February 21, 2003 - The Eagles Club Northampton, MA
KEN: every so often i hear a new (to me) band and i ache at how perfect their music seems to me, how much it means to me...it's catchy, energetic, quirky but not silly, and emotional -- not necessarily in the lyrics, or the inflection, but the actual music, the colorful chords, the way the melody falls in the chords, the way a rhythm tumbles along, how all that stuff together hits me at my very core, like it just reduces me to going "googoo ga ga"...it's something i've never tried to study (if i did, maybe i'd learn to write better songs), because when the perfection hits me out of nowhere i just want to swoon and collapse into smiles and giddiness. for some examples, this has happened to me with, in rough chronological order: xtc, the mommyheads, eggstone, of montreal, the free design, the new pornographers, and the shins. (others too, just less so) out of all those bands the one with the most consistently high creative output is, hands down, of montreal. i don't love everything they do, but i love most of it. and not just their old stuff, but the newest stuff, too. they put out AT LEAST an album-and-a-half's worth of songs every year, and they show no sign of slowing down or losing their magic touch. or should i say HE? of montreal's songs are written (basically) by kevin barnes. he's the engine and visionary. so when i heard he was doing a "solo" tour (without the band) i was excited to go. (max, by the way, as far as our "reduced time slot," we weren't even supposed to be on the bill, originally. when i heard about the show and asked john peters about us maybe being on the bill, he said the bill was already full, but he thought we'd make a good addition to the show, so he said he could fit us in if we played a short-ish set. you probably didn't know that, but i want to thank j.p. (and the other bands on the bill, too) for making room for us in the show. it was very nice of them.) and then when SFTD got to play on the bill, i was excited for that too. kevin's pop songs are inspirational to me, and though i'm happy to drive to boston or chicago or elsehwere to see him perform them, it made me happy to see him right in town...and for others to see him. i once excitedly invited henning and lesa to an of montreal show at t.t.'s, and though i was right in front of the jam-packed crowd for the whole show, when it came time to leave i looked everywhere for h & l and they were way in the back of the pool room around the corner...and i don't think they'd just gotten there, if you know what i mean. i guessed that they weren't wowed. i'm like a little kid, i guess, wanting to share what i love with people i care about, hoping they'll love it just as much as me. but i'm happy enough to love the music all by myself, too, and i loved "a pollinaire rave." it wasn't perfection, but it was pure inspiration, from the silly dada of the stream-of-consciousness vignettes ("teens for christ-opher cross," an ad for a fix-all ointment, etc.) to the excellent new kevin songs...i bought the tour EP which has a few of the songs on it, and i keep having to go back and listen to one of them over and over again ("and if you want me to..." which david sang in the show, wearing his cop shades) because it has that magic sound that i recognize when it hits me. during kevin/david/nina's set, it was great to see shannon and his fellow dicks sitting on the floor like schoolkids at a fun assembly. and connolly, the local king of dada, was there too...i wonder what he thought of the whole thing? jonathan sadow, an old sci-fi t.a. of mine was there, sitting on the floor, and also there was mark kendall anderson, who used to have a great late-night WMUA show called "hooray for everything," and patty, and matt/lisa/crystal, lauri mac & the shorthands, zeke, i think i saw p. price...i'm glad a lot of people came out to see the show. so, yes, school for the dead played before the "rave." there was some weird stuff happening with fuses blowing (i was setting up the keyboard right near the fusebox, so i had a front row seat for the tense negotiations between j.p., lindsay the sound man, and the eagle's guy who was not so thrilled to be confused and ordered around), but that got squared away fairly quickly. we played seven songs: photobooth, thug, pick a gripe, ayla, martha, something's taking over (the new one), and omnivore. after maggie's very personal and dark songs, and then the supreme dicks' swirling improvisational galaxies, i really thought the STFD bright fancy pop machine would be a really fun change of pace but yeah, max, i don't think we gained any new fans, either. as henning said during the show, people seemed to be standing away from the band, the crowd didn't seem too big from the stage. but then it was dark, who knows. there was applause, so i'll stop complaining. i thought we played really well. brian was super energetic -- his rolling fills were on fire! i don't remember any train wrecks (or even bumps in the ride), the harmonies sounded good from where i was, and i liked playing a sort-of mini-set, "all killer, no filler." i like that we had a new song learned and then played at a show within 4 1/2 hours. i'd like us to do more of that, like learn a song a week, whether a henning original or a cover. or write a song together at practice, all chipping in. we're all creative people, sometimes i feel like we could (should) do more as a band...i look back at old gig diaries and most of the set lists have basically the same songs on them. what do you guys think? for people who were new to the "kevin barnes/of montreal" thing, the entire band (hardworking pop geniuses that they are) will be back in the area on may 2 (nyc) and 3 (cambridge)...maybe j.p. or the iron horse (brendan!!) could get them to add a date in northampton again? BRIAN: I suppose the angle I'll start with is the nice folks we got to see and hang with before and during the show. For example, I hadn't seen ot talked to Michelle, former King Radio drumstress, now playing with Maggie. When the two were playing together, I actually didn't even miss the bass. Sorry, bass players. Maggie is a talented singer songwriter. Was it my imagination or did she have an original song called Sweet Caroline? But yeah, her school of songwriting is that of the Jeff Buckley, or modern folk rock--i.e. no real hooks. Not necessarily a bad thing. Especially since I just kept singing to myself "I Can't Let Maggie Go" by Honeybus--a pop masterpiece. The Dicks: well, if I didn't know the folks, and if they weren't such a Noho institution I may think differently. But Mike Flood and Thane are my friends, I played at the drummer's wedding and I kind of know the other two. Plus, Mark Mulcahy played drums for one song. A Pollinaire Rave: surrealist? dadaist? absurdist? all of the above, plus the girl was really cute. and the songs were good. I was a little annoyed at the people talking in the back. Our set: I spilled two 2/3 full vodka and tonics: one before the show, so I got another. The other during the snare drum falling insanity. I learned the holding- the- snare-drum-with-one-hand-while-playing-the-rest-of-the-kit-with-the-other technique from studying a lot of Keith Moon. I never thought it'd actually have a practical use. But I had a blast. The new song had a whole different feel, and one which I think no one uses anymore, so I vote we go with it. Like a fast swing. Think the Beatles "Tell Me Why" or that song "Da Do Run Run" or the Who's "Run Run Run". OK, so I lost my angle completely. Maybe someone else can focus on the nice people in the audience. Oh, Andrea had a long day at work, so she was too tired to go. No Happyalmostbirth-day. It's Monday, btw. MAX: A Pollinaire Rave was held last night at the Eagles' Club, which featured Maggie Nowinsky, the Supreme Dicks, SFTD and Kevin Barns (and others?) from Of Montreal. Earlier in the evening we rehearsed and learned Henning's new song, which I've already forgotten the title to. I'm amazed at how quickly a song can be arranged and develop its own identify in this band. It's kind of like throwing a bunch of flour, sugar, baking powder and water into the center of the room and seeing a complete 4-course dinner appear out of nowhere. The debut performance later in the evening went well, even though we played it at breakneck speed. Chalk that up to our reduced time slot. Chalk that up to a very long, drawn-out performance from the Supreme Dicks. Or maybe it wasn't so long and drawn-out, but it seemed to go on forever. I like weird experimental droney rock but I didn't care for the Dicks. That being said, I'm sure SFTD sounded like the Archies in comparison, and some folks probably felt the same way about us. As we were jostling for stage space with the soundman and members of SD, Henning said to us "our set time is 35 minutes starting right now." We still had half our equipment off-stage. In what seemed like minutes we were set up and hitting the first (lovely) chord to "Photobooth Curtain". Such a great song and arrangement. We could play that 13 times in one set and I'd be happy. Brian seemed really short playing on the house drums and sitting on a regular folding chair, instead of a drum stool. I didn't make much eye contact with Henning or Tony during the set. Overall, I thought we played fine but didn't really gain any new fans during our brief set. I did enjoy "Omnivore". Brian's snare fell off the stand mid-song and he managed to pick it up without missing a beat. Maggie's opening set was interesting; I think she is a talented guitarist and has a unique vocal thing going on, kind of like Kristen Hersh. I wished her songs were shorter though. Lots of things going on that might work better with a full band (or at least a bassist, in addition to the occasional drumming), but seemed to be too much with just guitars/vox. The headlining act, consisting of songs, theater, performance art and organized chaos was a hoot, despite the bad sound. I'll let someone else describe it in their gig diary... HENNING: This was the first time School for the Dead has played at the Eagles, although each of us has graced the stage at one time or another in other projects. It's a strange venue and I can't seem to make up my mind about it, which is fine. Like many clubs it is owned and run by people who have no interest-in or understanding-of the local music scene, however it is booked by two guys who go out of their way to organize great shows. They seek out interesting talent and try to build sets that go together well and they are extra-enthusiastic about getting the word out. They have a nice big sound system but it is always too loud and screechy and reverby. They have really cool stage lights. The atmosphere is of a strange afterschool cafeteria, the bar is very limited. The whole place is run with no pretension, I think that's why people dig it. There are, though, a lot of really drunk guys on power trips who help out with things like checking ID's and flipping breakers on and off during sound check. We were pleased to be added to this set on Friday and were very squeezed in, playing our shortest set ever. It was rushed and energetic and we did ok. I asked the audience if we were too loud at one point because they seemed to all move to the back of the room. Nobody really answered and then one person sort of said, you sound good. I am pretty sure we were way too loud (nothing we could do about it) but it's really hard to get any response from an audience when you ask such things. We debuted the new song "Something's Taking Over" but it felt like a whole other song. I never meant it to be that fast and hopefully we can figure it out at practice tonight. The rest of the songs sounded good, the harmonies especially were excellent. A Pollinaire Rave was fun. I think I enjoyed it because I just couldn't figure out what they were trying to do. They were at their best when they were at their most absurd. I like what I have heard from Of Montreal. When Lesa and I went to TT's with Ken to see them, we were completely overwhelmed by the thick crowds, thick thick smoke, and the super loud music. It was the type of atmosphere that I could only overcome if it was a band that I already completely loved, like Ken did. But as it was it was just too abrasive in the room (not the band, just everything else) to endure. Back to the Eagles, at the end of the night, I realized I hardly took any pictures at all, and none of A Pollinaire Rave which was really too bad. We got four drawings. TONY:	Set List Photobooth T hug P ick a gripe A yla M artha Something's Taking Over (the new one) Omnivore Pictures Activity Pages