The Juliana Hatfield Three @ Cuisine en Locale 4.19.2015

Old songs! New songs! Solo songs! The Juliana Hatfield Three played it all at Cuisine en Locale. The trio culled tunes from their two albums* and Juliana’s solo work for the memorable set. The end result was wonderful. The band sounded great. The crowd was appreciative. I can’t think of a better way to have spent a Sunday night.

* There’s a 22 year span between those two records. I love ’em both.

Random Rumble Ramblings: 2015 (Part II)

Anngelle and Murcielago will be at The Semifinals.
Anngelle and Murcielago will be at The Semifinals.

The 2015 Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble Prelims are in the books. Even the wildcards have been revealed! Oh yeah, congrats to Murcielago and Duck & Cover. Now the stage is set for a pair of great Semifinal shows at TT’s this Thursday and Friday. Woo! Let’s take a look back at the second half of Prelims week.

Old Favorites

Zip-Tie Handcuffs cannot be restrained.
Zip-Tie Handcuffs cannot be restrained.

Talk about The Rumble bringing out the best in bands. Wow. Soft Pyramids and Zip-Tie Handcuffs both won their nights in vastly different ways. The former were masters of restraint and nuance. The latter were ferocious and wildly creative. Both were great fun to watch. Murcielago earned themselves a wildcard spot by being the heaviest and riffiest band of the whole event. The Nate Leavitt Band broke my heart into a million pieces. I don’t think I ever want it put back together the way it was. Simply gorgeous.

New Faces

Hello, Dirty Bangs. Nice to meet you.
Hello, Dirty Bangs. Nice to meet you.

Out of nowhere, Dirty Bangs just became one of my new favorite bands. What a set. I cannot wait to see what they do for a follow up on Thursday night. Yale, Massachusetts were fittingly rambunctious. I dig ’em. Mercury On Mars made me think of The Hellacopters. Mercury On Mars made me happy. Dan Webb And The Spiders made me think of The Replacements. Dan Webb And The Spiders made me happy. New City Ghost were dramatic. The Dirty Looks were exuberant. Protean Collective shredded. Thanks to The Rumble I got to see them all.

Hats Everywhere Redux

Mercury On Mars: hat with pins.
Mercury On Mars: hat with pins.

I acknowledge this is ridiculous. I’m doubling down on the nonsense. I apologize. I can’t stop seeing the hats. It first caught my attention earlier in the week. It continued all the way through the Prelims. There were 5 more bands sporting hats of all varieties after the Day Of Rest. With their wildcard selection, Duck & Cover brought the odds of advancing to the Semifinals up to even with the non-hat wearers for the first half of the week. Unfortunately, bands with hats didn’t fare as well in the subsequent nights. None of them advanced. Oh, well. It’s all meaningless, anyway. With any luck, that’s the last thing I’m going to say about hats in The Rumble.

Fun With Numbers

That guy on the right looks awfully familiar.
That guy on the right looks awfully familiar.

  • Two For One: Rich Crimlisk played with 2 bands in this year’s event. He was on guitar for The Warning Shots and Salita.
  • Three For One: There was 1 band that had a shaker that looked like a tomato (Soft Pyramids). There were at least 3 people I know of, myself included, that thought said tomato was real until it was used in a musical capacity.
  • I Can’t Count That High: The number of decibels pumped out by Murcielago’s 24 speakers.

Play Me Out

Their Lindsey Buckingham cover was a thing of beauty, but “Around This Town” is the Soft Pyramids song that’s been stuck in my head since Saturday night. Here it is with the other tunes ringing in my ears from the later Prelims. Come on out the Semifinals!





Soft Pyramids @ T.T. The Bear’s Place 4.18.2015

Soft Pyramids are cool. Really cool. Their songs are nuanced and layered, waiting for just the right moment to unfold before you and show their true colors. Well played and well paced, the band worked like master musical manipulators. Tack on a perfect Lindsey Buckingham cover and you’ve got Soft Pyramids moving on to the semifinals.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Rumble 2015 Prelim Night #6
New City Ghost
Yale, Massachusetts
Soft Pyramids (Winner)
The Warning Shots