Curse my lousy memory: because of it, you get no pictures from what was–all in all–a very interesting, eclectic night at the Casbah. When Sleeping People, a co-ed, mixed-race group that rocks in systems of equations and shit, is the most conventional band on the bill, you know you’re in for a pretty interesting evening.
Aspects of Physics took the stage later than expected due to a confluence of factors:
1. For three dudes, they have a shit ton of gear. It’s awesome, and effective, and creates an incredible amount of layered sound, but it does have to moved, positioned, and set up.
2. The drummer from Vagabond Opera (who headlined the Casbah’s early show, and apparently had belly dancers on hand) apparently didn’t get the memo that, when another band is coming on stage right after you, it’s considered good form to REMOVE YOUR GEAR FROM THE STAGE AREA BEFORE DISASSEMBLING IT. Can you tell I’ve been in this situation before?
Once on stage, the trio of Jason Soares, Jeff Coad, and Brent Asbury were masterful. Asbury was especially impressive. Playing to a pre-recorded rhythm track, which is one of the toughest things for a drummer to do period, his power and presence behind the kit were phenomenal. Why isn’t this guy’s name thrown around in the discussion of best drummers in San Diego? That said, they sounded great but probably played too long by one song, as the Casbah had to hit them with the house lights in the middle of their last tune.
Kill Me Tomorrow took the stage next. I met them for the first time years–and I mean years–ago when our two bands were mysteriously booked at the Spanish Moon Cantina in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on the same night while on tour. I’ve been a pretty dedicated observer of the output of Kill Me Tomorrow, mostly for the fact that they produce clothes and books with about the same frequency as records, which is interesting in its own right. This was my first time seeing them with Tobyn McCormick in the band, and his additions of percussion and horn added to Kill Me Tomorrow’s standard fare of noisy, percussive and off-kilter dance punk. It’s funny, because most people, myself included, tend to call them an electro-punk band, even though their actual ratio of electronic to organic instrumentation is quite low. Weird. Anyway, they were good.
Sleeping People got the stage late–it was about 12:50 AM when they finally started playing their first notes, and by then the crowd had unfortunately thinned out a bit. Starting shows late may be good for the opening bands but it’s another classic example of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which is unfortunate when it’s Paul’s CD release show. That notwithstanding, Sleeping People attacked their first song, “Yellow Guy, Pink Eye” with unmitigated ferocity. As impressive as the guitars of Casey Flowe and Joileah Maddock are, the real fireworks come from the bass and drums tandem of Kenseth Thibideaux and Brandon Relf. Brandini, as he’s known to some, is San Diego’s resident Damon Che, a flurry of muscle memory-defying fills and a sense for finding “the one,” in drummer terms, that positively creepy.
After their set, which was cut short due to time restrictions, my buddy Kirk picked up their new record on double-gatefold vinyl. If you have a record player and like being dizzy, I recommend you do the same.
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