March 22, 2011 - WINNING!
I was aware of this show going down at The Loft in Dallas this night. Thought it would be cool to see, but really had no intentions of going. That is until I got on Facebook and the Dallas Observer's music blog, DC9 at Night, was doing a ticket giveaway. They had 5 pairs to give to the first 5 people who responded in a comment to the status. And then just an hour and a half before the doors were set to open, I was going to the show. What a pleasant surprise. One of the tickets did end up going to waste, since I couldn't find anyone at the last minute to go, but oh well.
As I get to The Loft part and am claiming the tickets, I hear the first act, Novaak, starting. By the time I made it up the stairs and got to the stage I'd missed maybe half of the song, which sucked cause it was the new one they had debuted a little over a week ago at 35 Conferette. But what I was able to hear of it I loved it, and it's probably their best song yet. It was pretty low-key from some of their other material, partially due to the acoustic guitar Blake was using. Which I didn't even notice till the song was over and he switched it out for his electric. The rest of the set was pretty straight forward, as they utilized what little time they had and just went right from one song to the next. "Whatevertown", "Mr. Memory", "Just Be", "You Pressed the Crash Button", and finally "With a Stretch". With barely a pause in between most of them, except when vocalist, Jessi, named a couple of the songs before they'd start them. It was a short set, like 20 minutes give or take, but I'd say it was the best I've seen them do. Be sure to check them out this Friday, March 25th, at the Prophet Bar in Dallas. Or next month, April 23, at LaGrange.
The Houston based band, Castle Lights, was next. I had heard of them sometime last year, and their music sounded pretty good from what I remembered. And I hoped their live show would be just as good. And spoiler... It was FAR better! This four piece band came on stage and raced thorough their songs, mostly not even allowing a break between them for applause. And talk about a show! They are performers in the truest sense of the word, constantly moving about the stage, just rocking out. They did take an occasional break though, so their singer/guitarist could catch his breath, and tell stories about their songs. "So we were in Nashville..." he began, and proceeded to say they started to write some songs and wanted to write a love song. "So we wrote this one about [insert guitarists name] mustache. Do y'all see that thing?!" he asked. Just barely, cause it was pencil thin at best. "So yeah, this is a love song about his mustache... I'm just kidding. But it is a love song." Or promising for another song that they were going to bust out a rap and asking everyone if they wanted to hear that. And surprisingly most of the people seemed in favor of it. "I'm sorry, I can't rap. I like it, and I wish I could. But I can't." their singer stated. It was a great set and I would say they wowed me for sure. Go get their EP, "Paint the Stars", on iTunes. A great 5 song EP, whose only shortcoming is that it's an EP and not a LP.
Barcelona, from Seattle, Washington, was headlining the show. These guys were new to me and I wasn't sure what to expect or if I'd like it. The three piece band, consisting of vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist, Brian Fennell, lead guitarist and backing vocalist, Chris Bristol, and drummer, Rhett Stonelake, took the stage right at 10:21PM and got things going. For the first few songs Brian played an electric guitar, which gave the songs more of a Rock sound. Granted, it was more the Pop/Rock sound that seems to be the "in" thing for so many bands right now, but they did it well. They finally stopped for a minute and expressed how glad they were to see everyone. Everyone being an impressive 70 to 100 people. Not bad for a Tuesday night. "It's been awhile since we've been back here." Brian said, "And we have some new songs to play for you all." He then took to the keys and they played what I felt was their best song of the night, or at least my favorite. Some of their other material had a little more laid back feel though, as Brian rocked out an acoustic guitar for most of their other songs. I especially liked one song just he did, singing and playing the keys, entitled "Less Than Two". Which was about "...Being in a relationship where you give to much of yourself away, and end up losing your individuality...". And then a feverish dance number that the whole band was involved in, called "Slipping Away". They continued on playing I guess both new and old songs for right at an hour after they had started then thanked everyone one final time and left the stage. You could plainly see them in the staging area, and soon the chants of "One more song!" started. They soon ran back on stage, and Brian eagerly and enthusiastically said "OKAY!" They put on a good show, but most of all you could tell they were just having a great time being up there. And their little conversations between songs every now and then seemed like they were trying (and succeeding) at making a connection with the audience. For example, after saying how beautiful the crowd was someone I assume said the same thing to Brian. "That's not true." he replied. "I need to shave. I need a haircut. But thanks for saying that." Then Chris started in about Brian's hair. "If he didn't have that hat on, and his hair was really puffed out, he could put a pick in it like an afro." That became more or less a running gag, as Brian promised to show everyone his hair at its peak, and eventually did. Not that is really just all that funny, but it did make them seem like pretty personable, down to earth guys. They made so many references to their new album, I figured it had just been released. Until they said it wasn't out yet, but would be soon. And with a new album should come a new tour. And whenever that is, hopefully it'll lead them back to Dallas.
