Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for August, 2024

Tim Motzer (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, August 2, 2024) [STICK MEN]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Pat Mastelotto, Stick Men, Tim Motzer, Tony Levin on August 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 2, 2024] Tim Motzer 

Tim Motzer is a Philly-based guitarist.  For his live show, he plays acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, and electric guitar.  He loops his melodies and creates percussion by tapping on the hollow bodied acoustic (and gets a lot of different sounds from it).

He played four pieces in about 45 minutes.

The first on the acoustic guitar.  It was fun to watch him build and then deconstruct the melodies and work within the drum beat that he created.

When he switched to 12 string guitar the sound was more varied.  Afterward he said that he had a new array of pedals and some of the sounds were surprising to him as well

For the electric guitar he played a heavier song with a notable riff.  For this and t he other 6 string piece, he used the e-bow a lot to generate cool sounds.

It was genuinely unclear to me if he was improvising the whole time or if he was playing some of his original pieces.  It doesn’t matter, of course, because the music was cool either way, but I would give the songs a mention if I could tell which songs they were.

For the final piece, he played the 12 string guitar again and briefly used a violin bow (only briefly) to generate new sounds.

It was a pretty mesmerizing session.  The set was marred a little for me by the guy next to me who would whoo!  every once in awhile (like “Whooo 12 string!”) and the guy in the other side of me who kept getting out his phone and then reciting into it before taking a photo (I guess posting to Facebook) “He just took out the violin bow”)

But those annoyances were not very frequent so it wasn’t too bad.

And, overall, it was cool to see Motzer in person after having streamed his set from Sellersville last year.

Read Full Post »

D.O.A. (Broken Goblet Brewing, Bensalem, PA, August 1, 2024)

Posted in Bensalem, PA, Broken Goblet Brewing, Crossed Keys, D.O.A., The Bad Ups, War on Women on August 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2024] D.O.A.

I was never really a fan of D.O.A.  I had nothing against them, they were just slightly off of my radar.  I have their album that they recorded with Jello Biafra, but I had no real reason to investigate them further.

I was surprised to see that they were still around (after dozens of lineup changes). They have broken up and reunited a few times and as of 2014, they have had a stable lineup with original guitarist/singer Joey “Shithead” Keithley and Mike Hodsall on bass and Paddy Duddy on drums.

I didn’t know this, but, Joey Shithead was elected a city councillor in Burnaby, BC in the 2018 municipal elections as a member of the Burnaby Green Party. He was re-elected in the October 2022 municipal election.  He is 68 and has a lot of on stage energy and presence.  I was also surprised by his little showoffy moves–playing guitar behind his head and playing with his teeth (?) I think.  Those aren’t really punk moves, but they were fun to watch.

Their last album was 2020’s Treason which took direct aim at trump and his ilk.  They even re-recorded one of their old songs, Fucked Up Ronnie as Fucked Up Donald, just for him. (more…)

Read Full Post »

War on Women (Broken Goblet Brewing, Bensalem, PA, August 1, 2024) [D.O.A.]

Posted in Bensalem, PA, Broken Goblet Brewing, Crossed Keys, D.O.A., The Bad Ups, War on Women on August 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2024] War on Women

War on Women came on my radar sometime around 2021.  I’ve been wanting to see them now for about four years.  They were supposed to open for Voivod back in March but they left the tour for some reason.

It’s interesting that they were now on another tour with an old school Canadian band, D.O.A.  I bought a ticket for this show because of them (I was kind of indifferent to D.O.A., but they were super fun).  Their set was killer (and may have actually been longer than D.O.A’s).

War on Women is a five-piece singer Shawna Potter lead guitarist Brooks Harlan guitarist Jennifer Vito and bassist Suzanne Werner.  They had a guest drummer for this tour (a guy from Canada, they said).

The band plays a nice mix of heavy metal and punk–with some songs being heavy and riff heavy and others being kind of fast without the riffage.  And Potter’s voice is fantastic.  She sings clearly but she can scream with the best of them. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Crossed Keys / The Bad Ups (Broken Goblet Brewing, Bensalem, PA, August 1, 2024) [D.O.A.]

Posted in Bensalem, PA, Broken Goblet Brewing, Crossed Keys, D.O.A., The Bad Ups, War on Women on August 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2024] Crossed Keys / The Bad Ups

I had never been to The Broken Goblet before.  It’s a brewery in Bensalem in a stripmall type environment with a parking lot.  It’s a big venue (which is expanding).   They have a bar (with their beers on tap) and a large stage.  They also have (at some shows) some tables and chairs (which I took advantage of).

I arrived a few minutes after The Bad Ups has started, and by the time i got into the venue they were probably more than half way through their set.  Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed their upbeat, borderline ska sounding music.   Or as this review from New Noise magazine puts it

Being of Jamaican descent, frontman Travis McKayle named his band after the patois term “baddup,” which means to treat someone poorly or violently. Pulling influence from the best of the ’90’s and 2000’s Epitaph bands,

I’m a fan of that era of Epitaph music and I enjoyed the few songs that I heard.  I didn’t see a setlist anywhere so I don’t know what they played.

After about fifteen minutes, Crossed Keys came on.  Like The Bad Ups, Crossed Keys are also from Philadelphia.  Crossed Keys lead singer Joshua Alvarez described their live show like this (more…)

Read Full Post »

Speedy Ortiz (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, July 30, 2024)

Posted in Grocer, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, Queen Rat, Speedy Ortiz on August 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 30, 2024] Speedy Ortiz

I saw Speedy Ortiz back in 2018 and then… they sort of disappeared.  When they returned back in 2023, I saw  them twice, for a Free at Noon before the release of their new album and then a month later when they played the new album in full.

Speedy Ortiz was supposed to play Milkboy on New Year’s Eve, but the show was cancelled because of COVID in the band.

So this show was the rescheduled show from New Year’s (New Year’s in July).  And then in June, Sadie Dupuis posted this

 i had a bike accident monday after a car cut me off and, considering philly drivers and roads, i’m way lucky i’m alive and it didn’t go worse. 🚴😵‍💫  my elbow is, as they say formally in the medical-industrial complex, “totally effed,” but i’m scheduled for surgery monday and i’m being led to believe i’m in the best orthopedic hands out there. it’s going to be a long and annoying road to recovery but i love guitar more than anything and i’m famously stubborn so i’ll get there, don’t worry

They had to cancel shows with Mary Timony, but Sadie said she’d do anything to get this Milkboy show done, even if that meant not playing guitar and teaching all of her parts to Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings.

Sadie said it was like doing karaoke.  And when she realized that she’d be a “stand up” singer, she asked for a tambourine to keep her hands busy.  Then she learned that people who play tambourine off their thigh tend to protect themselves from serious bruising. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts