 A Kick In the Pants
The Racquet played first and they are this rockin’ three piece out of Missoula Montana. The first thing Matt said to me was “he has a cool voice.” The Racquet was a lot of fun to watch, their singer also did a lot of looping with his guitar. It made the three piece sound a lot bigger. They sounded like a rock group but there where subtle hints of dance music that added a little spice.
Kids in the crowd were bopping their heads and one girl was all about the dancing. I would label them as a perfect summer band, add some of their songs to your playlist if you can. Plus Dylan has good taste in guitar straps because I had the same strap for my bass guitar. As they said “Come to Missoula, well show you a good time.” Looking for your final summer road trip… check out when they are playing next!
 Girlfriends took over the floor of the Empyrean with his brightly duct tape covered amps, drum kit, guitar, and vintage electronic keys. Kids flooded into the room and on the stage (since he was on the floor) all to watch what we soon came to realize – was Girlfriends last show. Sad, right? He is heading over to Vancouver to go to school there, and check out the Portland music scene. He perfectly looped every guitar riff, hit the right keys, tapped the drums, and yelled at the top of his lungs to create a killer tunes.
The crowd got to sing along during “Bernie Mac Attack” with the lyrics words are to slow so lets talk with our bodies. Dancing is talking with your body, I dig it. Even David from Cyrus Fell Down joined in to sing a song, it was fantastic. He had free E.P.’s to hand out and super cool t-shirts for sale. He also wanted to thank his friend Connor for driving him around while he made his CD. I am so glad that I caught his last set because he is such a nice kid that makes the coolest music by far Spokane’s best one man band. Love it, we wish him the best of luck in his new city!
 New Faces from Seattle was up next. New Faces is normally a three piece but tonight they were a four piece. They had a great energy on stage playing music and dancing. I think Nico managed to cover every inch of the stage (even though it’s not very big). They sound like their from the UK, have heavy bass lines, and their riffs remind me of Franz so overall it was a kick in the pants.
New Faces made Matt want to move to Seattle because we don’t get that type of music in Spokane. Fun to watch great to dance too. My two favorite songs were “Ides of March” and “Ms Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” I liked how the drummer Conor chimmed in on occasion and that the bass player Kyle takes turns with Nico singing. They seem like close friends, which is pretty nifty. Just don’t sleep with each other’s girlfriends and break up that happens too much!
The night was packed full of great music that you could all rock out to and dance too – perfect! Three fab-u-lous bands that I would see again any day of the week! Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang!
Check out more photos from the show here!
Andrea@checkitoutmusic.com |
