The Week In... Promoting
Promoting shows as BigYawn is a blessing and a curse all at the same time. On one end I have the ability to literally talk to bands I love and convince them to come play a show. I can get them some needed exposure and personally I get a kick out of the fact that they are playing in DC because of me. On the other end, I need to promote the show, get flyers and posters out, write a press release, flyer all over the city, and do whatever it takes to be sure I can actually pay the bands. Generally speaking, I walk away from most of our shows with my shirt still on, though there was that one time I asked a band if I could pay them with a check (that I was gonna postdate). Lately, it has been pretty close to even with every show. Happily, I didn't need to sweat out Sunday's preformance at DC9, headlined by the High Dials. It was at once both a show by a band I liked a lot and one where it was clear from early on it would not be a loss for us.
Openers the Positions were great. It was the first time I had ever seen them, and they lived up to the hype. Think Belle and Sebastian, only heavier on the hooks. Or, for those of you who pay attention to our top 50 lists, think the Acid House Kings. The only dissapointing thing about their set was the missing keyboard that would have really added an additional layer to the mix. I spoke with lead guitarist Ivan after the show and he told me it was a conscious decison by the band, so that lead singer Nicole could rock out a bit more. Hey, if you ask me it is easier to rock out while playing an instrument, but, I neither rock out or play an instrument, so what do I know.
Last minute additions Canandian Invasion -- subbing for the Burnside Project (wait, did I mention these shows could be a headache yet?) -- hit the ground running, and while they played a little longer than expected, they hit the power-pop a lot heavier than their recent release, Songs for the Atco Ghost, which hasn't completely grown on me yet. A great bunch of guys, coming down from Philly at the last minute, I was stoked to have them.
The High Dials were every bit as good as their previous Velvet Lounge gigs, though their set was tuned down a bit as they were practing their set-list for their gig opening for Neko Case on her current tour. Plus they were breaking in a brand new drummer. Being his first show with the band, I'd have to say, he sounded spot on to me. Great job Max! I do not know the set-list (not sure the band even had one written down) but I am comfortable in saying they drew on more old than new, but kept a pretty even set-list all in all. The Dials were flat out really nice guys, all chatting at various points of the night, and their tour manager was a good guy too. Needless to say, that is not always the case with bands.
On the extremes, we bring bands to DC9 for profit (Brian Jonestown Massacre), for exposure (Love is All) and for the love of the game (Aluminum Babe). The High Dials were the rare mix of all of these things. We didn't make any money, but we didn't really lsoe anything either. And when push comes to shove, as long as people come out to support a band, I'm ok with that. And the music was great and the guys were great. Other than the lack of sleep on a Sunday night, it couldn't have gone much better.
Well, I guess Neko Case could have showed up for an encore...
www.thehighdials.com
www.canadianinvasionrocks.com
www.the-positions.com
A brief report on stuff I've been listening to this week:
-BigYawn's resident DJ, DJ Trickster turned me on to Airiel, and I am pretty damn happy he did. Pick your poison: ambient, electronic, post-rock, shoegazy, whatever sort of sutff your into, these guys might well be it. I was given a self made "greatest hits" comp and I don't even know the song names, but I've attached some links. They are from Chicago, and we need to get them to the nearest BigYawn show possible. Color me excited.
www.airiel.com/sounds.html
www.myspace.com/airiel
-Laura Veirs had an album come out last year, Year of Meteors and we didn't review it. But we should have. Not the bland singer-songwriter type stuff I was expecting. This album is a mighty fine listen, and you should get it.
www.lauraveirs.com/laura/listen.html
-In unrelated news, I will be making my way to Europe at the end of May, and am looking for suggestions of cool music related places to hit, whether it be a monument of sorts -- the Lizard King and I do have a date in Paris -- a record store, Chris and Gwyneth's flat, or even a good show to catch while I'm over the pond (May 18-28), I'm up for an adventure. I will be checking out the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in Paris, or at least that is my plan., if only I could figure out how to buy tickets to the damn show...
Shows! I got your damn shows... what I would see this week if I had time and/or were rich:
Tuesday
-Death Cab and Franz Ferdinand @ DAR
Thursday
-Two if by Sea @ DC9
-The New Amsterdams w' Cartel @ Black Cat (I miss my Get Up Kids already)
Friday
-Ladytron @ 9:30 Club (I'd skip French Kicks though, not a fan at all)
Saturday
-Exit Clov, Soft Complex and Georgie James @ Black Cat (Big $$$$$ show)
Sunday
-Cloud Cult w' 302 Acid @ Iota
I might catch the New Amsterdams on Thursday, but you can all come by and say hi to me at the Clov show on Saturday. I'll be selling Exit Clov swag. Really excited to see Georgie James too.
