Modern Minstrels

Straylight Run in the Studio

Straylight Run are currently in the studio recording their new album. The cool thing is, they have setup Flickr and YouTube accounts to keep fans posted throughout the recording process. That's really great idea, more bands seriously need to do this. (Thanks to AP.net for dropping this knowledge on me)

Brand New at The Fillmore

Last week, Nick and I went to see Brand New at The Fillmore. I've been anticipating this show more than any other show I've ever been to. I've literally been waiting 3 solid years to see Brand New. The last time I had a chance to see them was in 2003, just after Deja Entendu came out. They played somewhere in SF, but it was when I was at Apple during my internship, and I didn't have a car and wasn't familiar enough with the trains to get up there, so I ended up not getting a ticket to the show, thinking I'd surely be able to see them again soon enough.

Fortunately, the show was totally worth the wait. From opening note of Tautou to the incredibly moving closing of Play Crack the Sky, I was riveted. Deja Entendu is one of the best albums of all time, so hearing those songs (they played everything except Good to Know) live for the first time was just amazing, particularly Sic Transit Gloria and Okay, I Believe You But My Tommygun Don't. They also played a handful of songs off of Your Favorite Weapon (including SoCo Amaretto Lime, which thrilled me to no end) and a few new songs from their new album coming out this fall.

Though they didn't speak to the crowd a whole lot, there were a few, what I consider classic Jesse lines. First before playing Me vs Maradona vs Elvis, he says something like "So when we've been playing this song, people always cheer at this one part, and I don't know why. It's not happy song. When I wrote this song, I never expected people to be cheering about it". The song's basically about a guy that leads a girl just for a one night stand and regretting it and the line people cheered at was "it's ladies' night, all the girls drink for free". The other classic moment was towards the end of the set, when he was thanking the crowd and said "You guys have been probably the best audience on this tour". Just in the way he said it, he totally conveyed the "yes, I say this at every show, but you're going to cheer anyway" and of course we all did. The way he said it reminds me of the way he sings the line, "I would kill for the Atlantic, but I am paid to make girls panic while I sing".

So throughout their set, it seemed to me like Jesse was a bit distracted, or just depressed. I wasn't really expecting a lot of crowd interaction, but still something seemed a bit off. And when Jesse came back on stage to do the solo acoustic Play Crack the Sky, we found out why. He said he had something to say, but he wasn't sure exactly how to say it. He wanted to apologize if he seemed detached, but his head was in another place entirely. He said he didn't think he'd ever regret bringing his brother on this tour, but for an hour or two this afternoon, he did. He then said this song goes out to my brother and my parents and it will take more than a truck to tear us apart. And then he started playing Play Crack the Sky, which is a rather sad song to begin with. Coupled with this extra emotion, it was an incredibly touching experience. He played up until the last or second to last time before the chorus, and then he just sort of stopped. Vinnie came out and the two of them hugged for a few seconds and Vinnie walked off stage. I thought Jessie would leave as well, but he picked up his guitar and finished the song flawlessly. An incredibly emotional end to an amazing show.

On our way out of the venue I overheard one of the Fillmore employees talking and he said yes, the lead singer's brother got hit by a truck earlier in the day and was in the hospital, and they weren't even sure if they were going to do the show until about 5 minutes before the show was supposed to start. But I guess at that point, his brother was in pretty stable condition. I haven't heard anything about how his brother is doing, by I can only hope and pray he's making a speedy recovery.

Radiohead at the Greek

I went to see Radiohead at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley a few weeks ago with Nick, John, and Dan. This was my first time seeing Radiohead live, and wow, was it incredible. I feel like I should be able to write more about this show, but words can't do it justice. When they left the stage prior to the first encore, I couldn't believe they had already been playing for over an hour. Fortunately they came back for a 5 song encore, and a 2 song second encore.

Highlights of the show included the Paranoid Android, No Surprises, The Gloaming run in the middle of the set; True Love Waits transitioning seamlessly into Everything In Its Right Place; opening with Airbag; and the new song Bodysnatchers.

Here's the full set list.

I cannot wait to see Radiohead again. And if at all possible, I want to catch both shows the next time they are around. Normally I'm skeptical of seeing a band twice in a row, but given that there was pretty much zero overlap with their set the previous night, it would definitely be worth it. And if you've never seen them before, I highly recommend you do so as soon as possible.

I'm Ready For It, Come On Bring It

You can download an iPod version of the music video for Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) by Cobra Starship over on Google video. Cobra Starship is fronted by Gabe Saporta of Midtown. Also contributing vocals are William Beckett of The Academy Is, Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, and Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds, which makes for an excellent lineup indeed. I'm sure you'll also notice a cameo by Samuel L Mother Fuckin' Jackson himself and the scenesters will certainly not miss the appearance of Pete from Fall Out Boy.

In other SOAP soundtrack news, the album is being put out by Decaydance Records (run by Pete of Fall Out Boy, and an imprint of Fueled by Ramen Records). Congrats to Pete on that. Bands making an appearance of the record include: Panic! At the Disco, The Academy Is, Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Armor for Sleep, Jack's Mannequin, and Coheed and Cambria. The full tracklisting can be seen on wikipedia.

You may also be interested in checking out Cobra Starship's other song, Hollaback Boy, over on their MySpace profile.

Matt Nathanson in the Other Park

A couple weeks ago, a bunch of my friends from work and I went to see Matt Nathanson (with full band) perform a free show at St. James Park in San Jose. There was a surprisingly big crowd at the park, of course only about half the people had any idea who Matt was. Since this was a public, outdoor performance, Matt wasn't allowed to swear at all. This of course made many of his usually topics of between song conversation off limits, but he still managed to put on an entertaining show. Highlights included a cover/sing-a-long of Journey's Don't Stop Believin', Matt's PG version of the story behind Lost Myself in Search of You, and Matt getting some guy to clap for some 80's metal band. Oh, and before the show Nick got his picture taken with Matt. It was great getting to see Matt so soon after just seeing him a little over a month ago. Sadly now I must wait until his fall tour to have my face rocked off again.