecting to be either seriously impressed or completely bored.”

Guess which one it was?

I have to say that it is rare for me to enter into a show cold like this anymore. I know too much damn music to be surprised these days. I have seen just about everyone under the sun at this point (including bands I wish I hadn’t and bands I knew I shouldn’t). So the sheer coincidence of three notable bands, I haven’t seen before, playing together was pretty exciting to me. All week I tried to resist the urge to prep because I decided it would be best to go in completely cold. Of course I couldn’t help myself and by mid-week I was rocking out to The Foo Fighters’ latest “Wasted Light”* and The Joy Formidable’s “Big Roar”. No need to warm-up on Social Distortion since all their songs sound the same. If you’ve heard “Story of My Life”, you’ve heard them all.**

First up was The Joy Formidable; a power trio from North Wales with huge squalling guitars, deep bass, and a great live drummer fronted by female vocals that ranged from pretty to spunky. Having seen them now, I can see what that friend of a friend was so excited about by this band. The Joy Formidable harness that great shoegazer sound and inject it with Punk’s energy. There were times while watching lead singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan bounce around the stage that I felt like I was watching a truly great 80’s college radio band; she and her band-mate’s would fit right in along side Lush or Curve. In fact I’d say a cross between Lush and Curve could be a good way to describe this band. The highlight of their set was the finale. A titanic noise-wall that went on long enough to over-stay its welcome with most of the crowd. The size of my smile grew wider as the length of their noise-jam grew more ridiculous.

Next, Mike Ness led Social Distortion through a routine set of Social D standards. I know I have confessed to having never seen them live, but it was pretty obvious from the workmanlike performance that the band has performed this set a thousand times before. That said, the band sounded good and what the lacked in fire they made up for in set-list. If I am only ever going to see Social D perform once, I heard all of the Social D songs I would have hoped to hear in this set. They hit all of the “greatest hits” and closed with an excellent triple-play of “Prison Bound”, “Story of My Life”, and “Ring of Fire”.

During Social D’s set, Mike Ness said that, “The Foo Fighters play for 3 fucking hours. They’re fucking animals.” I thought, as I think many people did, that this was surely an exaggeration meant to pump up the crowd. Little did we know what Dave Grohl had in store for us. What followed was a 3-hour monster set by The Foo Fighters during which Dave Grohl reveled in the fact that he had finally sold-out the “big fucking venue in my home-town” and provided his hometown audience with possibly the best arena rock show they’ll ever see.***

Normally at this point I would give a blow-by-blow recap of the show and its many highlights. But this show was so full of surprises and genius rock showmanship that I feel to do so would be spoiling it.**** Just know that Dave Grohl is the spirit of rock & roll personified. He was so energetic and fucking stoked to be playing that big room that it was almost as if he willed it to be the greatest show on earth. It didn’t hurt that he had an excellent band backing him up, but really this concert was the Dave Grohl show. The man is a very special human being. He peppered stories, jokes, and observations through-out the night and constantly egged the crowd on to sing along and go crazy. You could see his huge smile from every corner of the Verizon Center and the sheer positivity beaming out of it was infectious. It made me think of Bad Brains “Attitude”; Dave Grohl got that PMA (positive mental attitude).

What most impressed me about the show though was how many of The Foo Fighters’ back catalog hits were rearranged for maximum theatrical effect. So many Foo Fighters songs are in the collective consciousness at this point that even without being a listen-at-home fan they are familiar. They are played so much, everywhere, that I know the words to songs like “Monkeywrench” or “Everlong” without even trying. So I was very taken with the live arrangements that would drop a guitar-vs-drums battle or a trippy jam in complete darkness into the middle of some of their biggest hits. This show was almost solo-crazy. To the point that some songs were stretched to their limits by them. Occasionally when the band would bring a song home after a 10 minute breakdown or freaky jam it was jarring to hear the chorus return. I’ll admit it was these crazy instrumental displays that I enjoyed the most. Now, granted I don’t know how much of these arrangements are regular parts of The Foo’s shows over the years. I hope many of them were unique to this tour because they sure felt special witnessing them in person.

The set list at a three hour show is going to be long and the band played every major single that I can recall. They also represented the new album “Wasted Light” by playing 6 or 7 songs off of it. This was fine by me since I think the new album is the best they’ve done. “Arlandria” was the most soul-stirring new song performed and featured one of Grohl’s best vocal turns of the show. “White Limo” was the most raw; the crowd seemed to tune-out a little during “White Limo” probably because it was the most ferocious and least friendly of the songs performed. In other words it was great; the song had a punk energy to it that was a decidedly different heat signature from the rest of their songs.

Punk wasn’t the only inspiration Grohl drew on however. I’d say that his love of Heavy Metal and particularly Metal showmanship was well represented on Friday night. Many of the solos and pull-out-all-the-stops instrumental explosions were text-book Metal glory reconfigured for Alt-rock purposes. The absolute highlight of the show is a prefect example of this. Grohl rushed down a runway to the far end of the Verizon Center and busted out an enormous guitar solo only to be answered by one from Chris Shiflett back on the main stage. This led to a multi-part guitar solo duel from opposite ends of the Verizon Center floor. The hugeness of their instrumentation was insane and that alone marks one of the coolest things I have seen live. But then to everyone’s surprise Grohl finished the battle by dropping to one knee while grinding his axe as the floor rose up under him. It was as if he were raising himself to the heavens with the power of his awesome guitar solo. By solo’s end he stood atop a second mini-stage at the back of the Verizon center as the undisputed winner of the battle. It was cheesy but only in retrospect. While it was happening it was one of the craziest, most effective, awesome things I have seen at a concert.

Even though The Foo Fighters set was three hours long and I don’t really consider myself a fan of their music, the show never felt long to me. I never tuned out or got bored with it. In fact it was the exact opposite. Grohl and his merry band had me completely captivated and highly entertained the entire time. I can honestly say that I didn’t want the show to end when it did. That’s one of the highest compliments I can give to a band and I can’t believe I just laid it on a band that I almost didn’t go see!

* For my money, “Wasted Light” is by far the most appealing album The Foo Fighters have done in their 16 year existence. I like almost every song and truly love two of them.

** Burn! Seriously though, I don’t think going beyond “White Light, White Heat, White Trash” is really necessary for the casual listener. That said, Social D’s sameness is a large part of their appeal for a lot of their fans who wrap Mike Ness’s tales of heart-ache and hard life around themselves like a warm blanket.

*** Unless they saw Muse in 2010.

**** Clue: A very special guest spot by an noise-rock legend from the mid-west who now lives in DC.

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Hot Ticket: The Foo Fighters @ Verizon Center, TONIGHT! http://www.welovedc.com/2011/11/11/hot-ticket-the-foo-fighters-verizon-center-tonight/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/11/11/hot-ticket-the-foo-fighters-verizon-center-tonight/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:00:39 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=77702
courtesy of Nasty Little Man.

Local boy done goo…

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courtesy of Nasty Little Man.

Local boy done good, Dave Grohl brings his hugely successful band The Foo Fighters back to the DMV tonight to headline a great triple bill at the Verizon Center.

For years the music industry has been saying that straight-ahead Rock music has no place left in the market place performing poorly on the charts and only appearing on the radio in snippets within grotesque multi-genre mutant songs. For Dave Grohl that message has been falling on deaf ears. One of the last champions of straight-forward rock music left on the radio, his band The Foo Fighters has been going strong for 17 years, most recently offering up the fantastic, back-to-basics album “Wasted Light”.

Recorded in a garage with his band-mates and some old pals (most notably Bob Mould*, Butch Vig, and Pat Smear) “Wasted Light” is a collection of barn-burning rock songs that drop all big studio pretense and trickery in a way that recalls the ‘Alternative Rock’ glory days of the early 90’s while also managing to sound amazingly refreshing amidst the current wasteland of crap-radio fare. Not that Grohl and The Foo Fighters needed it, but “Wasted Light” finds the group sounding reinvigorated and I’m expecting them to deliver a blistering rock show tonight.

Grohl is one of the coolest personalities in mainstream rock music. He takes advantage of his success to collaborate with and shine the spotlight on bands and musicians who he personally loves and/or was inspired by. The openers on this show are too cool to have happened by coincidence; I don’t think it is much of a leap to assume that Grohl had something to do with picking American Hardcore legends Social Distortion and on-the-rise, Welsh, noise-pop trio The Joy Formidable as his warm up acts. All told this show is stacked with quality music and is going to make for a fantastic night of rock & roll in the Nation’s Capital.

The Foo Fighters
Social Distortion and The Joy Formidable
@ Verizon Center
Tonight – 7:00pm
$57.50, 47.50, 37.50

* Dear Bob Mould, please be in town and do a guest-spot when they play “Dear Rosemary”.

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The Winning Ticket: DCWeek Opening Night Party http://www.welovedc.com/2011/11/01/the-winning-ticket-dcweek-opening-night-party/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/11/01/the-winning-ticket-dcweek-opening-night-party/#comments Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:00:01 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=77386

Today we are giving away a pair of tickets to atte…

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Today we are giving away a pair of tickets to attend the opening night party for DCWeek at the 9:30 Club on Friday night. Digital Capital Week is a week-long conference focused on bringing together designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and social innovators of all kinds. DCWeek offers an impressive schedule of lectures, discussions, and social mixers between November 4th and November 11th. To kick things off they are throwing a party at the 9:30 Club on Friday night with entertainment provided by some of DC’s finest up-and-coming bands. The party runs from 1030pm to 3am; featuring music from Teen Mom, Gregg Hammond Band, Modern Man, Ra Ra Rasputin, Drop Electric, The Silver Liners, Big/Bright, and Bonjour Ganesh!.

Note: This is a ticketed, private event after the scheduled Scratch Acid concert.

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 11am and 5pm today. One entry per email address, please. If today doesn’t turn out to be your lucky day, check back here each Wednesday for a chance to win tickets to other great concerts. Tickets for the DCWeek kick-off party are almost sold out but some are available here.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 4pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the 9:30 Club Guest List window one hour before doors open on the night of the concert. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

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Hot Ticket: Brandt Brauer Frick @ Red Palace, TONIGHT!!! http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/28/hot-ticket-brandt-brauer-frick-red-palace-tonight/ Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:00:24 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=77210

You gotta love that video and that sound!

Brandt

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You gotta love that video and that sound!

Brandt Brauer Frick are a trio of German musicians creating a unique sound that is often described as “acoustic techno”. Using primarily non-electronic instruments they craft intricate pieces that somehow find a common ground between classical music and the dance-floor. Their avant-garde concept and non-traditional approach seem intended for the more cerebral listener but through sheer charisma and compositional genius they manage to lend it a delightful pop sensation. On their latest album “Mr. Machine” BBF have expanded into a larger ‘ensemble’ to create a moody, rhythmic, cinematic masterwork.

It is a bit of a mystery whether or not the full ensemble will be on hand tonight. Word on the street though is that whatever formation Brandt Brauer Frick take in their live shows, they are always very special affairs that are not to be missed. BBF are in the US to perform at MoogFest in North Carolina this weekend and are hitting DC on their way down South. I highly recommend taking the time tonight to catch a rare US appearance by this one-of-a-kind band.

Brandt Brauer Frick
w/ Outputmessage (Live)
@ Red Palace
9pm – TONIGHT!
$10

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We Love Music: Drop The Lime @ U Street Music Hall, 10/20/11 http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/24/we-love-music-drop-the-lime-u-street-music-hall-102011/ Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:00:03 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=77102
courtesy of Drop The Lime.

On Thursday night, I d…

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courtesy of Drop The Lime.

On Thursday night, I descended into U Street Music Hall to catch the choice underground double bill of The Japanese Popstars and Drop The Lime. Both were billed as performing live so with The J-Popstars being hailed as the best new live electronica act from Ireland and Drop The Lime finally unveiling his rockabilly-meets-electro project I was expecting a pretty great time. The Japanese Popstars however failed to perform live at all; instead they delivered the weakest DJ set I have personally experienced at U Street Music Hall. Rumor has it they refused to perform live because the crowd was too small. This was a major disappointment but the night was ultimately salvaged thanks to the combination of Drop The Lime ripping the roof off of the place and local spinner DJ Stereofaith closing out the night with a strong electro set.

I had myself pretty excited for to see both acts by the time I stepped into U-Hall on Thursday night. The Japanese Popstars have terrific buzz and I had been listening to their 2008 debut album, “We Just Are”, all week. I was really expecting a cool show from them but as my wait for the show to begin got longer and longer, I began to realize that I was listening to The Japanese Popstars already. They were playing an uninspired set of music from the DJ booth. I wouldn’t really even call it a performance because it felt about as genuine as a celebrity I-pod shuffle guest spot. I asked around and the rumor on the dance-floor was that they had refused to perform live because the crowd wasn’t big enough. If that is true then The Japanese Popstars can go get stuffed. They should have checked their ego’s at the door and performed the real show; people paid to see them perform live and they let those people down.

What Drop The Lime and his live band did was about as opposite as you could possibly get from the lame disappointment that was The Japanese Popstars’ performance. Drop The Lime (live) delivered a passionate frenzy of noisy rock-n-roll with epic dance music structure and timing. The group consisted of Luca Venezia (DTL himself) on vocals, guitar, and sampler; an incredibly tight live drummer; and two beautiful back-up singers/dancers who proved to be much more than just a couple of pretty faces. Their entire set was drenched in sweaty sex appeal with Venezia looking super-cool wearing a black A-frame undershirt, black jeans, and guitar slung low across his torso; his dancers appeared to have walked right out of a 50’s pin-up calendar hung inside the lid of some auto-mechanic’s tool box. The combination of the band’s great look, their seemingly boundless energy on stage, and their unusual genre-hybrid sound had the audience captivated.

It was like Drop The Lime put a spell on us commanding our bodies to move even though our brains might not entirely be able to process his strange mixing of rockabilly, western guitar, and pulse-pounding dance beats. There were plenty of reference points mixed into the music such as some Ennio Morricone spaghetti western themes sampling, a song built around the “Ghost Riders In The Sky” guitar peel, and a dash of the “Peter Gunn” theme. Drop The Lime managed to build each song out of one of these types of references into an energetic rocker before surprising us with an explosive dance-music change-up or break-down. There were countless moments where the listeners were completely rocking out before a huge wall of electronic sound suddenly exploded all around them.

The most impressive thing about Drop The Lime was how and when he would deploy some of these standard dance music techniques to ratchet his rockabilly tunes to the next level. Case-in-point would be during the opening song “Hot As Hell”; the crowd was rocking right along with this straight forward rocker for a full three minutes before one of the pin-up dancers surprisingly busted out with a wailing harmonica solo that rivaled some of the best repetitive body-moving sounds in electronic dance music. We danced our tails off the entire show as Drop The Lime cherry-picked the best tricks from two very different and yet equally danceable genres that in most people’s minds are separated by five decades. Thankfully for us, in Drop The Lime’s mind the two genres not only simultaneously co-exist, they complement one another brilliantly.

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Q&A: Dan Haggis of The Wombats http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/21/qa-dan-haggis-of-the-wombats/ Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:00:51 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=76998
courtesy of The Wombats.

The Wombats are perfor

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courtesy of The Wombats.

The Wombats are performing at the 9:30 Club tonight, so we enlisted our music correspondent Mickey McCarter to have a chat with their drummer Dan Haggis about the group’s strong sophomore album and their biggest US tour to date.

Post-punk dancesmiths The Wombats, consisting of Matthew Murphy, Dan Haggis, and Tord Øverland-Knudsen, have mounted their first major tour of the United States and they are coming to the 9:30 Club for an early show on Friday. After inviting us to dance to Joy Division on their first album, “A Guide to Love Loss & Desperation”, The Wombats want us to dance some more on their second album, “This Modern Glitch”. The strong second album demonstrates that The Wombats are here to stay; they have grown their sound while staying true to the goal of making a great dance album.

We Love DC had a chat with drummer Dan Haggis to discuss the making of the new album, what it’s like to be a band from Liverpool, and a guilty pleasures on the dancefloor.


Mickey McCarter: You are about to embark on a major tour! Three weeks in the United States and Canada. How do you feel about it? Is must be exciting.

Dan Haggis: It’s the biggest US tour we have done to date. It’s every UK band’s dream to get on the road in America and to play as many different places as possible. So we are excited to get out there and see the US in all of its splendor and also to do shows for a lot of people who haven’t heard our music before and hopefully to convince a few people to come back and see us again.

MM: Well, I think the new album is going to sell them on you! I think it’s really good. Your second album sounds to me like you’ve matured as a band but you’ve still maintained a sense of fun.

DH: We wanted to move on from the first album. We didn’t want repeat the album and play drums, bass, and guitar in the same vein. So we pushed ourselves in every sense, trying to think things through from a slightly different angle and maybe be deeper and more personal. So the music just kind of grew out of that. We introduced lots of synths on the album. We tried to think it out and not restrain ourselves in any way. We wanted to keep some of the fun and excitement that we naturally have from playing live. I think we managed to get a good balance of the natural energy of the band along with a new, more interesting sound.

MM: Is the songwriting process among the three of you pretty collaborative? Do you work up ideas together or does somebody really own that process?

DH: The songs are really written by Murph. Some of the songs start with jams or one of us will send an idea over or Murph will come up with an idea. One song we did in the studio took us a while to finish. We realized that probably wasn’t the best way to do it. It took us about three months to finish off. We rewrote the chorus in the studio, but it turned out really well. That was “1996.” Every song is different really.

MM: You guys come from Liverpool, which is a city with a great musical heritage. When I think of bands from Liverpool, I think of the Beatles and Echo and the Bunnymen. Do you feel any pressure to live up to the great bands from Liverpool before you?

DH: We’re living in the shadow! But no, those bands helped put Liverpool on the map musically. We all studied at one time or another at this music college that was founded by Sir Paul McCartney. He and his fellow Beatles have done a huge amount for the city. It’s a positive thing. The Beatles became so big that everyone is musically influenced by them in some way. They influence so many artists over the years that it’s hard to separate it really. So coming from Liverpool is a very positive thing.

MM: Who are the bands influences? Outside of the Beatles, who do you look to?

DH: It’s kind of hard to form a list of what influences you. You can be influenced by someone who doesn’t sound anything like you. On this album, the influences that seem to come out were probably more Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode. But you listen to the end of “Schumacher the Champagne,” the last song on the album, and it sounds like something Crazy Horse could have done. It is a proper Neal Young-style rockout. So we just let whatever comes out come out really without trying to be too influenced by any one type of music.

MM: So you’re going to come to the 9:30 Club and play a show on Friday, but then you are going down the block to play a DJ set afterward at DC9. What sort of stuff do you like to spin on the dancefloor?

DH: Sometimes it depends on what mood we are in. But usually, the dancier the better. We will play anything from classic Fleetwood Mac right through to the Cure and Depeche Mode. And then for some 90s stuff, we will put on some Weezer and Blur and Nirvana. Then, we could play some Strokes and some guilty pleasures like Katy Perry and Rihanna or something to spice things up if the crowd is into pop music. And we’ll play electro things like Phoenix and Justice–whatever we are feeling. We end up having an iPod battle really!

MM: It sounds like you have a similar philosophy in everything you do in that you want to make people dance.

DH: Totally, especially in our DJ sets. One of the nicest things, isn’t it, to have a few drinks, lose your inhibitions and get onto the dance floor.

MM: Are you looking forward to anything in particular while you are in the United States?

DH: We have never played or been to Washington. I think we are really looking forward to going there. It’s a really important city so hopefully we will get to walk around and look at some of the landmarks. Some of our crew have been to the 9:30 Club, but we haven’t.

MM: It’s a really great club. For a first show in DC, you guys really landed in a great place.

DH: All of our friends who have been there say it’s one of the best club gigs they ever have done. They love it. So we are really looking forward to playing there. We also have some friends there that we studied with, including one guy whose nickname, funny enough, is DC. He used to live in Liverpool and hopefully we are going to meet up with him and his family. Apart from that, we are really looking forward to the road trip!

MM: After you finish this tour, do you go back to Europe and tour there? What’s next?

DH: We’ve got a European tour straight after this. We fly from Seattle to Brussels to start a three-week tour. We finish the year in Liverpool with three homecoming gigs at the Academy there. We have Christmas off to see our families and our girlfriends a bit! We are off January as well and we might go on holiday or something.

Then next year we will have to start thinking about the third album really. We haven’t really done anything on it so far. We have been working on making our shows as good as possible, so we haven’t had much time. So after January, there will be one eye on the future.

The Wombats
w/ The Postelles and Static Jacks
@ 9:30 Club
Tonight!! – 5PM
$15

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Hot Ticket: Drop The Lime @ U Street Music Hall – TONIGHT!!! http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/20/hot-ticket-drop-the-lime-u-street-music-hall-tonight/ Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:56:10 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=76966

Well now here is something you just don’t …

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Well now here is something you just don’t hear everyday. NYC’s Drop The Lime has somehow managed to perfect the unlikely fusion of banging electronic beats and classic Rockabilly to create a sound that feels completely new and 100% from the heart.

During he past decade Drop The Lime has gone from clawing his way up out of the New York City DJ minor leagues, to running the highly influential dance music label and club night Trouble & Bass. He’s made a name for himself as a chameleon-like international DJ that is as comfortable remixing mainstream dance moguls like Armand Van Helden or Moby as he is dropping cutting edge originals with an seemingly endless series of EPs and 12″s.

This year however Drop The Lime has unleashed his most original creation to date; a mutant blend of 50’s rock-n-roll and twisted electronic beats. What is most impressive about this new phase of Drop The Lime’s career is that his new sound is much more than just another studio creation; he has been hitting the road hard with a full live band and working the Brian Setzer-inspired vocal duties himself. Drop The Lime brings his new sound, his full live band, and his impeccable hair-style to U Street Music Hall tonight!

Drop The Lime (LIVE)
w/ Japanese Popstars & Stereofaith
@ U Street Music Hall
9/20 – 9pm
$10

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Hot Ticket: Jammin Java 10th Anniversary Bash! http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/14/hot-ticket-jammin-java-10th-anniversary-bash/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/14/hot-ticket-jammin-java-10th-anniversary-bash/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:38:05 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=76712

Saturday night marks the 10th Anniversary of th…

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Saturday night marks the 10th Anniversary of the opening of Jammin Java, one of Northern Virginia’s best kept secrets, and to celebrate they are throwing an anniversary bash. Whether you’re a longtime fan of this coffee shop turned initmate concert hall or have never been exposed to their funky blend of caffeine and live tunes, Saturday’s party promises to be an excellent way to celebrate this unique venue or to check it out for the first time.

The entertaiment for the night centers on local music hero Luke Brindley; who will be performing solo, as part of The Brindley Brothers reunion, and headlining with his group Deep River. After the Brindley-palooza, DJs will be dropping some science with a dance party into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Jammin Java 10th Anniversary Bash!
Deep River
w/ The Brindley Brothers (reunion) & Luke Brindley (solo)
@ Jammin Java
227 Maple Ave E
Vienna, VA 22180
8pm – $15

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Q&A with Debbi Peterson of The Bangles http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/06/qa-debbi-peterson-of-the-bangles/ Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:00:10 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=76341
courtesy of MSO PR.

The Bangles are performing a

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courtesy of MSO PR.

The Bangles are performing at the 9:30 Club tonight so we asked our 80’s/New Wave correspondent Mickey McCarter if he’d like to have a little chat with Debbi Peterson about the band’s past, present, and future.

The Bangles, founded by sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson along with Susanna Hoffs, have returned with a new album, ‘Sweetheart of the Sun’. To borrow a phrase from their previous album, they perhaps started a “doll revolution” with a tide of girl bands that began in the early 1980s and that really took hold in the 1990s. Hitmaker Prince liked the The Bangles so much that he gave them the song “Manic Monday,” which became one of their most memorable hits in 1986.

The Bangles have been touring a lot in the past decade and now they are back at the 9:30 Club on Thursday, October 6. We Love DC chatted with the lovely drummer Debbi, who is so refreshingly bubbly and modest, about breaking up and reforming the band, making an album without bassist Michael Steele, and what’s next for The Bangles.

Mickey McCarter: The new album hangs together so well and really snaps in my opinion. Do you have any reflections on how it came together?

Debbie Peterson: It’s great that you say that! It took about two years to make it. After ‘Doll Revolution’, we were touring for a while and trying to find another bass player because Michael left. We were going out and doing shows and not really focusing on another record yet. All of the sudden, we woke up and said let’s make another record! C’mon let’s do it!

We pulled together a lot of songs. Some were brand-spanking new and some were from the early ‘90s and some from the early 2000s. We had a whole collection of songs and we went through them all and recorded them. Oddly enough, we did this record a different way. We worked at Matthew Sweet’s studio and did all of the basic tracks there. It was just drums and Vicki’s guitar for the most part. So that was interesting. It was kind of like the White Stripes.

We weren’t sure how it was going to come together. It was very disjointed for a while. We moved to different places. Susanna has a studio at her house and Vicki has one at hers now. We weren’t even sure about it but the more we worked on it, the more it fell into place. We found that there is this theme that runs through the whole record of southern California and sunshine and all of the things we were brought out.

MM: When I was listening to the album again just before you called and I thought there was a lot of visualization. There is a lot of the listener being asked to see something. It comes together so easily that I was wondering if that were on purpose.

DP: That’s something that just happened. We had so many different songs at different periods of time. So maybe it is kind of introspective. It does make you look and feel because we have so many different eras of songs. For example, “Ball and Chain” was written in 1993. “Mesmerized” was from the early 2000s or the late 1990s.

It is interesting that you say it makes you want to look. That’s great. I like that.

MM: It’s pleasant and it manages to rock a little bit.

DP: It’s a little bit of sweet and tough there for you! Some of the sounds are a little more melancholy too. They sound sweet but they are not necessarily happy themes. So there is a little bit of darkness in there too. It runs the gauntlet with a lot of different emotions.

MM: Are you excited about the tour? What are you looking forward to?

DP:
I am excited about that. We always like coming to the East Coast and the Midwest. We also are excited about doing about five songs off this record that we haven’t played live yet. So that’s a big thrill for us.

MM:
Are there any songs that you particularly enjoy playing?

DP: I enjoy playing “Anna Lee (Sweetheart of the Sun).” And also “Ball ‘n’ Chain,” which is a bit of a rocker. As for older songs, I love “Hazy Shade of Winter” and I like “September Girls.”

MM: I don’t mean to state the obvious for an all-woman band, but you are a female drummer. I still think that’s unusual. You don’t see it a lot. Do you have any reflections on being a female drummer? Do get inspiration from male drummers or do you look to other female musicians?

DP: It’s crazy that it’s still kind of rare. It really amazes me. I thought by now there would be loads more of them. There are a few all-girl bands like Antigone Rising and a band called Sick of Sarah and others. I am glad we are getting to know these other ladies that are out there rocking and there are female drummers too, so that’s great. But I’m still surprised that there are not that many.

I was influenced a lot by men growing up because there were not a lot of choices when I was young. I am still thrilled when young girls come up to me and say I really want to learn to play drums! You’ve really inspired me.

MM: Who are your favorite drummers and musicians?

DP: There are always Ringo Starr and Charlie Watts. Bruce Gary from the Knack was a very big inspiration for me. Sheila E is a big inspiration. A lot of them are men. I wanted to be a bass player at first because of Paul McCartney and his bass playing.

MM: I think The Bangles deserve a lot of credit for bringing female musicians in general to the forefront. But it’s interesting to me in the 1990s, what so many people consider to be the decade of the female singer-songwriter. And The Bangles sat that decade out, which is kind of ironic a little bit. I really think you helped inspire it. A lot of folks were inspired by the example of female bands that came out and had a powerful influence like you and the Go-Go’s in the decade before.

DP: It is ironic. It’s weird. That just happened. We broke up in 1989. We were done. We were done with each other. We were done going on the road. We needed a break. We needed to work with other people.

But yeah, it is kind of ironic how we weren’t around for that decade. We were doing other work with other people.

MM: You’ll be here in Washington, DC, Thursday. Is there anything you are looking forward to in Washington in particular? Do you take time to see the sights?

DP: Probably not so much on this tour, but I do want to share a great memory. In the 1980s one time when we were in Washington, DC — sometime around 1984 or 1985, we were out jogging, which is something normally we like to do if we have the time to go out and we get to see the sights and we get some exercise at the same time. So we were out jogging and all of the sudden this convertible drives up at a stoplight. And we hear this song and we all look at each other like, I know this song, what is this song? What is it? And then we realized it was “Manic Monday.” And we all screamed and jumped up and down right in front of the White House.

It was one of those moments in time that we still remember to this day when we knew we had broken through.

MM: So many people still remember you for “Manic Monday” and “Walk Like An Egyptian?” Do you get tired of the praise for the older songs?

DP: It’s great that we have that history. We are lucky that we got that. It’s always nice to say we are still making music and it’s not just about those hits. We are not a nostalgia band. We don’t do a Tribute to The Bangles. We are creating new music.

MM: And obviously there will be a new album in the next couple of years then?

DP: Yeah, like the time between ‘Doll Revolution’ and this record was about eight years. Yeah, we are going to get something out sooner next time. We won’t wait that long!

The Bangles
w/ Antigone Rising
@ 9:30 Club
TONIGHT – 7pm
$25

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We Love Music: The Horrors @ Black Cat, 9/30 http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/05/we-love-music-the-horrors-black-cat-930/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/10/05/we-love-music-the-horrors-black-cat-930/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:00:15 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=76282
photo courtesy of The Horrors.

Our friend Ali Li

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photo courtesy of The Horrors.

Our friend Ali Lieberman covered The Horrors concert at The Black Cat for us on Friday night.

It’s incredible what three years can do. In 2009, the British band The Horrors opened for the Kills at the 9:30 Club with a presence that could barely fill the stage. They had a unique, campy, goth persona with teased black hair, eyeliner, and death-driven pseudonyms. Fast forward to last Friday night at the Black Cat where they were barely recognizable as the black-clad, emo quintet they once were.

The group took to the stage with the first track off their latest album ‘Skying’, a clean and melodic strain featuring lead singer Faris Badwan’s Bowie-like vocals subtly laced through a tightly intertwined guitar and synth. Their transition into crowd favorite “Who Can Say” from 2007’s ‘Primary Colours’ showed a stark juxtaposition. The fans who adopted them in their goth rock glory days must be shifting uncomfortably with their latest sound rather than head-bobbing with the newly acquired fans. There were a few faces of disappointment in the crowd and shouted requests for their earlier stuff.

Depending on how you look at it, the band has either progressed or rescinded from their dark, melodramatic, post-punk schtick to a shoegazing, new wave resonance slowly inching towards mainstream. Aside from Farris, the members have traded in their black leather for 70’s-style geek attire.

Tom Cowan, a whiz on the synth, could have been processing TPS reports in his short sleeve button-up shirt and glasses. His intensity was noticeable as he methodically maneuvered the atmosphere between the sprawling ‘Skying’ tracks to ‘Primary Colours’’ punchy “gothabilly.” They neglected songs from their debut album, but played a well composed and captivating set.

One highlight from the night featured the lengthy “Sea Within a Sea”; clocking in at just under eight minutes with guitarist Joshua Hayward stretching out magnetic feedback while Cowan pulsated in and out on the synth until finally climaxing into the euphoric opening of “Still Life”; the first single released off ‘Skying’. Drummer Joe Spurgeon emerged on the barely lit stage during “Monica Gems” while bassist Rhys Webb jammed through the demanded encore on “Moving Further Away”.

There’s no question The Horrors have altered their image and seem to be maturing while loosing a little of their trademark quirk. The band that once had the stylings of a 1960s monster movie now sounds like the featured artist on the closing credits to a John Hughes movie. They are fully expanding their presence both on stage and in the indie-rock scene, but they’re running the risk of disillusioning their early followers along the way.

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We Love Music: Peter Hook presents “Closer” @ 9:30 Club, 9/21/11 http://www.welovedc.com/2011/09/23/we-love-music-peter-hook-the-light-present-closer-930-club-92111/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/09/23/we-love-music-peter-hook-the-light-present-closer-930-club-92111/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:00:31 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=75859
Last December, Peter Hook (formerly of Joy Divi…

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Last December, Peter Hook (formerly of Joy Division and New Order) brought his band The Light to the 9:30 Club and performed the Joy Division album “Unknown Pleasures” in its entirety plus a handful of ancillary Joy Division songs. Just about everyone in attendance went in to that show skeptical and curious about Hook’s audacious move; essentially performing as Joy Division without any of the other surviving members and seemingly dancing on deceased lead singer Ian Curtis’ grave. Hook and his band stunned the audience by playing a bullet-proof set that was as raucous as it was reverent. That show proved without a doubt that the world has longed to hear these songs performed live again and that Peter Hook is full of passion for the material he, Ian, and the others wrote 30 years ago.

On Wednesday night, Hooky brought The Light back to the 9:30 Club to continue the Joy Division revival tour. This time they would be performing the Joy Division classic album “Closer” in full. This time around the show had a positive buzz and even brought out a few Joy Division fans who skipped the first show due to sheer disbelief but had since heard Hook was doing the band’s memory justice. So the atmosphere inside the club was much more positive this time around. Everyone, including myself, expected a good show, one that would hopefully match the caliber of the “Unknown Pleasures” set. Peter Hook & The Light delivered an excellent show this time and a great time was had by all; however I can’t help but compare it to their previous show and this week’s performance didn’t quite match last year’s triumph.

“Closer” is considered Joy Division’s masterpiece album by many. There is no doubt that the album is better produced and the songs are much more ambitious and complex than “Unknown Pleasures”. I think therein lies the main limitations to Wednesday’s show. For one, The Light although a very good band didn’t quite seem up to the full instrumental challenge of performing “Closer”. In particular, I felt that the rhythm section played it too loose and organic to really match the great robotic feel of the album. The Light performed much better when they dipped into Joy Division’s singles and revisited some “Unknown Pleasures” tracks during their extended encore.

This is just the nature of the two albums though. “Unknown Pleasures” is a much more straight forward post-punk album and translates really well to a live show. As I noted when reviewing last year’s show, if anything Peter Hook’s performance revitalized these songs and reminded the world that Joy Division could really kick up a racket. “Closer” on the other hand is an epic album. As a friend of mine put it after the show, “‘Closer’ live might not even sound right if Joy Division themselves performed it for us with Martin Hannett (famous Factory Records producer) manning the sound board!”

All told though, while performing “Closer” certainly seemed to test the limits of The Light’s instrumental prowess, the concert was a heck of a lot of fun. Once again the band surprised by opening with some interesting Joy Division back catalog. We were all surprised to hear them begin with the instrumental “Incubation”. They followed this oddity up by playing “Dead Souls”, “Autosuggestion”, and “From Safety to Where”. I was impressed to hear some non-album tracks that we had not heard the last time around. I think choosing to open with these interesting songs is further evidence of Peter Hook putting effort and thought into these shows and not doing them as a crass cash grab.

The album portion of the set followed. The highlight was the stretch of songs “A Means to an End”, “Heart and Soul”, and “Twenty-Four Hours”. I might go so far as to say I like their live rendition of “A Means to an End” better than the album version. Mainly because Hook really seemed to relish screaming the lines “I always looked to you…I put my trust in you….” By far the best part of the full album segment of the show was their performance of “Twenty-Four Hours” (the best song on “Closer”). the entire band came together in a way during this song that just wasn’t quite there on the rest of the album tracks. As an encore Hook led the band through a phenomenal set of singles and “Unknown Pleasures” songs that actually eclipsed their main set and gave first time audience members a glimpse of how awesome it was to experience last year’s show. While this show wasn’t quite as impressive as their last, it was still very fine entertainment and I would pay to see Peter Hook & The Light tackle Joy Division again.

This photo of the set list from this show is floating around online. It lists several post-“Closer” songs at the end. This is the actual set list sheet from the show but the songs at the end are wrong. They changed the encore setlist on the fly. The actual songs played were:

Digital
Disorder
She’s Lost Control
Shadowplay
Transmission
Love Will Tear Us Apart

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We Love Music: Clutch @ Red Palace, 9/18/11 http://www.welovedc.com/2011/09/22/we-love-music-clutch-red-palace-91811/ Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:00:40 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=75768 IMG_2285b
all photos by author.

This a concert review that …

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IMG_2285b
all photos by author.

This a concert review that is more about a beer than a band. Rather, this is a beer review that is more about a band than a beer. Or how about, this is a review that is about a beer that is named after a band who played a concert in honor of their beer. The band and the beer are called Clutch. The beer hails from Colorado. The band has its roots in Maryland. The concert in honor of the beer was at The Red Palace in Washington DC. The events that follow took place on Sunday night.* It was awesome and I’m sorry you weren’t there.

But really few people were. The performance space at Red Palace was full of people but since it’s a tiny space it could only hold so many. All told about a 150 lucky Clutch fans piled into the Red Palace for a free show by the band. So relatively speaking to the Red Palace, there were ‘a lot’ of people there. But compared to your standard Clutch show at 9:30 Club (or at HFStival the day before), you could say this beer show was quite exclusive. But exclusive sounds kind of stuck up and this event was far from that. In fact I would describe Clutch the band and this event as the complete opposite of stuck up. So instead let’s describe this concert with one of the region’s, nay, the country’s best rock bands as limited edition. I like that. Music collectors enjoy things that are limited edition. Usually we’d use the term to describe an object, but I think it’s safe to use it to describe this intimate free concert. I mean how often do you get to pile into a tiny room for free, drink a mighty tasty beer designed by one of your favorite bands, then listen to them play five or six rare ‘acoustic’ arrangements, before having your face rocked off when they unleash Pure Electric Rock Fury in the form of monster jam versions of some of your favorite tunes?


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All anyone really knew about this event was that it was a beer launch for a beer designed Clutch and that the members of the band would be in attendance. We knew it was free. We knew space was limited. We assumed there would be music. And then we heard rumors it was an acoustic mini-set. Which in and of itself would be freaking cool to see. If you know Clutch’s music, it is hard-charging plugged in rock-n-roll. The band isn’t exactly known for acoustic performance. In fact I think they just had their very first acoustic in-store performance a few days before. So seeing a mini-acoustic set by Clutch was a rarity in its own right and that was enough to pique my interest.

The line was long to get into Red Palace, but moved fast and it looked like everyone who wanted to get in got access. At least from the initial line; people may have been turned away later. The Red Palace felt a little less than capacity but comfortably full. True to the flyers, members of Clutch were mixing it up with the crowd. Shaking hands and smiling with gratitude as fans congratulated them on getting a beer named after them.

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A mighty fine beer I might add. I would call it a chocolatey stout.** It came in 22oz bottles at $20 a pop. Normally I would balk at this price, but I considered buying a bottle my cover charge for the free Clutch performance. I got two and a half glasses out of the bottle and a decent buzz before the show started.

One of the owners of New Belgium Brewery (and a self-proclaimed life-long Clutch fan) introduced the band and presented them with a special bottle of Clutch: Dark Sour Ale with the production line number “10001110101” (PS- this is the title of an amazing Clutch song). The New Belgium Brewery owner said that as a beer brewer and as a music fan creating the Clutch beer is the pinnacle achievement of his career and presenting the band with it was one of the coolest moments of his life.

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With that Clutch took to the stage and played “half a dozen of these acoustic songs before” they “figured something else out.” For Clutch acoustic really means Tim Sult switched his electric guitar for an acoustic and the rest of the band stay plugged in. So not quite an old school “MTV Unplugged” but it did force the band to rearrange the songs in a way that really accentuated Clutch’s blues-rock elements. “Regulator” and “Who’s Been Talking?” sounded great but their album versions are admittedly pretty acoustically arranged to begin with. I think my favorite of the acoustic songs was “Abraham Lincoln” because it felt the most distant from its album version. Plus when Clutch does songs such as “Abraham Lincoln” or “I Have The Body Of John Wilkes Booth” I always picture front man Neil Fallon as some kind of touring rock musician cum armchair Civil War scholar.***

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With the acoustic set wrapped up, Neil and his band mates all sort of looked at each other and I guess passed signals like baseball base coaches or something. Because they worked out a set list on the fly pretty quickly as they plugged in and re-tuned for the unexpected and special treat of full electric Clutch doing what Clutch does best: rocking faces…off.

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The audience, myself included, were quickly swept up in the furious whirlwind of unadulterated Clutch power. Not only did Clutch burn through about six or seven songs (including a new one), they did so in a loose jam-oriented way that made this special intimate concert even more unique. Jean-Paul Gaster in particular was on fire making each song his own and inserting not one but two SICK extended drum solos into the set. Often the band would use jamming as transitions to the next song, creating the effect of super medleys. The best of all being the “Big News I” into “Big News II” monster-jam.

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With a small special event like this, you have to figure the crowd are going to be into it. The audience did not disappoint. From joking around with Neil between songs to going absolutely bat shit crazy during the plugged-in songs the crowd were ‘plugged in’ the entire time. The band seemed to have as much fun playing for their die hard fans as the audience had listening to them rock out. It was a class act event all the way around and I have to say, this was one of my favorite events of the year.

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* The event to launch the New Belgium Brewery beer flavor “Clutch: Dark Sour Ale” was originally set to take place in August; it was rescheduled due to the hurricane to take place this past Sunday. I am really glad that it was rescheduled; if it had taken place in August I would have had to miss it while I helped my wife protect our newborn son from Irene.

** We Love Drinks described Clutch: Dark Sour Ale much more eloquently.

*** While this image does amuse me, it would also be so fucking bad ass if it were true.

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We Love Music: Atari Teenage Riot @ 9:30 Club, 9/17/11 http://www.welovedc.com/2011/09/19/we-love-music-atari-teenage-riot-930-club-91711/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/09/19/we-love-music-atari-teenage-riot-930-club-91711/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:00:53 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=75556 IMG_2182
all photos by author.

Pure energy. What else can …

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IMG_2182
all photos by author.

Pure energy. What else can I say?


Atari Teenage Riot returned to the 9:30 Club on Saturday night for their first appearance there since their awe-inspiring performance in 1999. It could be said that their sold-out show in 1999 was the pinnacle of this German underground noise-attack act’s popularity in the United States. Anarchy reigned that night as ATR unleashed their super-fast, ultra-dense heavy beat on a crowd primed for chaos. I had never seen a crowd go that ape-shit at the ‘new’ 9:30 Club before and I haven’t since. That was ATR’s last U.S. tour and the band dissolved a few years later.

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Almost exactly a year ago, Alec Empire brought a reformed Atari Teenage Riot to Baltimore as part of a limited tour in small venues. I reviewed that show and expressed most of my thoughts about why Alec has brought the band back in that review. Since last September, I witnessed ATR destroy at a large sold-out concert in London and they have released a superb new album entitled “Is This Hyperreal?”. The concert at 9:30 Club on Saturday night was part of their tour in support of the the new album.

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Going into Saturday’s show, I knew that the band are still playing true to form and that the new album was full of solid material. The big question mark for me was what would the crowd be like? Would the club be packed like in 1999 or would the band’s decade of inaction hurt the turn-out? And if the club was near-empty, would it hurt the ATR’s performance?

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It turned out that the floor of the club was about half-full and the balconies were almost empty, save a few people who wanted to avoid any festivities on the floor. Those who were in attendance were all die hard fans though, with an equal mix of Digital Hardcore veterans and younger fans who were finally getting the chance to see these 90’s underground heroes. The crowd although on the small side for the big club did the band complete justice and ATR returned the favor in full by blowing the place apart.

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Atari Teenage Riot played a set that was an equal mix of the new album and classic material. They performed with a table sloppy with wire-tangles and gadgets that each of the trio took turns noodling with. The mess of table-top gear surrounded by the empty stage transformed the feel of the club from that of the nation’s top venue to being in someone’s basement filled with bootlegged, rummage sale electronics.

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The tri-vocal attack was in full effect all night but the show was most exciting when Alec Empire, the group’s founder and last original member, was on the mic. There is a quality to Empire’s outrage and energy that makes him completely convincing. Every audience I’ve seen him perform for seems compelled by this genuine quality to go along with Empire wherever he takes them. It was no different on Saturday when he hyped the audience up with flying jump kicks and hand motions before going off on a somewhat goofy rant about cell-phones in the middle of the show. By that time, we were all so into the high energy of the music and Alec’s kung-fu antics that we probably would have cheered in agreement to almost anything he said.

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Which really gets to the point of why I love this band so much. The music really is about the blending of heavy dance beats and noise into an almost unrecognizable hybrid sound that your body cannot resist. Like a crowd-control sound cannon, you can only consciously withstand digital hardcore for so long before your reflexes react and your body begins to move uncontrollably. I am sure for some listeners, the radical politics of the group are much more important than they are to me. For me the main attraction is Atari Teenage Riot’s unrelenting, beat-driven, noise assault and that is what they delivered in its purest and best form on Saturday night.

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Clutch the band introduces Clutch the beer http://www.welovedc.com/2011/09/16/clutch-the-band-introduces-clutch-the-beer/ Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:00:34 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=75485
courtesy of NBB.

Clutch just may be the most bad a…

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courtesy of NBB.

Clutch just may be the most bad ass band to have ever come out of these parts (hailing from Germantown, MD and making 9:30 Club their home). Now this bad ass band has teamed up with New Belgium Brewing (of Colorado) to design their own bad ass beer: “Clutch Dark Sour Ale”.

To celebrate their eponymous libation, Clutch are hosting a free launch party at Red Palace on Sunday night. On hand will be ample supplies of Clutch Dark Sour Ale and all the members of the band to mix it up with their fans and fellow beer aficionados. Rumor has it that Clutch will perform some kind of acoustic set for the lucky fans who gain access to this first come, first serve – 200 capacity event. For fans of a band that normally fills the 9:30 Club with ease, this intimate performance will be a very special event. My advice – get in line early. Good luck!

Clutch: The Band, The Beer
@ Red Palace
Sunday, September 18
7pm doors / 8pm show
21+ / First Come, First Serve

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Hot Ticket: Atari Teenage Riot @ 9:30 Club, 9/17/11 http://www.welovedc.com/2011/09/15/hot-ticket-atari-teenage-riot-930-club-91711/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/09/15/hot-ticket-atari-teenage-riot-930-club-91711/#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:00:22 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=75444

This Saturday Alec Empire brings his reconfigu…

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This Saturday Alec Empire brings his reconfigured and reactivated digital hardcore terror cell, Atari Teenage Riot, back to the 9:30 Club for the first time in over a decade. For old school DC-area fans like myself, this show is Alec bringing ATR back to the place where all the DHR madness began. For a whole new generation of fans, Saturday’s show is a chance to see this truly ground-breaking ultra-heavy beat attack squad for the first time.

In 1997, Atari Teenage Riot played to a painfully empty 9:30 Club. In 1999, they returned and played for a sold out club packed with FANATICAL fans. I was at both shows. From what I have seen at 9:30 Club over the years, the ATR ’99 show is unmatched in its aural intensity and audience insanity. As far as I’m concerned, Atari Teenage Riot left their mark on that place like no other band. Atari Teenage Riot returned last year with a very intimate, in-your-face show in Baltimore where they proved that the band sounds just as alien and aggressive as ever. Last year, I thought that show was a quick victory lap celebrating Alec Empire’s impact on digital music making. But then I caught ATR in London this May and they sold-out a club the size of 9:30 Club, proving (internationally at least) that their political-rant, digital-noise approach still has a strong following. I am really curious how their 10-year hiatus will affect their ability to fill the 9:30 Club this Saturday. Will it be another (almost) personal viewing like in ’97 or will it be a jam-packed, orgy of beats and violence ala ’99?

Based on the two recent ATR shows I’ve seen, one thing is certain; regardless of who does or doesn’t show-up on Saturday, Atari Teenage Riot is going to bring the noise in a way that few are capable of matching. This one is a can’t miss for fans of extreme music, electronic innovation, and good old fashioned musical catharsis.

Atari Teenage Riot
w/ Otto Von Schirach
@ 9:30 Club
6PM$25

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The Winning Ticket: Gomez http://www.welovedc.com/2011/07/07/the-winning-ticket-gomez/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/07/07/the-winning-ticket-gomez/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:00:07 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=72591

As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Lov

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As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a 9:30 Club concert to one lucky reader each week.

This week we are giving away a pair of tickets to see Gomez perform at the 9:30 Club on Monday, July 18th. These guys debuted at the tail end of the Brit-Pop explosion and have kept their sound upbeat and eclectic over the years thanks to their multiple songwriter approach and rotating vocal duties. Gomez are touring behind their terrific new album “Whatever’s On Your Mind” but you’ve also got to hope they play this one…

Airstream Driver from Gomez on Vimeo.

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 9am and 4pm today. One entry per email address, please. If today doesn’t turn out to be your lucky day, check back here each Wednesday for a chance to win tickets to other great concerts. Tickets for this concert are available on Ticketfly.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 4pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email in 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the 9:30 Club Guest List window one hour before doors open on the night of the concert. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

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The Winning Ticket: Rx Bandits http://www.welovedc.com/2011/06/29/the-winning-ticket-rx-bandits/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/06/29/the-winning-ticket-rx-bandits/#comments Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:00:41 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=72270

As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Lov

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As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a 9:30 Club concert to one lucky reader each week. Check back here every Wednesday morning at 9am to find out what tickets we’re giving away and leave a comment for your chance to be the lucky winner!

This week we are giving away a pair of tickets to see Rx Bandits perform at 9:30 Club on Saturday, July 9th. I haven’t really followed Rx Bandits since they emerged from the ska-punk scene back in the day, but from the tour preview below, it looks and sounds like they have developed into a more sonically daring group with a harder edge. What you’ll also see in the preview below is that this is actually a pretty nice triple-bill with Maps & Atlases and Zechs Marquise (a band who have a great referential name and an awesome sound that I will be tracking down more of ASAP). Also as you can read on the image above, this is Rx Bandits’ final tour, so these free tickets are probably your last chance to catch them until the inevitable reunion tour ten to fifteen years from now.

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 9am and 4pm today. One entry per email address, please. If today doesn’t turn out to be your lucky day, check back here each Wednesday for a chance to win tickets to other great concerts. Tickets for this concert are available on Ticketfly.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 4pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email in 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the 9:30 Club Guest List window one hour before doors open on the night of the concert. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

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Hot Ticket: Dinosaur Jr. w/ OFF! @ 9:30 Club, 6/25/11 http://www.welovedc.com/2011/06/24/hot-ticket-off-w-dinosaur-jr-930-club-62511/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/06/24/hot-ticket-off-w-dinosaur-jr-930-club-62511/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:00:59 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=72103

On Saturday night the 9:30 Club has the fixings f…

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On Saturday night the 9:30 Club has the fixings for the tastiest show of the week.

Ingredients:

– One legendary noise-rock band (Dinosaur Jr.) performing their most revered album (“Bug”) in its entirety.
– One hardcore icon (Henry Rollins) interviewing the same legendary noise-rock band (Dinosaur Jr.) live on-stage.
– One hardcore super-group lead by Keith Morris setting the whole party OFF! with a bang.

Optional Ingredients:
– Both lead singers of the legendary punk outfit Black Flag under the
same roof.*

There are going to be more legends and icons in the house on Saturday night then my brain can compute. This show gets a resounding “HELL YEAH!” from me. It will be a fantastic confluence of amazing musical personalities and mind-blowing sonic intensity. Do yourself a favor and get on these tickets ASAP!

Dinosaur Jr.
w/ OFF! and Henry Rollins
@ 9:30 Club
6/25 – 8pm
$30

* The last time this happened was the West Memphis Three benefit concert and it was fucking magic.

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The Winning Ticket: Grupo Fantasma http://www.welovedc.com/2011/06/22/the-winning-ticket-grupo-fantasma/ http://www.welovedc.com/2011/06/22/the-winning-ticket-grupo-fantasma/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:00:35 +0000 http://www.welovedc.com/?p=72037

As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Lov

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As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a 9:30 Club concert to one lucky reader each week. Check back here every Wednesday morning at 9am to find out what tickets we’re giving away and leave a comment for your chance to be the lucky winner!

This week we are raffling off a pair of tickets to see Grupo Fantasma perform at the 9:30 Club tomorrow night! This Latin funk super-group has been cranking out quality tunes for ten years and are taking a victory lap tour after winning the Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album Grammy for their album “El Existential” last year. Check out one of their Grammy winning songs in this video and if you like what you hear, enter to win these tix!

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 9am and 4pm today. One entry per email address, please. If today doesn’t turn out to be your lucky day, check back here each Wednesday for a chance to win tickets to other great concerts. Tickets for this concert are available on Ticketfly.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 4pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email by Noon on Thursday or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the 9:30 Club Guest List window one hour before doors open on the night of the concert. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

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