I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 23, 2026] Orcutt Shelley Miller

When I saw Thurston Moore about a decade ago, Steve Shelley was drumming for him.  I thought it would be fun to see each of the Sonic Youth members since I never got to see the band.  Then I saw Kim Gordon a few years ago.  And while I saw Lee Ranaldo decades ago, that doesn’t feel like it counts for various reasons.  But heck, an opportunity to see Steve Shelley again is not to be missed.

I didn’t know who Bill Orcutt was (and shame on me, I guess–he is best known for being in the band Harry Pussy).  I thought I didn’t know who Ethan Miller was, but then I realized I had seen him with Heron Oblivion about 8 years ago and I loved that set and I loved watching him.  But yes, the main draw of this trio for me was Steve Shelley.  Then I listened to their album and I loved it.

Bill Orcutt plays a loose, but great-sounding guitar.  It was fascinating to see that he has literally one pedal in front of him.  A small box which he stepped on from time to time.  I couldn’t really tell what the difference was after he stepped on it (maybe more distortion?), but overall the sound was great.  He played some wild solos–some seemingly on the verge of just nonsensical noise and yet he never let the sound get away from him.  But he also held back when there was a chance for Miller to play some soloing stuff.

Ethan Miller plays a small violin-shaped bass (a Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass) and the sound he gets from it is fantastic.  Unlike Orcutt, he has a bunch if gear.  He’s got some pedals that he messed around with and, in a moment of technological genius, I saw him turn on his phone and hold up a photo of his amp so he could set the dials to the exact specifications.  Miller is the only person who spoke (it must be 9 o’clock) and he seemed to having a really good time.

But not as good a time as Steve Shelley.  He smiles through the whole set, just seemingly thrilled to be playing drums.  It was such a treat to watch him.  And while his kit is pretty sparse, he really conveys a lot.

It was cool to watch Bill check in with Steve with a nod or glance that it was time to change tempo or end the songs.

They played the album in order (with one bonus song).  I loved how each song generated a different vibe.  The slow opening bass of An L.A. Funeral followed by the wild and reckless sounding Unsafe at Any Speed.

It was here that they deviated from the record and played what I assume is a fully improvised piece.  It started slow and was really pretty and then it meandered around for awhile.  It was probably the longest song they played. And Miller played around with some interesting sounds from his bass toward the end of the song.

The other difference from the record was that Four Door Charger which is about 8 minutes on the record stopped after around 4.  There’s a pretty natural stopping place on the record that’s followed by a kind of jam.  They left the jam out and it was fine without it.

Then they finished with A Long Island Wedding, a nice long jamming song.  And the end really allowed them to freak out and rock out.  Orcutt went pretty nuts and Miller was having a really good time going wild on the bass.  And Shelley of course kept up the pace and the chaos.  It was an explosive ending.

The whole set was about 50 minutes and it was perfect.  I didn’t want or need any more than that.  Because of the smallness of the venue I was able to thank Orcutt and even bought a vinyl from Miller (irony that I didn’t get to chat with Shelley, but whatever).  I’m so glad I went.

Setlist
A Star is Born
An L.A. Funeral
Unsafe at Any Speed
unknown jam
Four-Door Charger
A Long Island Wedding