Everyone's On Top Of The Pops
Favourite Sons/The Rogers Sisters/Art Brut//Southpaw//4/11/06
I know I said I wasn't going to see hipster bands anymore, but I only got tix for this because Roger said they were supposed to be opening for Art Brut. I considered going to the Bowery Ballroom gig but tix went onsale shortly after the whole YYY thing and I wasn't going back there unless I had to. But I saw The Rogers Sisters a while ago and liked, so it didn't matter. Which is why I passed on their rekkid release show @ Northie in March. The show was originally supposed to be on 4/12, pushing it by buying tix in advance before knowing what my family's plans were for the holiday, but when the show was moved to 4/11, I was pushing it due to a meeting at work the next morning.
The gig had a tie-in from some company called Zig Zag, which is a tabacco-product company, and they're a partner w/Spin in sponsoring the show. So free copies of Spin (oh, and rolling papers, if you're into that sorta thing) and Spin's letters to the editor were all about the last issue of Spin that I read, which is strange because I never read it unless it's free. So it's like absolutely nothing has changed in the world of pop music. I even had to think a minute where I got the last issue from--Kevin at the Hard-Fi gig. Zig Zag gals were there, repping their product and taking pix. I could totally do that. Well, not for a tabacco company (or Brooklyn Lager), but who else is better qualified to hang around a bar/club and act all excited about something?
Favourite Sons are basic indie/college rock, and I couldn't help but think that this is the kind of music that normal people like. I was trying hard, let me tell you. I didn't really like them. I know I saw The Rogers Sisters, I know it was at the Knitting Factory, but I couldn't really remember what they sounded like other than I liked them. I think it was w/Liars and the Chromatics and I couldn't help but think that they're from Williamsburg. (Hey, I'm right.) They're kinda Sonic Youth via Williamsburg. Even tho the show was sold out, everyone crowded the upper tier like they were looking for a balcony. Weird.
I'm out of touch with the cool kids, I'll admit it. I follow pop music like I follow Hollywood--by reading the headlines on magazines framing the newsstand at my subway station, hanging there like dead ducks in a restaurant window. I don't even have cable, but I know Art Brut just played Coachella and SXSW. And that's about it, primarily because--much like celebrity spawn--frankly, my dear, I just don't give a shit. So the only thing I really knew beforehand about Art Brut is their lyrics. Even someone as skeptical about all music in general can't escape that info. How Formed A Band is all about that, "Look at us, we formed a band," "This is my singing voice," and how they just want to be on Top Of The Pops. And there's a song called Emily Kane about lead singer Eddie Argos's 1st girlfriend. And that they're making fun of hipsters. That was it. And seeing as how they played Coachella and SXSW, not to mention being featured in the Onion's What's Next article and shouted out in their hi-larious minute-by-minute blow-by-blow review of said SXSW, I figured they're the type of band that you gape at adoringly and sing along with. The 1st thing I noticed that nite was that the stage @ Southie is crotch-high, as opposed to the chest-high stage @ the Bowery Ballroom, so at least there wouldn't be this feeling of detachment, of trying to see thru the 4th wall. When they came onstage, Argos kicked off his white loafers, came around the monitors, and planted himself on top of my copy of Spin in his mismatched socks. He prefaced each song with "Ready, Art Brut?" and it doesn't matter if you haven't heard a song before because you'll be singing the chorus along with them before the song is over. "I'm off my face," Argos explains. He had hay fever and took stuff for that, but it didn't work, so he thought he had the flu and started taking stuff for that, which didn't work, so then he was taking whatever pills he's been handed. It's also obvious that they're influenced by The Spunk Lads, taking their cues from the Lads's we're just like you but on the other side of the mic, we're gonna start the party, have a grand old time, get smashed, and maybe change a few lives but not necessarily in that order spirit. Their guitar player even wore a team shirt (ok, it was the Playboy team) and Rusted Guns Of Milan is the exact opposite of Sexxx Maddd. Compared to Eddie Argos, Nick Knickers is Shakespeare, (Wow, good thing I took a Shakespeare course in college, right? Who knew that would come in handy in the real world?) but maybe Art Brut is on to something after all because the Lads weren't exactly the ones selling out Southpaw. Roger and Alex were there, tearing the place apart (or just tearing down the 4th wall), and this had to be the funnest show I've seen in a long time. I've long believed that the crowd makes the show and it was definitely true that nite. "Everybody, form a band!" Argos ordered. By the end of the night, people were stage diving. I have never seen a show this wild at Southpaw. The Undertones came close (moshing for moshing's sake), but this exceeded it in crowd spirit and connection. I was just standing there with the biggest grin on my face, watching Roger and Alex, and a girl told me to use my elbows to ward them off. I just had this feeling that all of Art Brut's previous shows had an audience gaping adoringly and later on, when they ask Art Brut about memorable shows (because they always ask shit like that), they'll say, "Well, there was this wild show once in Brooklyn...." and I was at that show. It was this totally magical moment. I'm glad I went to this one and not the Bowery Ballroom shows because if I saw them @ the BB, I probably wouldn't've liked them this much. When I saw Hard-Fi @ the BB, all I took away from that show was, "Yeah, that was a pretty show." Everything looked so...nice. And in Show World, (OK, in my version of Show World) it's not enough to look nice onstage. Or it's not enough for me. It's a show, not a museum exhibit, for fuck's sake. There wasn't even that much motion and commotion for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Given my limited $ and time, I'd definitely see them again and buy the album.
Concert Joe was outside, and he told me he saw me @ SP a few weeks ago and I was in my usual spot. Uhm, yeah, he's probably right although I can't remember when I was there last. He kept insisting that he saw me at some show. It was at the tip of my brain and he's probably right, but I had no idea which show he was talking about and maybe I'm losing it. I got back @ 3. Thankfully I didn't have to hear about (market) penetration during the meeting and I made it thru. Oh, and it was the Dirtbombs show Joe was talking about but I don't consider February as a few weeks ago.
I know I said I wasn't going to see hipster bands anymore, but I only got tix for this because Roger said they were supposed to be opening for Art Brut. I considered going to the Bowery Ballroom gig but tix went onsale shortly after the whole YYY thing and I wasn't going back there unless I had to. But I saw The Rogers Sisters a while ago and liked, so it didn't matter. Which is why I passed on their rekkid release show @ Northie in March. The show was originally supposed to be on 4/12, pushing it by buying tix in advance before knowing what my family's plans were for the holiday, but when the show was moved to 4/11, I was pushing it due to a meeting at work the next morning.
The gig had a tie-in from some company called Zig Zag, which is a tabacco-product company, and they're a partner w/Spin in sponsoring the show. So free copies of Spin (oh, and rolling papers, if you're into that sorta thing) and Spin's letters to the editor were all about the last issue of Spin that I read, which is strange because I never read it unless it's free. So it's like absolutely nothing has changed in the world of pop music. I even had to think a minute where I got the last issue from--Kevin at the Hard-Fi gig. Zig Zag gals were there, repping their product and taking pix. I could totally do that. Well, not for a tabacco company (or Brooklyn Lager), but who else is better qualified to hang around a bar/club and act all excited about something?
Favourite Sons are basic indie/college rock, and I couldn't help but think that this is the kind of music that normal people like. I was trying hard, let me tell you. I didn't really like them. I know I saw The Rogers Sisters, I know it was at the Knitting Factory, but I couldn't really remember what they sounded like other than I liked them. I think it was w/Liars and the Chromatics and I couldn't help but think that they're from Williamsburg. (Hey, I'm right.) They're kinda Sonic Youth via Williamsburg. Even tho the show was sold out, everyone crowded the upper tier like they were looking for a balcony. Weird.
I'm out of touch with the cool kids, I'll admit it. I follow pop music like I follow Hollywood--by reading the headlines on magazines framing the newsstand at my subway station, hanging there like dead ducks in a restaurant window. I don't even have cable, but I know Art Brut just played Coachella and SXSW. And that's about it, primarily because--much like celebrity spawn--frankly, my dear, I just don't give a shit. So the only thing I really knew beforehand about Art Brut is their lyrics. Even someone as skeptical about all music in general can't escape that info. How Formed A Band is all about that, "Look at us, we formed a band," "This is my singing voice," and how they just want to be on Top Of The Pops. And there's a song called Emily Kane about lead singer Eddie Argos's 1st girlfriend. And that they're making fun of hipsters. That was it. And seeing as how they played Coachella and SXSW, not to mention being featured in the Onion's What's Next article and shouted out in their hi-larious minute-by-minute blow-by-blow review of said SXSW, I figured they're the type of band that you gape at adoringly and sing along with. The 1st thing I noticed that nite was that the stage @ Southie is crotch-high, as opposed to the chest-high stage @ the Bowery Ballroom, so at least there wouldn't be this feeling of detachment, of trying to see thru the 4th wall. When they came onstage, Argos kicked off his white loafers, came around the monitors, and planted himself on top of my copy of Spin in his mismatched socks. He prefaced each song with "Ready, Art Brut?" and it doesn't matter if you haven't heard a song before because you'll be singing the chorus along with them before the song is over. "I'm off my face," Argos explains. He had hay fever and took stuff for that, but it didn't work, so he thought he had the flu and started taking stuff for that, which didn't work, so then he was taking whatever pills he's been handed. It's also obvious that they're influenced by The Spunk Lads, taking their cues from the Lads's we're just like you but on the other side of the mic, we're gonna start the party, have a grand old time, get smashed, and maybe change a few lives but not necessarily in that order spirit. Their guitar player even wore a team shirt (ok, it was the Playboy team) and Rusted Guns Of Milan is the exact opposite of Sexxx Maddd. Compared to Eddie Argos, Nick Knickers is Shakespeare, (Wow, good thing I took a Shakespeare course in college, right? Who knew that would come in handy in the real world?) but maybe Art Brut is on to something after all because the Lads weren't exactly the ones selling out Southpaw. Roger and Alex were there, tearing the place apart (or just tearing down the 4th wall), and this had to be the funnest show I've seen in a long time. I've long believed that the crowd makes the show and it was definitely true that nite. "Everybody, form a band!" Argos ordered. By the end of the night, people were stage diving. I have never seen a show this wild at Southpaw. The Undertones came close (moshing for moshing's sake), but this exceeded it in crowd spirit and connection. I was just standing there with the biggest grin on my face, watching Roger and Alex, and a girl told me to use my elbows to ward them off. I just had this feeling that all of Art Brut's previous shows had an audience gaping adoringly and later on, when they ask Art Brut about memorable shows (because they always ask shit like that), they'll say, "Well, there was this wild show once in Brooklyn...." and I was at that show. It was this totally magical moment. I'm glad I went to this one and not the Bowery Ballroom shows because if I saw them @ the BB, I probably wouldn't've liked them this much. When I saw Hard-Fi @ the BB, all I took away from that show was, "Yeah, that was a pretty show." Everything looked so...nice. And in Show World, (OK, in my version of Show World) it's not enough to look nice onstage. Or it's not enough for me. It's a show, not a museum exhibit, for fuck's sake. There wasn't even that much motion and commotion for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Given my limited $ and time, I'd definitely see them again and buy the album.
Concert Joe was outside, and he told me he saw me @ SP a few weeks ago and I was in my usual spot. Uhm, yeah, he's probably right although I can't remember when I was there last. He kept insisting that he saw me at some show. It was at the tip of my brain and he's probably right, but I had no idea which show he was talking about and maybe I'm losing it. I got back @ 3. Thankfully I didn't have to hear about (market) penetration during the meeting and I made it thru. Oh, and it was the Dirtbombs show Joe was talking about but I don't consider February as a few weeks ago.
posted by heather @ 2:16 PM
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