 4 great bands for $5!
When it is that you get to see one of Spokane’s best bands, an awesome indie group from Boston, more indie greatness from San Francisco and one of Spokane’s best solo guitar players?
Up first was Ben Mancke. Wow what a unique and impressive style of guitar playing. He used the entire instrument from the neck, to the top, the bottom and every string. You could hear every pluck, tap and strum as he played a few originals and even a cover of “Come Together” by the Beatles that happened to bring on a down poor of rain, thunder and lighting along with it. He joked around that he does not play as much as he used to and not for as many people that are that attentive. How could you not give this guitar player your absolute attention? I quit taking photos so I could watch and try to keep up with everything that is going on with this one man band. If you see the name Ben Mancke on a flyer for a Spokane show go see him you will be amazed.
 After a Newcastle Brown Ale between set changes Ash Reiter was up. I love the style of only having a electric guitar player and a drummer. It gives you that down to business simple sound that is very effective. This San Francisco duo of a female electric guitar player / singer and a talent drummer filled the Caterina with quirky indie pop greatness. At one point I looked behind me and 3 out of 4 members of Mon Cheri were dancing and having a great time.
I’m going to have to take a moment and thank Dale from RAWK for letting me know about The Grown Up Noise. See Me River a great band from Seattle was playing at a different venue in Spokane tonight but after talking to Dale at a past show and reading an e-mail from him I decided to go see The Grown Up Noise. Once again Thank You Dale.
This was indie music at its best. At times they reminded me of the worlds greatest bar band think The Hold Stead, other times during their set I thought of Built To Spill and other times I thought of Mid to late 80’s REM before they started making albums that were not that good . It reminded me of some of my great music hero’s thrown into a blender and then put on stage at the Caterina. This trio fro m Boston was multitalented the bass player also played some keyboards as did the guitar player / singer. The songs ranged from rock to a few very simple pop gems that were stuck in my head on the way home. After the show I was talking to the bass player Adam and he let me know that there is normally a cello player that was performing with them that adds another element to their great sound. Check them out in a city near you this summer or on their Myspace myspace.com/thegrownupnoise .
Mon Cheri! Check It Out Music loves this band. As we have wrote in the past from Patrick and Caroline’s one of a kind incredible chemistry onstage, to the charismatic Kurt Olson on stand up bass to the perfect drumming of Brandon. This is a tight and talented band.
They warmed up with cover of “All I Have To Do Is Dream” By the Everly Brothers that gives me goose bumps every time I hear it. Not bad for a warm up song. But the most fascinating thing about seeing them is that their live show gets better every time.
The new songs are great, the showmanship is better and the crowd participation is more involved, they even added a keyboard player for tonight’s performance. At the beginning of the set they dedicated a song to a couple in the audience and they got up and slow danced in front of the stage. Mon Cheri is a fantastic band, one of Spokane’s best and their music just brings back some great memories of 60’s pop songs and new memories of great summer days in Spokane.
Make sure to bring some change as Caroline will tell you about a great cause Safety Net and then ask you for a small donation for this great cause. Here is a little more info about Safety Net that I go from Mon Cheri’s Blog – Safety Net
 It’s an organization that is going to help out Foster kids who, by law, have to leave the system as soon as they turn 18. This means that the Foster program gives them a little bit of money and sends them on their way: no more guidance, no more support, no one for these kids to turn to when the going gets rough…
I would also like to thanks Patrick for putting on this great patio party inside the winery because it was raining. All the bands were great and to Som from The Som show for working so hard on these parties and the Som Show web series that has two new episodes one of Kevin Long and the other of Kristen Marlo. You can check those out at www.thesomshow.com.
Check out more photos from the show HERE!
Matt@checkitoutmusic.com |
