Spacer Ace / Shoreway / Herzog
Oboe is a residence / art space that occasionally does shows and one-act plays. It was my first time there and I hope they continue this sort of thing. Cleveland can always use more DIY venues. There's nothing quite like the atmosphere of a house show. There's more anticipation for the bands to play. No drum mics or drink tickets. The bands just set up and play. People are there to hang with their friends, sing along with the lyrics, and drink out of brown bags.
I saw Spacer Ace once before and I remember thinking they were trying to imitate an '80s hair metal band. Recently I heard a few recorded songs and now I think more highly of them. They remind me of a thrashier version of the Marked Men. While it might be fairly easy to try to sound like the Marked Men, it is in fact very difficult to sound as good as the Marked Men. Spacer Ace are really close to that level of goodness as on this particular Wednesday night they ripped through their set like they were late for work. They even forgot to play one new song on their set list. There is still some heavy thrash riffage in their songs, but its mixed with a solid garage rock vibe that makes the songs whiz by before you can realize how great the melodies are. It's great when a band leaves you wanting more. I'm looking forward to seeing them again soon.
There are some familiar faces in Shoreway. You could call them ex-Casual Encounters or ex-a bunch of other Cleveland bands. Like Casual Encounters, Shoreway has a great band name and the songs sound really tight, but like the time I saw Casual Encounters I could barely make out the vocals and there's always a few redundant parts spread throughout their tunes though there's equally as many great moments. I really hope this band does not resemble Casual Encounters in the aspect that Casual Encounters broke up before they got to the point where they wrote songs full of the good parts and lost the forgettable stuff. The first two songs of Shoreway's set really rocked, but from there on out only parts of songs made my ears perk up. When one such song started I was sure they were covering the Tom Petty classic "American Girl", but it quickly became its own song. After it concluded another crowd member yelled out that he had that very same thought, not that it's not a bad thing to sound like Tom Petty. I think Shoreway are still working out the kinks just like most bands that have been around less than a year. But don't get me wrong, Shoreway are definitely worth seeing (check them out Nov 23 at the Happy Dog), I just think they'll get a lot better on their next record if they can manage to not break up before then.
Herzog are golden. They played a few songs from the usual set and then played a brand new really heavy rocker of a track. I mean really heavy. And then they ended their set with "War Pigs." They rocked the place hard. It was nothing short of epic. It's been fun hearing them play the Black Sabbath classic, but their own songs are just as much fun to hear so I hope ending their sets with it are a temporary thing. Look for a week long tour from them some time in December and a two week stint on the road next spring, but more importantly grab their new LP Cartoon Violence at their record release show Nov. 23 at the Happy Dog. Click here to listen to another song from Cartoon Violence very appropriately titled "Fuck This Year" courtesy of the excellent I Rock Cleveland blog.
10/16/2011 @ Beachland Tavern
Founding Fathers / Underground Railroad to Candyland / Screaming Females
As I walked in I heard the final song of Founding Fathers' set and I'm pretty sure it was "Chasing Shadows" from their soon to be released LP Rapid Transit. I really like that song and hopefully there will be a few more like that on the new record. For a Sunday night, the Beachland Tavern was unusually packed, but that just means that I'm not the only one who knows how good the Underground Railroad to Candyland and the Screaming Females are.
The Underground Railroad to Candyland's debut LP Bird Roughs is one of my favorite records. Ever. Period. This past year saw the release of their sophomore album Knows Your Sins. It's hard to top such a great record like Bird Roughs and while I don't think Knows Your Sins is better, it's almost Bird Roughs version 2.0 and I have no complaints about that. They played a good mix of tunes from both records including "Yuppie Hip Hop Ad", "Suey", "That I Dunno" and "Jimmy V", which is about the late great college basketball coach Jim Valvano. Even if you've seen it before check out his inspirational 1993 ESPY speech. The addition of trombone and keys to URTC's live show gave them a much fuller sound and as always, Mike "Jimmy" Felix knows how to use a floor tom. I'm always blown away by his drumming abilities. I was happy to see Todd C. and the boys making a stop in Cleveland, but I'd be surprised if they toured again before they put out another album and with all of Mr. Congellliere's projects that might be a while so if you get the chance to see them, don't miss it.
I think just about everyone in the crowd's jaw dropped after Screaming Females took the stage. Marissa Paternoster is all of five foot nothing so at times her stratocaster looks bigger than her, but the sounds that come out of her amp are huge. They played a ton of songs before finishing with my two favorites, Bell and Wild. Jarret Dougherty is a different type of drummer than Jimmy Felix, but he's equally as great when it comes to knowing what drum parts fit each song. I could tell he wasn't trying to do too much, but in doing so he did it all. Paternoster is there to melt faces, and believe me she did, but the rhythm section held the songs together perfectly. While URTC warmed up the crowd, the Screaming Females rocked everyone's socks off making for one of my favorite shows of the year.
10/19/2011 @ Now That's Class
Village Bicycle / Afternoon Naps / Red Pony Clock
Village Bicycle started the show playing the same set from our show the previous week at the Happy Dog. I'd never played at Now That's Class before, but from the many shows I've been to there I know it's loud. From on stage it wasn't too bad, but I don't know how we sounded to the crowd. I think we had more energy as a band when we played at the Happy Dog, but it was still a fun show. I was pleasantly surprised to see some people playing chess before the bands started. Now That's Class is a such cool place.
Village Bicycle has four shows coming up in November: On the 10th at Bela Dubby in Lakewood, on 11th at the Blueberry House in Akron, on the 18th at the 71st Door in the Cleve, and on the 23rd at the Beachland Tavern. Check out the upcoming shows list on the right side for all the details. Free 'za before the Beachland show!
I hadn't seen the Afternoon Naps in quite some time so I was excited to hear their great twee pop tunes again. They played their hits including "Beach Bums", "Orange Paws", and "The Day We Started", as people danced to their songs. They're always worth seeing.
Red Pony Clock had a ton of fun with their set. Some extra-groovy basslines and more xylophone than a band could ever need got the crowd dancing yet again. I enjoyed their set a lot more than I anticipated. It was a much better Wednesday night than the constant drizzle outside projected.
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