Wednesday Night At The Lost & Found
The Trakes/Prozacs/Unloveables/41 Gorgeous Blocks/Darlington/Johnie 3/Dead City Rejects
The Continental//8/17/05
The Trakes had the 7:30 slot and since I was going to be spending the night, it didn't matter to me if I missed them or not. I was curious to see how they'd look/sound at Continental since seeing them pretty much swallowed up by the stage at Southpaw when they opened for the Undertones back in April. But then again, being good in the 7:30 slot at the Continental on a Wednesday night isn't that hard. I definately did want to catch the Prozacs on. I got there about 8:10 and heard some cool pop-punk stuff and couldn't believe The Prozacs were already on.
Imagine my surprise when I got up there and found it was indeed the Trakes rocking out. The guitar player got a haircut and dyed his hair. He was in new-wavey sunglasses and a shirt and tie. Unless they got their arena-rock tunes out of the way before I got there, they changed their sound. I didn't understand why a band from 3172 would play music from 1972, and wouldn't music get that much better in the next millenium? Unless it's so advanced and we're not. It looked/sounded like they saw The Phenomenauts, Epoxies, and probably Devo and they realized they were going about this all wrong. Now they have new Ts in yellow with Briefs-y cartoons of themselves on it. Besides, the "You Suck!" vibes at the U'tones show were pretty strong. Still not my new favorite band, but an improvement over April. The drummer admitted they were much sloppier back in April. When the Unloveables got onstage, Chelsea picked up the bassist's goggles and made a WTF? face. I noticed their shirts were still on the merch table even though they'd cleared out. Did they actually leave their merch behind? But at one point during the Unloveables' set they came back for the shirts but the goggles still remained on the floor.
The Unloveables--like The Prozacs, 41 Gorgeous Blocks, Darlington, and Johnie 3--are devotees of that whoa oh oh oh pop-punk sound/subject favored by Lookout! stalwarts MTX, Queers, and Screeching Weasel, rooted in high school horrors: I'm an outcast so I'll listen to my punk rock which further alienates me from everybody and gives me more issues. I can't approach my crush object because he's only after cheerleaders or she's only after the football star. The Prozacs, pinch-hitting for The Kowalskis (which kinda sux because I've been seeing Kitty at shows taking pix and here I was going to take pix of her and they couldn't make it) had one about asking a girl to the prom and they sounded like the Ramones + testosterone with their "1-2 Let's Go!" choruses. Yeah, and we're all outta high school now so it's kinda like the oldsters playing kids on 90210 but I guess the song remains the same. Arlington, TX's 41 Gorgeous Blocks have a chorus that goes "Fuck This/Fuck That/Fuck You/Whoa Oh/Fuck Everything." It's just that with a glut of bands with a similar sound all in a row, they start sounding the same. And the Trakes' goggles were still on the floor.
That night at the Continental was pretty freezing. I started getting toe cramps. It's hard to believe that club was the wall-to-wall bodies oven where I almost passed out at the Adicts show. I looked at the goggles still on the floor and told myself not to get involved. If I pick 'em up I'll have to find their website and track 'em down, meet up with them somehow, and return them. And they'd probably just tell me they were inexpensive anyway. Whenever I find a cellphone I always try to track someone down who knows the owner to return the phone because what if the owner doesn't know they lost the phone where they did? Like when I found a phone on the 1/9 train--what good would returning it to the token booth where I got off do for the person who obviously didn't use that stop? How would they know their phone is at a token booth? Hey, if I lose something I'd want it returned. So I put the goggles in my bag just before Darlington started. Luckily The Trakes' drummer returned, so no wild goose chase for me.
Just past midnight and with only about 8 people left, I was freezing my ass off. So let's see, that's what....4 hours at Continental. 5 by the time I got out of there. Still, a good night for the ole pin collection. Hajime from the Spunks introduced Dead City Rejects. Their singer is from Louisville, KY. Yeah, I saw his Continental workshirt and the mowhawks on his guitar and bass player. Still, there was something lacking--something not quite there. But I'd rather they start a punk band rather than do what Kentuckians probably do--like tractor pulls, cow tipping, NASCAR races, and voting for Bush.
The Continental//8/17/05
The Trakes had the 7:30 slot and since I was going to be spending the night, it didn't matter to me if I missed them or not. I was curious to see how they'd look/sound at Continental since seeing them pretty much swallowed up by the stage at Southpaw when they opened for the Undertones back in April. But then again, being good in the 7:30 slot at the Continental on a Wednesday night isn't that hard. I definately did want to catch the Prozacs on. I got there about 8:10 and heard some cool pop-punk stuff and couldn't believe The Prozacs were already on.
Imagine my surprise when I got up there and found it was indeed the Trakes rocking out. The guitar player got a haircut and dyed his hair. He was in new-wavey sunglasses and a shirt and tie. Unless they got their arena-rock tunes out of the way before I got there, they changed their sound. I didn't understand why a band from 3172 would play music from 1972, and wouldn't music get that much better in the next millenium? Unless it's so advanced and we're not. It looked/sounded like they saw The Phenomenauts, Epoxies, and probably Devo and they realized they were going about this all wrong. Now they have new Ts in yellow with Briefs-y cartoons of themselves on it. Besides, the "You Suck!" vibes at the U'tones show were pretty strong. Still not my new favorite band, but an improvement over April. The drummer admitted they were much sloppier back in April. When the Unloveables got onstage, Chelsea picked up the bassist's goggles and made a WTF? face. I noticed their shirts were still on the merch table even though they'd cleared out. Did they actually leave their merch behind? But at one point during the Unloveables' set they came back for the shirts but the goggles still remained on the floor.
The Unloveables--like The Prozacs, 41 Gorgeous Blocks, Darlington, and Johnie 3--are devotees of that whoa oh oh oh pop-punk sound/subject favored by Lookout! stalwarts MTX, Queers, and Screeching Weasel, rooted in high school horrors: I'm an outcast so I'll listen to my punk rock which further alienates me from everybody and gives me more issues. I can't approach my crush object because he's only after cheerleaders or she's only after the football star. The Prozacs, pinch-hitting for The Kowalskis (which kinda sux because I've been seeing Kitty at shows taking pix and here I was going to take pix of her and they couldn't make it) had one about asking a girl to the prom and they sounded like the Ramones + testosterone with their "1-2 Let's Go!" choruses. Yeah, and we're all outta high school now so it's kinda like the oldsters playing kids on 90210 but I guess the song remains the same. Arlington, TX's 41 Gorgeous Blocks have a chorus that goes "Fuck This/Fuck That/Fuck You/Whoa Oh/Fuck Everything." It's just that with a glut of bands with a similar sound all in a row, they start sounding the same. And the Trakes' goggles were still on the floor.
That night at the Continental was pretty freezing. I started getting toe cramps. It's hard to believe that club was the wall-to-wall bodies oven where I almost passed out at the Adicts show. I looked at the goggles still on the floor and told myself not to get involved. If I pick 'em up I'll have to find their website and track 'em down, meet up with them somehow, and return them. And they'd probably just tell me they were inexpensive anyway. Whenever I find a cellphone I always try to track someone down who knows the owner to return the phone because what if the owner doesn't know they lost the phone where they did? Like when I found a phone on the 1/9 train--what good would returning it to the token booth where I got off do for the person who obviously didn't use that stop? How would they know their phone is at a token booth? Hey, if I lose something I'd want it returned. So I put the goggles in my bag just before Darlington started. Luckily The Trakes' drummer returned, so no wild goose chase for me.
Just past midnight and with only about 8 people left, I was freezing my ass off. So let's see, that's what....4 hours at Continental. 5 by the time I got out of there. Still, a good night for the ole pin collection. Hajime from the Spunks introduced Dead City Rejects. Their singer is from Louisville, KY. Yeah, I saw his Continental workshirt and the mowhawks on his guitar and bass player. Still, there was something lacking--something not quite there. But I'd rather they start a punk band rather than do what Kentuckians probably do--like tractor pulls, cow tipping, NASCAR races, and voting for Bush.
posted by heather @ 2:31 PM
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