Chris Mess at The Mercury
So Chris Mess played at the Mercury on 3/15/06. When Chris told me that it was "really hard to find," I had no idea how hard. It's under a battery shop on Capitol Hill. You walk down an alley and enter an unmarked door. On the weekends, it's a private Goth club. But on Wednesdays, it's mostly rock and punk.
On this particular night, there were no fewer than four bands playing. The last time I played with three other bands was "new band night" at the Tractor, in 1994. If you had walked in on this particular night, you would have heard quite an eclectic mix. Nemesis Theory played intricate riffs over a wash of synthesizer noise that would continue eerily between songs. The Keeper consisted of two musicians: one playing a keyboard, the other a guitar. We played third, and then the last band was from California-- didn't catch their name.
Of all the bands, The Keeper was the one that stayed with me. They had a unique sound of sequencers, drum machine, and guitar, along with spoken word lyrics. It was the spoken word stuff that I found interesting, with phrases like, "Break his bones!" and "Shut your mouth so the flies down come out!" I talked to the guitar player as I was setting up my drums, and he said it was their first gig.
Because the Mercury is basically a cement box, the sound is pretty crazy, bouncing all over the place. Tonight, we added a new cover to the mix, "He's a Whore" from Cheap Trick. There was a small crowd of people singing along with us, which was cool.
After the gig, Chris and I went to "The Hurricane" for breakfast. I didn't get home until well after 3:00 a.m.
On to The Dubliner on April 8 with Radio Shark.
On this particular night, there were no fewer than four bands playing. The last time I played with three other bands was "new band night" at the Tractor, in 1994. If you had walked in on this particular night, you would have heard quite an eclectic mix. Nemesis Theory played intricate riffs over a wash of synthesizer noise that would continue eerily between songs. The Keeper consisted of two musicians: one playing a keyboard, the other a guitar. We played third, and then the last band was from California-- didn't catch their name.
Of all the bands, The Keeper was the one that stayed with me. They had a unique sound of sequencers, drum machine, and guitar, along with spoken word lyrics. It was the spoken word stuff that I found interesting, with phrases like, "Break his bones!" and "Shut your mouth so the flies down come out!" I talked to the guitar player as I was setting up my drums, and he said it was their first gig.
Because the Mercury is basically a cement box, the sound is pretty crazy, bouncing all over the place. Tonight, we added a new cover to the mix, "He's a Whore" from Cheap Trick. There was a small crowd of people singing along with us, which was cool.
After the gig, Chris and I went to "The Hurricane" for breakfast. I didn't get home until well after 3:00 a.m.
On to The Dubliner on April 8 with Radio Shark.
Labels: Chris Mess
