Sorry for the tardiness of the forthcoming posts, I have had a crazy week including what ended up being 6 straight days of shows and a wedding thrown in for good measure. Throughout the week expect some short blurbs on the awesomeness of last week which began with 2 new discoveries The Blind Shake, and Loving Thunder (see previous post), the next two days were filled with some of the best in heavy music courtesy of the 2 Southern Lord Records’ showcases featuring Sunn O))), The Accused, Pelican, Earth and more. Day 4 was an amazing local showcase featuring Tacoma’s own Seaweed, The Whore Moans, and The Redwood Plan. Day 5 was the KEXP BBQ headlined by Dinosaur Jr. (I had to miss most of this for my friend’s wedding), and Day 6 was the debut of my buddy Dan’s new Screaming Trees tribute band at the High Dive. It was a sleepless week to say the least but worth every missed hour.
Last Wednesday at Neumos was the first night of the two Southern Lord Records showcases of the week. This one featured local hardcore band and recent SLR signees Black Breath, crust band TRAP THEM, Seattle’s own The Accused, and Sunn O))) played as a duo recreating their original “Grimrobe Demos”. I showed up just in time to catch the last bit of TRAP THEM’s set, it sounded very promising but can’t say I heard enough to make an intelligent comment at this time. The band I was coming to see was the re-vamped and re-booted version of The Accused. They are an amazing and heavily influential cross-over thrash band from Seattle who’s “Splatter Rock” has earned much acclaim since their beginnings in the early eighties. The new version of the band’s only original member is guitarist Tommy Neimeyer, but he has enlisted a quality group of replacements including Brad Mowen (ex-Burning Witch) on vocals. Brad did a pretty good job, his vocals sound very similar to that of longtime throat shredder Blaine Cook. I couldn’t help but think that the absence of the live energy of Cook, which was such a vital part to the band for so long left a small void in the performance. On the other hand the new songs were strong, fresh and maybe even more pure thrash metal that before. Overall The Accused played a rip-roaring kick ass set which featured classics like “Take My Time” and “Wrong Side of the Grave”. I can’t wait to pick up the new material on vinyl. Sunn O))) followed with their room shaking drone attack. The best part of their set on night one was the stacks of amps that outlined the entire back of the stage, I don’t know maybe 15 stacks. It was apparent that like every Sunn O))) show, we the audience were going to be pummeled for the next hour or so. The only down point of a Sunn O))) live experience is I’m not convinced that Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley are quite able to reproduce the intricacies of the blackened soundscapes that make their records so visionary, but on the other hand they definitely can’t reproduce the shear power of their live experience on record. So it may be a tradeoff and they might be a band that is best experienced both ways for the full effect? What was cool was Sunn O))) decided to do something different for night one, they played as a duo and recreated their early material the “Grimrobe Demos”. I'm not sure if this is something they have done in the past or not? This material sounded much like the other times I had seen the band though, with intensely heavy dirges that seemed to go on forever with no discernable changes in song or tempo. At the same time they mesmerized the audience into a zombie like state with their eerie poses in the fog. The thing I always notice is how they absolutely punish the crowd with sound waves. I only had a single tall boy of Pabst and when I tried walking to take a bathroom break, it felt like I had 10. My body was all out of whack and it wasn’t until I left the building at 1am and got some fresh air did I feel normal again. It’s a crazy feeling to say the least. This was a good show, Sunn O))), and The Accused tore it up in front of a typical motionless yet enthusiastic Seattle crowd which contained the likes of John Pettibone of Himsa and more recently Heiress, and Chris Martin of Kinski. I did see Chris standing on the side holding his ears during Sunn O)))’s set, which I thought was pretty funny.
Last Wednesday at Neumos was the first night of the two Southern Lord Records showcases of the week. This one featured local hardcore band and recent SLR signees Black Breath, crust band TRAP THEM, Seattle’s own The Accused, and Sunn O))) played as a duo recreating their original “Grimrobe Demos”. I showed up just in time to catch the last bit of TRAP THEM’s set, it sounded very promising but can’t say I heard enough to make an intelligent comment at this time. The band I was coming to see was the re-vamped and re-booted version of The Accused. They are an amazing and heavily influential cross-over thrash band from Seattle who’s “Splatter Rock” has earned much acclaim since their beginnings in the early eighties. The new version of the band’s only original member is guitarist Tommy Neimeyer, but he has enlisted a quality group of replacements including Brad Mowen (ex-Burning Witch) on vocals. Brad did a pretty good job, his vocals sound very similar to that of longtime throat shredder Blaine Cook. I couldn’t help but think that the absence of the live energy of Cook, which was such a vital part to the band for so long left a small void in the performance. On the other hand the new songs were strong, fresh and maybe even more pure thrash metal that before. Overall The Accused played a rip-roaring kick ass set which featured classics like “Take My Time” and “Wrong Side of the Grave”. I can’t wait to pick up the new material on vinyl. Sunn O))) followed with their room shaking drone attack. The best part of their set on night one was the stacks of amps that outlined the entire back of the stage, I don’t know maybe 15 stacks. It was apparent that like every Sunn O))) show, we the audience were going to be pummeled for the next hour or so. The only down point of a Sunn O))) live experience is I’m not convinced that Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley are quite able to reproduce the intricacies of the blackened soundscapes that make their records so visionary, but on the other hand they definitely can’t reproduce the shear power of their live experience on record. So it may be a tradeoff and they might be a band that is best experienced both ways for the full effect? What was cool was Sunn O))) decided to do something different for night one, they played as a duo and recreated their early material the “Grimrobe Demos”. I'm not sure if this is something they have done in the past or not? This material sounded much like the other times I had seen the band though, with intensely heavy dirges that seemed to go on forever with no discernable changes in song or tempo. At the same time they mesmerized the audience into a zombie like state with their eerie poses in the fog. The thing I always notice is how they absolutely punish the crowd with sound waves. I only had a single tall boy of Pabst and when I tried walking to take a bathroom break, it felt like I had 10. My body was all out of whack and it wasn’t until I left the building at 1am and got some fresh air did I feel normal again. It’s a crazy feeling to say the least. This was a good show, Sunn O))), and The Accused tore it up in front of a typical motionless yet enthusiastic Seattle crowd which contained the likes of John Pettibone of Himsa and more recently Heiress, and Chris Martin of Kinski. I did see Chris standing on the side holding his ears during Sunn O)))’s set, which I thought was pretty funny.
the SUNN duo did four shows last year-killer show in portland.
ReplyDeleteand they are doing(or done) a few shows this year-both euro and usa.
i spoke w/ GregA. here in san fran and he said there would be more in that format, which makes me happy.
staninsanfran
Awesome, Thanks for chiming in Stan. Cheers!
ReplyDelete