Combat Rock! The Long March

As my quarter-life crisis reaches a crescendo I've been turning to music to make myself feel relevant and to provide sustenance to my waning rebel soul. A steady, boring job, a self-imposed bedtime, calorie-restrictions, no more smoking, no beer on weekdays, home-improvement, mortgage payments, mowing the lawn on Saturdays, it's all a bit much, or not enough...hard to say. Music. Music got me through the monotony of high-school life, I can only hope it will keep me going until retirement.
Life...well work...has been really getting me down lately so I decided I needed a hot rock shot. 8 bands, three venues, two weeknights, 800 miles, 0 days off. Actually, the whole thing wasn't planned, it more or less just fell together. Bob Mould was playing the Metro in Chicago. Having once co-hosted a radio show with the angryengineer loosley dedicated to Bob and his derivative music, we felt obliged to attend at least one of the shows. Both shows would have been double the hardcore, but we're halfsies on the hardcore these days. Leaving after work and driving 4 hours and then driving back is still sorta hardcore. Angryengineer provided an excellent review of the show. I don't think I can really add anything other than the show made me very happy. I also thanked Bob and shook his hand after the show. The Metro is an awesome venue, the room was not crowded, and Bob and the band were just incredible. I caught Bob on his Modulate tour back in 2002 maybe at the Trocadero in Philly and he was good, but to see him with an excellent backing band was better. Hearing nearly all of Sugar's Copper Blue live was unbelievable.

Some thoughts on Copper Blue

I picked up Copper Blue in the late summer/early fall of 1992, right before I turned 16. The album was seminole in my life and was the beginning of music for me. In reality I think I pickeh up Pretty Hate Machine first, but I started hearing "Changes" on a local indie station in June of that year (before Head like a Hole) and Copper Blue actually sold out at the local record shop three shipments in a row. I finally asked and got the nice girl behind the counter to hold a copy for me. Since that time there probably isn't an album I've listened to more ( Black Love by the Afghan Whigs comes in a close second). So there was a lot of full-circle stuff going on, I think I am starting to finally tie up some loose ends left dangling when I was extricated from college.
A snarky indie-music fascist may sneer at seeing NIN and Sugar in the same paragraph as purported musical influences. However, let's put things in perspective: it was 1992 in ultra-conservative West Michigan. The music world was on the verge of exploding and in a place where the 60's never happen it is amazing that I ever heard of these bands. Well, of course who could have foreseen every "Alternative". As CMJ put it (about Nirvana" )

In the 44 months between Nevermind and Silverchair, the whole world felt like college radio. Ridiculously inaccessible bands like the Boredoms and the Butthole Surfers had major label contracts, and even U2 and Los Lobos had to make more challenging records to keep up. OK, OK, there were supermodels rocking flannel, sipping Coke's alt.soda, OK Cola, but who can deny the impact of a slouching, introverted genius gushing about his favorite underground bands (Melvins, Raincoats, Scratch Acid, Half Japanese, Black Flag) like he was, well, one of us.
-CMJ NEW MUSIC REPORT: 25 Years Of CMJ Music Marathon: 25 Most Influential Artists

As "alternative" hit W. Michigan, I didn't really have to look all that far to find music I like/ er tolerate. 10 years later music in W.Michigan is riding the suck train and I'm back to listening to college radio, Pandora , or looking up charts on CMJ to see what is out there worth listening to. Past becomes prolouge.

Entertain
The second stop on my indie-pop marathon was to see Sleater-Kinney their new album is excellent. I drove over to Detroit after work so I only caught the Ponys as they were about to walk off the stage. Lots of U of M brats, music geeks (myself included), tortured intelligentsia, and just fans. The set list was nothing special, though they did close with the Boss' "The Promised Land". It was all at once refreshing and exhausting to hit a show at a venue 3 hours away on a Tuesday. Seeing the band live solidified my love for the band and their music. At this point I am floating on a music cloud; elated.

You're No Rock and Roll Fun
Thursday rolls around bringing about another great concert day. Well it should have been. Foo and Weezer, with Kaiser Chiefs opening. Three good bands, only a 15 minute drive. Dinner at the cottage bar all should have been well. The show started early so we missed Kaiser Chiefs and we weren't the only ones, the place was empty. You know it's going to be a bad crowd when no one is around for the opening band. Weezer was a good as always, they covered Foo's "Big Me" Rivers played drums. Foo was also good, but the floor crowd was full of lots of people I didn't like. A large group was a little too excited about hearing "We are all in Love" oh wait that's only in MTV land. Anyways, the guys missed the point and were just excited to hear a song about drugs. There was a meathead protecting his boyfriend, threatening so dope-heads over my shoulder. Thanks but I'll take UoM brats over drunk retards. Maybe the crowd had a lot to do with it, but both bands were lacking in energy. Everything felt like it was on rails. The two times I saw Weezer in Philly far exceeded this Grand Rapids show. Foo and Weezer are great bands with rich back catalogs. Unfortunately, they seem to have progressed into a stage where their live show is a product like everything else.
I was hoping to coat-tail an interview on Friday into a Death Cab for Cutie show, but they've been bitten by the O.C. bug; every one of their shows in sold out. I think small bands at small venues is my thing for the time being.

Tidbits
Sleater-Kinney's video for "Jumpers" is on videos.myspace.com
Wiki on the quarter-life crisis