February 8, 2010

Slabtown' Bender Highlights

Oh man, I'm spent. Slabtown's Bender was like gorging on an appetizer platter. You knew you were getting nice selection deep fried Northwestern rawk, but if you came to hear a specific band, you went home wanting more. The sets were short, with little time for filler. Even so, I didn't have the stamina to see all 38 bands. Here are the ones I'll remember after the beer gut wears off:

The Girls
A charismatic frontman and a bashing keyboard combined to create awesome high energy punk rock and incite confrontational dancing.

Ty Segall
A creative, catchy, fun, and sonically dynamic set.

Coconut Coolouts
There was nothing subtle about this boisterous dance party. The two drummers front and center led the way, demanding cheap beer and good times.

Thee Headliners
During a way too short set, they pounded out gritty, powerful, and just plain great rock n' roll. Plus they covered the Sir Douglas Quintet.

Shannon and the Clams
They added yelps, yips, and a ton more reverb to classic early '60s pop.

Sir Lord Von Raven
I thought it'd be more glam, but was totally cool with the Faces-loving pub rock.

King Louie and the Missing Monuments
Shredded vocals, punk riffs, and Saints jerseys. Plus the guitarist played a flying-V and sported Jay Reatard shirt.

Pure Country Gold
A garage duo cranking out a killer mix of the blues, country, and rock n' roll. Also, the band I most wanted to see, so of course it felt the shortest.

5 Comments:

awmercy said...

In total, I saw 19 bands.

Nightrain said...

Dang! Intense weekend... and your ears are probably shot.

sandenuts said...

That sounds like a killer weekend

Anonymous said...

super cool!! hey, i posted your commentary with a link on our facebook page...
love it all, even the cheese! ps-the cover of RAIN & BLOOD is an homage to the city of Portland, Oregon...its' full of stuff, like those pics in kids magazines where there are pictures inside the picture that you have to discover. like platos cave...like string cheese!!! down to the name...glad ya dig the sounds!
holly hotbox
theeheadliners@gmail.com

awmercy said...

Thanks for linking to us on Facebook.

You guys were great. I'm really looking forward to heading over to the Kenton Club to see one of your longer sets.

I'm also going to revisit the cover and see if I can uncover some its secrets. Thanks for the tip. I hope I didn't offend you.