Music with Jameson & Lone Star: Part II - Sharks and Sailors, Ume, & The Jonx @ Walter's 01 August 2008

My pulling up to Walter's couldn't have been less graceful. Upon exiting my car, my cellphone fell out of my pocket and right into the gutter. Thankfully, Team Science mastermind Aaron Danger and Amy's Ice Cream slinger Peter Lee were able to rescue my cell phone with a tire wrench and a discarded fountain drink cup. Coolness! If I loved the Team Science label before now I really really love it! Thanks Guys.

Inside, The Jonx were just about to launch into their set which was par for the course of a Jonx set. For those of you not familiar with this band, it's a trio that combines sharp proggy skills with a punk energy and droll melodic lines. It's a great combination and one that always kills. Much like everyone playing on Friday, what you had was sharp players employing their skills to deadly efficiency. I suffered a worse mix by being at the front of the stage than a few feet back where I could hear the room mix but it's too much of a kick to see Trey's bass runs, Stuart's guitar work, and Danny's drum assault up-close. Closing with Highway at Night was particularly smart as you got a full helping of the fat bass, the post punk guitars and the unrelenting drums pulsing around one groove to great effect. Right afterwards some joe I'd never seen before at the bar was commenting to his friend, "Hey you having a good time? Yeah, I guess I picked a good night. That was pretty good not like that band the Guilloteens I saw at Christmas. They just broke their instruments. That was their talent breaking shit. What kind of kiddie crap is that?" This discussion was hilarious as across the way on the other side of the bar was the FFG's own Roy Mata. Ha Ha Roy, you suck!*

Ume also falls into the category of bands whom I've seen doing what they do so well and without equal for so long now that it's easy to take their brilliance for granted. Lauren and Eric told me that the finishing touches are being put on their new album which is great to hear. The newer material they play live has some lovely pop hooks without sacrificing the elements that made this band so mind blowing on their first release so bring it on. So what did you get if you saw them Friday? On the drums, a straight and powerful beat from Jeff and, on the bass, Eric swaying away as he held down the melodic bottom and then there was Lauren. I think every time I see this band I have to go on about Lauren's incomparable marriage of impeccable technique and jaw dropping performance. It's really easy to mock performance as a distraction from the music but Lauren's thrashing and posturing never feels put-on and act as a focal point for the music's energy. Let's face it - it looks cool as shit but it also never detracts from her guitar playing which is as impressive for its skill and ingenuity as it is for running the gamut of melodic hooks and pure wild-abandon noise. I put her up there as one of my favorite guitarists. Cody Swann of the Wild Moccasins, someone who'd never seen Ume before, said that it made him want to reevaluate what he does. Yeah, that was my initial reaction too.

Last but not least, closing the trio of trios, was Sharks and Sailors who were celebrating their new album Builds Brand New. Like everyone else here, Sharks and Sailors are a band whose skills I think are top-notch as musicians and writers who can deliver the goods with seeming ease. The nice thing about Sharks and Sailors is how they've evolved over the years and brought along a lot more space into their songs and incorporated a fresh melodic sense with the addition of Melissa on lead vocals. The new album doesn't pull any punches when they get brutal on the show-stopping heavy Rickshaw but it also takes time to get a little spacey with a song like Condor. Friday's performance ran that gamut with grace and skill by taking a mathematical aesthetic and backing it up with power and emotion. Mike's guitar playing is sonic goodness, Melissa's bass always has this wonderful fat tone that fills the room, and Phil's drumming can be powerful and brutal but he knows how to hold back and not overplay when the song calls for it. With each person bringing their unique talents to the whole, they are the A-Team band. Hmm, lemme see, that would make Mike Hannibal, Melissa would be Face, which leaves Phil to be BA Baracus and Murdock rolled up into one. That may be about right as, during the set, one person shouted out "Your drummer scares me!" As one whose seen his expert skills outside the drum kit (e.g. his awesome dance moves and rapping) I will second that.

Team Science cell phone rescue Squad!
Peter Lee (l) and Aaron Danger (r)

The Jonx at battle stations

Drummer Face #1 - Danny Mee

DJ Under Warranty shows off his wares.

Ume
The Three Amigos of ass whoopin'

Lauren makes even
Jimmy Page's guitar moves look lame!

Lauren belting it out!

Sharks and Sailors before the show
Note that Phil is already sweating
from just the soundcheck.

Bassist Melissa in mid-flight.

Drummer Face #2
Phil "Your Drummer Scares Me" Woodward

Mike dodging yet another
blast from the paparazzi
(OK actually it was his very proud dad.)

The crowd "Oh here here! Jolly Good that!"

LINKS:
More pictures on my Flickr (Link)

The Jonx on Myspace (Link)
Ume on Mypsace (Link)
Sharks and Sailors (Link)


* I kid of course.

Music with Jameson & Lone Star: Ume, Wild Moccasins, and News on the March Saturday 25 May 2008

Yea, for though tired, I marched seven stages and five parasangs to the Alabama Ice House. There verily did I bivouack with my friend from the North Eastern region. The provisions were many - Lone Star and Shiner were plentiful here - and after many discussion regarding bananas, Amsterdam, the largeness of Buckees 52Oz drinks, and other such pressing matters the soothsayers did infact suggest that the time had now long past for me to arrive at my destination at the allotted time. Nevertheless, after sacrificing one last Lone Star to the gods I proceeded to march four stages and two parasangs onwards to Numbers 2 for the Free Press Canned Food drive.

I arrived at my destination just in time to have missed The McKenzies which was quite vexing as their skills in producing enjoyable pop is heralded across much of this land. Yet all was not lost for News on The March, The Wild Moccasins, and American Sharks had yet to take the stage. Those in attendance were numerous but the encampment was so large as to render them tiny in comparison. Later that evening I would make my way to the Mink and, even though those gathered were no larger in number than those gathered here, the more proportional size of the venue to the crowd gave the impression of a vast throng. Here the effect was quite the opposite and once one put some distance between himself and those gathered their numbers seemed smaller within the cavernous surroundings. Regardless the crowd was just as enthusiastic as the one I could come to encounter shortly on Main and spirits were high.

News On The March came fourth onto the stage and there they did please many with their excellent vocal harmonies and impeccable guitar lines. These young Hoplites sung their paeans with great skill and enthusiasm causing many in the audience to holler and applaud their skill and artistry. It should be noted that they do favor Fender amps and thus their instruments of choice do jangle in a pleasing manner. Of note is one Austin Lloyd whose work on the Jaguar was particularly enjoyable. With his reverbed tone and extensive use of the tremolo bar he did, as it is often said, bring it on home particularly through the band's rousing crescendo. He and Joe Weber conferred a great benefit to the group with their dueling guitars. This was particularly notable as the played country swing lines and harmonies whilst the soundman found himself taxed by the soundsystem which mocked his attempts to right the issues with the cello. Theirs was a set deemed very pleasing the gods.

The Wild Moccasins though would not be usurped and they took the high ground on the stage with a youthful vitality that όλα τα οντα agreed to be right and good. With Cody Swann and Zahira Gutierrez leading the charge they did conjure uncontrollable dancing from those who did not take heed of the warnings and dared stand too close. Yea for the band did bounce and hop and no mere mortal could thusly resist. Particularly memorable was Spanish and Jazz where Andrew Ortiz's drums marched with Nick Cody's slithering bass and Andrew Lee's reverbed guitar laying forth a strong groove for Zahira's vocals whose rousing chorus pleased the gods more than 1,000 sacrificed she-goats. Yet, despite their mighty grooves, the end of the new morning's first hour lay a mere ten minutes away and text messages to Dunnock and Jeff regarding when Ume would take the stage had proved futile therefore it became prudent to take my leave of Numbers and march five stages and 3 parasangs to the Mink.

When I arrived, to my great dismay, Ume - though headlining - had been already laying waste to all those that stood in their path and, as I made my way to the front, Lauren did announce to all those gathered that this would be their last song. Normally this would have been quite dispiriting except that merely one Ume song is worth more than a full set from the fiercest of bands and, as fortune would have it, they performed an electrifying encore. Taking up the rear of the formation sat Jeff who, bathed in sweat, lay a beat that Heracles himself would envy while Eric, armed with a mere four strings, took the lowlands. At the fore stood Lauren wielding her Telecaster which many admired and feared. The renown of her skill on the axe is such across the lands that anyone who hears the smallest of runs immediately recognizes its source. This evening was no different and she thrashed in a violent blur on blonde hair as her fingers nimbly laid out runs of such fury that those gathered shouted helplessly in response to the force of the sound that was thrust upon their ears. Thus it was that with a mere three songs, Ume made the gods tremble in fear and only after seeing all before them laid to waste Lauren did approach the microphone and proclaim to those who remained standing a meek "thank you."

News On The March

The Wild Moccasins

Ume

Links:
News On The March
The Wild Moccasins
Ume