Tag Archives: SPD GVNR

Tuesday: Brick Mower @ Bourbon St.

If you haven’t already poked around Bandcamp, you definitely should. Tons of really great bands putting their music out there for you to download either for free or for a small fee.

I was searching for bands that referenced Fig Dish when I came upon New Jersey’s Brick Mower. This trio, in spirit anyways, reminds me of locals The Kyle Sowashes and SPD GVNR in that they sound like stuff I was listening to and writing about in the mid-90s (Superchunk, The Breeders, GBV, etc). And, hell, any band that references Fig Dish (and whose singer sounds like FD’s Blake Smith) is okay in my book.

Bruce Springsteen stinks
Nebraska isn’t good because it’s recorded on a 4-track
And we all know
Fig Dish ain’t coming back

Brick Mower and Period Girls (featuring Brick Mower’s Kit Gogan) are playing Tuesday night at Cafe Bourbon St. Show these Jersey kids a warm Columbus welcome, will ya?

Thursday: forgetters at Circus

Had I not stumbled upon Matthew Berlyant’s review of the debut double 7″ by forgetters on The Big Takeover website last week, I probably would have missed this show. As it was, the mere mention of a new band featured ex-Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil singer/guitarist Blake Schwarzenbach was enough to make me fire up Google and find out anything and everything I could about forgetters (no “the” and lowercase “f”, thank you very much). There’s not a lot out there, but I did find some concert dates posted on the band’s blog and was shocked to see a Columbus date at Circus (sorry Benco, I’ll check out your site way more often to see who else you’ve booked!).

SPD GVNR and The Kyle Sowashes round out the bill. Tickets are $12 at the door. All the details here.

Saturday: Kopaz @ Rumba Cafe (CD release party)

MP3: Kopaz – “Teeth Like Cities”

An album that has been sitting on a hard drive, 85% complete for the last five years, is finally going to see the light of day tomorrow night at the Rumba Cafe. In a way, it makes me sad because I wonder just how many other bands have started down the process of recording something new, something that started off as a dream to further their musical career but fell by the wayside for any number of reasons (finances, jobs, weddings, kids, disagreements, etc.).

Fortunately, Kopaz’s breakup had nothing to do with bad blood among band members. Rather, it had more to do with singer/guitarist Brian Hake and drummer Nathan Keister diving headfirst into parenthood and … gasp … responsibilities for lives other than their own. Maybe in the back of their minds, they knew that Teeth Like Cities would eventually be completed. Maybe they didn’t. All I know is that an album that was primarily recorded in 2005 (the band finished off the remaining bits and pieces earlier this year) stands to be my favorite local release of 2010!
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Robert Pollard Shows Up to Watch Guided By Voices Tribute Concert in Columbus

Last night, as my bud Dan Bell drove us to the Treehouse, I got a text message from Joe Peppercorn at 9:02: “Bob Fucking Pollard is at the bar!”

At 9:09, a text arrived from Justin Hemminger of SPD GVNR: “Uncle Bob is here.”

Being a fan of GBV, and having seen Pollard get hammered at random Ohio bars over the years, this revelation shouldn’t have alarmed or surprised me. Pollard is a drinker. He is as well known for his obnoxious love of modest lager as he is for his high kicks and prolific songwriting. What made these text messages goofy was the fact that last night was Guided By Voices Appreciation Night at The Treehouse. Bob was there to listen to, as Kyle Sowash remarked, “a bunch of shitty bands play his own songs.”

Organized by Sowash, our berg’s enigmatic, happy and handsome, rock and roll prince, GBV Appreciation Night featured 10 or 11 Columbus bands playing nothing but GBV songs. Because if there is one band that most of us turds can agree on, the band is GBV.

When I finally got to the Treehouse, with my guitar and tacklebox in hand, all the slack motherfuckers set to play were both giddy and nervous. Pollard, his brother, Nate Farley and some dude that looked like a young Gary Busey (wearing camoflauge cargo pants), were at a table in the back of the tree room sucking down Miller Lites. A friend of a friend told me he heard Bob say, “I can’t wait to hear my fucking songs, maaaan.”

Peppercorn, pack leader of The Whiles, was all nerves. “I shoulda spent more time with the lyrics,” he said as we high-fived. Thirty minutes later into the night, the While’s were spot on during “Dragons Awake!” and “Postal Blowfish.”
Pollard hugged Peppercorn after the Whiles finished their set and instructed Joe, “you can play me in the Guided By Voices movie.” Joe had a face boner for the rest of the night.

As the Cabdrivers played, I hid in the back of the tree room. Everyone, including Pollard, was impressed by the Cabdriver’s rendition of “Cut Out Witch.” “Better than we ever diiiid it,” Farley said to Bob.

To stave off an allergic reaction to antibiotics, I was pretty juiced on Rolling Rocks and Benadryl by the time me, Adam Dowell and Dan Bell played our four songs. Bell had us drink Rolling Rock since all of the songs we played were from Propeller and Bee Thousand. It was GBV’s swill of choice back then, long before Bob and company started counting calories.

I’m not trying to glorify the modern molotovs. I’m actually trying to justify using cheat sheets with scribbled chords on them, because EVERY other band, at least the ones I heard and saw, played their sets from memory with a spirited, surgical focus. However, in retrospect, playing a lot of wrong chords may have been a more honest replication of the Crying Your Knife Away recording.

Bob bumbled out of the room at around the same time that SPD GVNR was about to play. It’s too bad, because he missed the best set of the night, including monstrous renditions of “Motor Away,” “Dayton Ohio Nineteen Something and…,” “Official Ironman Rally Song” and “Bulldog Skin.”

Everyone sang along.

—————-

Other highlights:
THE KYLE SOWASHES – “I am a Tree” & “Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory”
ANIMAL CUBES – “Glad Girls”
WOOSLEY BAND – “Do The Earth”
ERIC NASSAU – “As We Go Up, We Go Down”
BOOKMOBILE – “Watch Me Jumpstart”

Billy Peake is the lead singer/guitarist of Bicentennial Bear.