Thursday, November 03, 2005
Too Shout Out Loud
For a change, I went to the concert while my excellent husband, Bill, stayed home with our dear little Junior Mint. The group was the Shout Out Louds; a band I really like - at least on CD.
The venue was King's Barcade - a kitschy little dive in downtown Raleigh. Black walls, crappy furniture, vintage video games, foozball table. I have fond memories of this place from when we went to see Ted Leo while I was 8 months pregnant or so. Because of the way the venue is set up, I could happily sit at the bar and still totally enjoy the music and the concert venue atmosphere. All this was still tru last night.
The big difference was the quality of the entertainment. The opening band was a group called 'The Cassettes'. Strange group of ubergeeks with a truly bizarre sound. My friend Mark nailed it: They sound like the Beverly Hillbillies meets the Jetsons. Their music wasn't so hot, but their sound mixing was decent. I bring this up because....
We totally ignored the second band, Essex Green, in favor of sitting in a booth in the front of the place to socialize. When the Shout Out Louds started, we realized their sound was awful! Andrew, the only other person there truly interested in hearing the band, had the same expectations I did - a cool, rockabilly sound on CD gone live in a small, intimate venue should be great.
Not so. Whoever mixed their sound had their drumkit completely drowning all the vocals. The lead singer was nearly screaming just so the thick-black-framed-glasses-wearing crowd could hear bits of recognizable melody. After three songs, we decided it wasn't worth staying up that late to not hear anything melodius, so we bailed.
The upside? Great friends in a fun venue, and a great game of Foozball!
The venue was King's Barcade - a kitschy little dive in downtown Raleigh. Black walls, crappy furniture, vintage video games, foozball table. I have fond memories of this place from when we went to see Ted Leo while I was 8 months pregnant or so. Because of the way the venue is set up, I could happily sit at the bar and still totally enjoy the music and the concert venue atmosphere. All this was still tru last night.
The big difference was the quality of the entertainment. The opening band was a group called 'The Cassettes'. Strange group of ubergeeks with a truly bizarre sound. My friend Mark nailed it: They sound like the Beverly Hillbillies meets the Jetsons. Their music wasn't so hot, but their sound mixing was decent. I bring this up because....
We totally ignored the second band, Essex Green, in favor of sitting in a booth in the front of the place to socialize. When the Shout Out Louds started, we realized their sound was awful! Andrew, the only other person there truly interested in hearing the band, had the same expectations I did - a cool, rockabilly sound on CD gone live in a small, intimate venue should be great.
Not so. Whoever mixed their sound had their drumkit completely drowning all the vocals. The lead singer was nearly screaming just so the thick-black-framed-glasses-wearing crowd could hear bits of recognizable melody.
The upside? Great friends in a fun venue, and a great game of Foozball!
posted by Anonymous, 9:06 AM
3 Buffaloes were bitter enough to post comments:
See how she wrote "excellent husband?" I'm archiving this stuff for a reason, you know.
At 9:06 AM she's calling you an excellent husband. That girl hits the bottle early.
If it's too loud...
If it's too loud...
You missed out if you ignored the Essex Green.
I'm not their biggest fan, or anything like that, but I saw them at the Merge festival, and I thought they were pretty good. You should really check out them and/or Ladybug Transistor if you get the chance.
I'm not their biggest fan, or anything like that, but I saw them at the Merge festival, and I thought they were pretty good. You should really check out them and/or Ladybug Transistor if you get the chance.