Braddock Station Garrison at Empire March 9!!!

Next Sunday March 9 is an enormously important show for my band, Braddock Station Garrison. We have the opportunity to play Empire in Springfield. Historically a metal club, they have recently turned over ownership and have begun booking more Americana and country acts. We were approached by one of their booking agents to see if we wanted to participate in their monthly "Whiskey & Boots" country and folk night. While we are not a country band, I do think we have a good Americana vibe. Neil Young, The Jayhawks, Wilco, Son Volt are artists that have influenced my writing. Along with Cash and Kristofferson and Merle and Willie and Waylon and Townes Van Zandt. Modern country does not appeal to me but I respect the artists who represent that style and do their thing. We are super excited to be playing with some excellent regional acts. It is an honor to be sharing the stage with them.

I am especially eager because unlike some of the other places we have played this is a bonafide music venue. I mean no disrespect to those rooms we have played; we love playing their and we appreciate the chance. But Empire is a real room. They have a real soundboard. They have a stage that comes up to the crowds chest. They have a backstage area; instead of walking up from the crowd we will be coming in from the side like a real rock n roll band.

I have seen several shows here. It used to be known as Jaxx and I saw King's X there and I saw John Paul Jones. Recently I saw Anathema and Alcest. Knowing I get to play a stage where I saw King's X, one of my most favorite bands ever, play...where I saw John Paul fucking Jones play...it blows my mind. It is going to be a great night.

As part of the deal the club gave us free tickets. Yes...FREE TICKETS!! We have some left, so if you are interested hit me up through the band email: braddockstationgarrison@gmail.com. Otherwise they are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

Another good thing: it is an EARLY show. Doors open at 5pm and we go on at 6pm. We play about 45 minutes. The show itself will end around 10pm so it won't be a late night at all.

A big turn out will maybe possibly probably-not-but-who-knows get us another show at Empire, maybe opening for a touring act. Granted I wouldn't want to play in front of Armored Saint or Gorguts or Metal Church, that just would not be the right crowd for us, but I derma of opening for King's X. That we could pull off.

We would really really really appreciate it if you could come out and see us. It is going to be a great night and on behalf of Tom and Jim and Mike I can say we absolutely LOVE to see you there!

Laziness

Earlier today I found myself thinking about all the shows I did not go to this year. Shows I told myself I should go to, shows that I would go to. But then at the moment of truth I decided nah I'll just stay home because going out is a pain in the rear.

I admit going into DC is a bit of a pain in the ass. I live outside the city but not terribly far. On a good night it takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to get downtown. Parking is a big issue. The city seems to have made it a real chore to park. I went to an Old 97s show earlier this year and got a ticket for parking in the neighborhood; I hadn't noticed that the zones had been adjusted so you couldn't park on them at all. This is a relatively recent happening. Same thing for seeing my friends in Bells and Hunters do a gig at Velvet Lounge;  I parked on Georgia Avenue by the Howard University hospital and got a ticket because it was a street-cleaning time. Down around the 930 Club and DC9 and the Velvet Lounge there aren't any parking garages. Over by The Black Cat there is one garage. On H St by the rock and roll hotel there is parking in the neighborhood but it can be tough to find if you get there too late.

Metro isn't an option. First, it's kind of far from my house. By the time I drive there and park I could be damn near downtown. Second, it isn't like New York where it runs all night. By midnight it's closed, and although shows have started to get finished earlier to accommodate that I still don't like chancing it or leaving a show early.

When I lived in the city I would just take the Metro to the show and then take a cab home. That was awesome. When I saw Elliott Smith play I was living in Van Ness, so before going to the show with a bunch of friends I had them all over for dinner. Good times, man. A cab ride from downtown to my house now would cost about $50. Ack!

That part is really just lazy ass loser talk. There's nothing like seeing a band bring it on stage. The energy I get after a show is always worth the annoyance and near dread I feel about actually going. Once I get there it's awesome and fun, but like going to the gym the hardest thing is often getting off the couch.

But....another problem rears it head. I am old. And I have a job. And for said job I get up at 5:15am. I am not required to get up at 5:15am but I am one of the weirdos who likes getting one early. If I get in late I feel like I am already behind and playing catch up. So even though once I get to a show where I love it and enjoy it, I still am likely not going to get home until well after midnight. Which means I have, after getting home and showering and finally coming down off the energy of the show, maybe 3 hours of sleep. And like I said, I am old now. Not Methuselah old but old enough where only getting a couple hours a sleep is hard to recover from.

That's also a cop out. I am not that old. It isn't that difficult to find a split to park. Those shouldn't be excuses for not going out to see the bands I love.  If I hadn't been a wuss I could have seen Pelican, High On Fire with Kvelertak (!!!!!), True Widow, Surfer Blood, Frontier Ruckus, Blitzen Trapper, Steven Wilson. And those are the ones off the top of my head.

So for this coming year I already have on my calendar Grant Lee-Phillips, Band Of Horses, Josh Ritter, The Men, Neil Finn. So, dear friends, if you see me blogging about a new record and saying how I plan on seeing them this coming so-and-so, do me a favor and prod me so I don't act like a big baby. Rock on!

Metal Show Musings...Part 2

So after a rocking trip to the Rock n Roll Hotel Saturday night, I was back at it Wednesday, this time to see Kylesa supported by Blood Ceremony, White Hills and Lazur/Wulf.

Quick thing about the RnR Hotel: every show I have been to there (which is now four) I have been less than impressed with the sound. All the shows have been on the loud side, but the vocals are always way down in the mix. So while I like the location, the beer list, the rooftop bar, and the general sight lines making it a great place to SEE a show it's not a great place to HEAR the show. Let me know if you think otherwise. I first thought it was just where I was: for Lazer/Wulf and White Hills I stayed to the stage right side. Especially for White Hills, where I was in front of the bass, I could barely hear the guitar. When I moved center stage right in front for Blood Ceremony and Kylesa it was still fairly muddy. Maybe that's just how the bands are but it just doesn't sound right to me.

Lightning not too good but that's Lazur/Wulf in there

Ah well, what about the bands, man!! First up was Lazur/Wulf. I admit I was late for these guys so I only caught their last two songs. I listened to their latest record The Void That Isn't on Spotify and thought it was pretty cool. They are a three-piece and they are in the experimental zone of the metal spectrum. Their show was also pretty cool. Mainly instrumentals with occasional vocals. I liked them OK but wasn't broken up about missing most of their set.

White Hills...SMOKE!

Next up was White Hills. They are a spacey kind of metal thing. I listened to their 2012 record Frying On The Rock and was not terribly impressed. It had a lot of weird stuff going on, a lot of stuff that sounded like filler. When they took the stage though I was pleasantly surprised. First, the bass player is a good-looking blonde. Every band should have a good looking blonde bass player. Including mine. And they had a smoke machine, which I loved and want my band to get. The music was MUCH better live than the one record I heard. They only did four songs so they were on the longish side but they got into some seriously good grooves. I was moving along with it and enjoyed it immensely. I should have bought the live vinyl they had available because I listened to it today on Spotify and liked it a lot. They are coming back in August with The Cult, so a trip to Silver Spring may be in my future.

The next band, Blood Ceremony, I was VERY excited to see. I listened to their new record, The Eldritch Dark, and just fell in love with it. It's out on CD but I want the vinyl, but it's still just pre-orders till later this month. Nor did they have any at the show to buy. Curses!! I did get their t-shirt, buying it directly from a guy who I later observed was the bassist. That would explain why he seemed very pleased to sell me their t-shirt. NICE! They are from Canada and sound like Black Sabbath doing Jethro Tull. But with a super-hot-kind-of-witchy woman singing, playing keyboards that sound like an organ, and playing the flute (hence the obligatory Tull reference).  Their songs are just awesome, a great mix of mellow meets heavy. They sing about witches and sorcery and summoning devils and imps but it's all in good fun. Their set seemed to fly by but I recognized much of the stuff from the new record. Once the vinyl shows up I'll go deeper into the music, just trust me they were outstanding and I will see them again if I can. Sweet!

Blood Ceremony...more bad lighting

Finally, the headline, Georgia's Kylesa. I've already covered how I love their new record Ultraviolet. The show did not disappoint. Heavy and head banging mixed with groove oriented swagger. They have two drummers, which is a bit much to me but hey whatever, bass (duh) a guy guitarist and a girl guitarist who reminds me of a friend of mine but with significantly more tattoos (see the extra pictures below).

Kylesa...they brought it!

A few observations. They have a shit load of pedals. As you can see, guy-guitarist (Phil I think it is) has not just a keyboard in front of him but some sort of weird theremin as well as a skateboard rigged into a stringed instrument which with an assortment of effects pedals he made all kinds of batshitcrazy sounds. Girl-guitarist (Laura I think it is) had even more pedals and did the leads. I liked her light green Chucks...I liked her playing better. Real good guitarist, not flashy or showoff-y but right in the vibe of the music. You don't have to shred all the time in metal (which they can certainly do) to kill it. For me, it's all about groove. And in the fast numbers I banged my head harder than I have in years...probably not since I saw Iron Maiden the first time in 1990...wow that's a long time ago. Laura is the better singer between her and Phil; she sings while Phil just sort of yells. That's fine it works I like it. Also, the bass player does not have two heads, as the picture above suggests; I had to use panorama-mode because I was right the frak in front and the nerve of that guy moving around during my picture taking.

So...killer show, all four acts were great but especially BC and Kylesa. Two t-shirts procured (guess who) but no vinyl (doh!). Very pleased and worth my still ringing ears!

Here's some more pictures since I was nice and close.

White Hills dude

White Hills lady...see what I mean?

Blood Ceremony guitarist with a SWEET looking Yamaha

Dude I bought the BC shirt from

Witchy woman

Alia something or other from Blood Ceremony

Kylesa Phil's effects

Kylesa Laura's pedals

Kylesa bass dude

Kylesa groove

Laura and tats and sweet Les Paul

Crazy sound time!

Set list