Nate, Nate, Nate

one of my favorite band people that comes through the cafe is giving up his sticks. nate of in:aviate and brobecks notoriety is dealing with some kidney issues and can't tour right now. seriously if you've ever met nate, you know he's a great guy. we get so many arrogant rock-types through the cafe, so when nate comes to town we get excited because he just plays good music without all the attitude.

at last night's cafe show, he could only play two songs. but when you know the drummer is only going to play two songs, it really helps build the excitement of the show. by the time he took the stage, the crowd and in:aviate were so ready to go they nearly destroyed the stage and themselves (and a really nice SG guitar). i'll miss nate behind a kit: he's a stunningly consistent drummer. the upside though is that he lives a few blocks from the cafe so hopefully we'll get to see more of him. nate, we wish you all our "best wishes and good thoughts on your recovery" (but you and everyone else knows that means we'll be praying for you!).

love, the cafe

I Owe Someone An Apology

I'm not sure who it was, or when it was, or if it even actually happened, but I vaguely remember someone telling me to check out a band called Rogue Wave. At the time I sort of just wrote it off for lame/boring radio music. This isn't the first time I've done this, I refused to listen to Silversun Pickups for months for that very same reason.

Anyway, I'm sure that I'm way behind on this, but Rogue Wave is really good. They sort of have a hint of The Shins, but not quite the same. I'm very much enjoying their record, so whoever it was that told me to listen to them, if you read this, sorry :)

YES!

Um... you WILL laugh.

I love that they actually get a standing ovation for this. I wonder if they're still playing together, maybe we can get them to play the Olé Bravo show.

Aaron Weiss Hides Spice Packets From Ramen Noodles In His Shoes

i touched aaron weiss last night on the shoulder and he shared some secrets (did you know mewithoutyou buries all their money in a field outside philly? well they probably do). okay seriously, last night's mewithoutyou, thrice, brand new bill at saltair was a really good show. thrice was seriously good, much better than i remember. dustin kensrue and company played a solid set in classic thrice style (i call it "hard standing"). thrice did some interesting things besides hard standing like using an ebow on a bass guitar and messing with a transformers-voice-box-effects-dealie on the song digital sea.

and whoever brand new is, kids really seem to dig them. and by dig them i mean donate their kidneys, rename their babies, absolutely love them. i'm definitely not going to write about how i liked brand new's show, but don't really get why people love them. if i did write about that, the brand new super friends (bnsf) might hurt me. they were great to watch though and did everything they could to just about destroy the stage.

all in all, it was a great night. and definitely better than the 5,000-person rave that occupied saltair after the show.

Band Of Horses

here's a freebie, courtesy of aversion music news...



check back tomorrow for thoughts on the mewithoutyou, thrice, brand new show tonight at saltair.

On Hard Core Shows And Their Loyal Scene Kids

lawrence (new sound guy at the cafe and guitarist from bastian) and i went to the hardcore show tonight at saltair. among the nineteen bands on the bill, we saw the devil wears prada, scary kids scaring kids and emery.

i am not a hardcore screamo kid, but went to see some old friends and had a great time seeing them. here's what i learned about hardcore shows and the scenesters that make it tick.

1. if underoath ever dies we have a spare (besides every screamo band of the last few years). the devil wears prada is good, but they're awfully similar to uo.

2. one raver can wreck a show for 1,000 kids. seriously who thinks that anything at saltair is a rave? if you see 50 other tweakers busting out their glow sticks, then please, join them. if you're the only one though, keep it in your pocket and wait til you're in front your hallway mirror.

3. scene kids = black t-shirts. it's been a few years since my last hardcore show, are we really still on black t-shirts? really?

4. emery should get another guitarist if they want to continue as a band. one guitar for a hard band is not enough to win over a 1,000 kiddos just waiting around to hear "walls" before the next band one takes the stage.

5. sexy dancing should never happen. especially at a hardcore show. if alcohol makes you want to sexy dance with your lady, then don't drink at a hardcore show.

6. hardcore bands = weird keyboardists. keyboarders? keyists? whatever they're called, you better have one and he'd better dance around like he has a fish in his pants and play about four notes per song. if possible, he should at some point, crowd surf during a guitar solo.

i'm going to mewithoutyou and brand new and thrice on saturday, so i may have a part two to this blog. and as a side note, why is mewithoutyou touring with hard bands?

It's been busy

It's been a while since we've posted, I feel so bad to our loyal reader... that's not a typo.

Check out Blitzen Trapper. They're sort of like this country-indie-west virginia (but from Oregon) rock band. It's really cool to listen to. They're heading out on a Euopean tour in a few days, those lucky jerks are getting paid to play music in Germany, oh what I wouldn't give. Anyway, hopefully they'll end up in Salt Lake sometime next year, and you better believe we'll be trying to book them.

Check it fool.