Concert Season 2012: Episode 2: Silversun Pickups

Going to two concerts in one week, especially if they're two days apart from each other, can be pretty exhausting, especially if one is coming home late from them, which happens to be my case. Fuck you, Fox Theater, why can't you and the Warfield switch places?

Wait... no... the Warfield's area not only sucks, it smells of piss and depression and makes Oakland look like Utopia in comparison.

Let me start over. Why can't you move over to the Inner Sunset or the Haight or the Mission... some place I don't MIND going to?

Actually, fuck it. Good job, Oakland. You got one place I actually like going to. But before I get into the bands, I have one request for the Fox: please fix your sound problem. I don't know how it is on the floor, but for some reason, the vocals always sound a little muffled. I know people have told me in the past they've had a problem with the Fox's audio issues but I never really had a problem with it until recently. Looking back, they've had that problem since they've opened. And since that's the case, maybe I should give Fidlar a quick listen to... well... maybe after I get into the two opening bands.

So I was a little late getting to the Fox Wednesday night, so I only got to hear the last song from Australian band Atlas Genius, the first opening band. I think they were playing "Trojans." I'm not quite sure. But the one song I heard, I dug it. They're very indy, alt-rock and that seems to be my thing. They had a similar setup to Silversun Pickups: a vocalist/guitarist, a bassist on backup, a drummer, and a keyboardist. They only have a four-song EP up on Spotify and iTunes, but from what I heard so far, I actually hope they put out more stuff.



My friend and sisters got to the theater in time to see School of Seven Bells, this cool synth rock band with twin sisters as vocals and keyboards. I think the leader of the band was the guitarist, though. I found it odd that the keyboard replaced bass... maybe I'm just old school in my vocalist/guitarist/bassist/drummer setup. My friend said it was "the second coming of Silversun" and my sisters said the band kept on reminding them of The Craft and Charmed. It was probably because they had this cool trinity circle/ring thingee that had tiny lights with different colors going off. Just imagine this thing with Christmas lights. It rocked.

All I kept on seeing was the design of a Mexican Luchador mask in the middle.

Their music reminded me more of My Bloody Valentine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Placebo, kinda like an 80s goth/synth/pop rock sound. Yeah, I know Placebo is more 90s, but their was some hint of their style in there. I personally dug their sound. I just wish I knew what she was singing about. Like I said before, the audio problems in the Fox made the words sound not as clear as it should, and hence I really couldn't make out the words. Coming back a day or two later to listen to their recorded stuff makes me wish I took the time to listen to them before the show to better appreciate it. And I really like "Low Times." Be amazed by the Trinity Circle.



So, the Silversun Pickups were awesome. I mean, that's the reason why I went. This might be either the fourth or fifth time I've seen them live. It could be the fifth... fuck, it could be the sixth... but five times sounds about right. Anyways, I'll totally recommend them, like all the other bands before them... but SSPU especially. I'll just talk about the things I noticed and/or told while watching them.

• I didn't really notice it from the balcony, but bassist Nikki Monninger was pregnant. My friend told me before they came on. If he hadn't noticed, I wouldn't really have noticed... until Brian mentioned "she got really fat." Apparently, she'll be playing a show or two before the replacement comes in so Oakland lucked out.
• About one or two or three songs in, they began having technical issues on Brian's end. The tech guys came in and couldn't solve the problem for like 10-15 minutes. My friend, being a guitarist who does a lot of gigs himself, was saying the tech people were pretty clueless if they couldn't figure out right away what the problem was. So Chris the drummer started doing a drum solo, and Nikki began doing a bass riff, and immediately I knew it was the opening riff to "Three Seed," one of my favorite songs from them. Apparently, a lot of other people knew what it was, too, and began cheering. So they just began playing that song, sans guitars... which was a little off since there is a cool guitar solo in the middle... but it was still awesome. So hey, at least from out of a bad situation, something good came out of it... since I don't even think that was on the setlist.

• They played a LOT of songs from their most recent album Neck of the Woods. They only played four or five songs from their second album, Swoon, (I recognized "The Royal We," "Panic Switch," "Catch and Release," and maybe "Substitution". I forget.) and only two and a half songs from Carnavas... including "Three Seed," "Lazy Eye," which was the last song before the encore, and my favorite SSPU song "Well Thought Out Twinkles" closed off the show. Back in the day, they use to play that song second... and now it receives encore status. Nothing from their first EP Pikul and maybe a song from their other EP Seasick... or is that just a single with two "B-sides?"

The "radio" version... it sounds edited for time.

Don't get me wrong... I like their more recent album. There's a lot of songs that I dig... I just dig the other two albums way more. I still love "Skin Graph," though. And really, there is a lot of good stuff on this album.

So I have the unfortunate gift of being easily distracted by the tiniest of things. I guess you can say I'm perceptive and I can catch things that don't fit or aren't right or whatever... but seriously, I just think it's just a case of me being distracted and fixated on stupid shit... unless I have to find an inconsistency at work... then it's the only time I can put this to good use. ANYWAYS... there was a couple of things that caught my eye while watching the show...

• All the way down below on the ground floor, I noticed this drunk blonde chick being a bitch by intentionally ramming herself into this dude leaning on the front barrier. I don't know if they're friends, or if he said something to piss her off, or if she was pissed that she didn't have his spot and was being a bitch about it, but I noticed that while I was sitting in the mezzanine.
• And in a case of me just being easily distracted, I couldn't stop staring at the people a couple rows down, being all drunk and standing up and shit. Funny story, there was this couple, a drunk white chick and her bro boyfriend, and the bro went to go get more beers, and she was just standing up, not hearing the two or so people telling her to sit down. An attendant -- you know, the ones who help people to their seats -- went up to her and told her to sit down. Not giving a shit, she continued to stand. Realizing his words weren't getting to the bitch, he walked over to get the black security guard who told her to sit down, in which case she sat down right away. I kinda predicted what was going to happen once I saw the attendant walk away, so I smiled in my pseudo-clairvoyance.
• In the same row, there was this awkward, bald, white dude that had the worst rocking-out moves ever. He would just stand there, and then a fist would come up, and some awkward drumming, and then some pointing at the band and then both hands raised as if he won first place in a Billy Corgan lookalike contest. All of it had no rhythm. If you're going to get in my way, at least be one with the music, and not reenact tone deafness through interpretive dance.
• Meanwhile, it looked as if drunk white chick and bro boyfriend had left, but they only left for more beer apparently. The chick came back first and was swaying back and forth in the aisle like the typical drunken white girl dance. The attendant told her to go back to the seat since she was in people's walking way. She climbed over the seats, right next to awkward bald dude. He looked pleasantly surprised that a girl appeared out of nowhere. And somehow, they began rocking out together. He went for a high-five and she almost left him hanging, but I think she returned the gesture. He got a little too close... I mean they COULD have been friends going in, but they weren't sitting next to each other throughout the show... they were like three or four seats away. Bro boyfriend comes back... a beer in both hands, spilling some with every walk... and I was thinking something was going to start... but then awkward bald dude began getting all spasticy, rocking out with the bro and getting pretty close to him. Maybe he was apologizing for getting too close... maybe they were friends... maybe he was saying something as if he really wasn't hitting on her... maybe he would rock out with anyone within arms distance from him... who the fuck knows? All I know is I didn't get my Bro Boyfriend vs Awkward Dude moment... and my sister didn't get her "drunk chick tripping over the chairs, breaking her neck" moment. Le sigh.

It's kinda hard NOT to be distracted by this kind of shit when they stand in your way of the stage. I know I can be pretty misanthropic at moments in time when I shouldn't be, but at times likes this, it's hard not to be. Regardless, the concert was still pretty awesome. Then again, I was with people who really liked Silversun so that made it a whole lot easier to have a good time.

And even though I didn't get home until way past midnight, it was worth it. Two down, four more to go. If I don't go to any more shows this month, then Garbage is up next... and I'm definitely looking forward to that one.

Concert Season 2012: Episode 1: The Hives

Son of a bitch, I'm tired. Maybe I should have got a super sugary white mocha instead of an unsweetened chai latee. True, it IS a good kind of tired, but the kind of tired that still wishes I was sleeping in my bed. This is what happens when my first show of my once-five-now-six-show concert season contains the unstoppable Swedish rock juggernaut known collectively as the Hives.

If you don't know The Hives, you SHOULD know them from their two big hits: "Hate to Say I Told You So"...


and "Tick Tick Boom".


If you STILL don't know them, then fucking fuck, man... get on fucking top of that. I went to the Fox Theater yesterday to watch The Hives perform live for the second time. Going in, I knew it was going to be pure energy shooting straight into my eyes and ears... and they didn't disappoint.

The opening band, Fidlar, was okay. They tried to replicate the energy and sound one would expect at a Hives concert. They were okay. I didn't know of them going in so I really didn't know any of their songs and that could have hindered my overall enjoyment of the band. The frontman looked like he was having fun, but he went for the Marty-McFly-emulating-Jimi-Hendrix's-playing-on-his-back move one too many times. They did an okay cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Lodi" which made me want to listen to Creedence.

You can probably all ready tell I had a fucking blast, so I'm not going to review their performance. It was awesomer than awesome can get. I'll just explain in note format why I fucking love the show and the band in general, and give you no excuse not to see them live.

- I'm not one for dressing up, especially when it comes to my rock bands. My favorite rock bands all have MY type of fashion: t-shirt, jeans, and fucking rock music. But The Hives always dress in stylish black and white, and they ALWAYS dress to impress. It fucking works for them, and it just adds to their mystique. Last time I saw them play, they were in stylish black suits with white outlining them. This time around? Tuxedos and top hats. Bad ass.

- Their roadies? Fucking ninjas. Blonde, Swedish ninja chicks. Well, one was blonde... though she could have just been backstage, popping her head every now and again and could have not been a ninja. But I would like to think The Hives go around the world, being protected by Swedish female ninjas, because they're just that fucking awesome. Plus, the ninjas, after making sure the cords aren't tripping up the band and the microphone stand is upright, will periodically play backup percussionists, just because they fucking can.

- Howlin' Pelle didn't get his nickname for nothing. He is by far one of the best frontmen ever. Sure, I still beleive that Freddy Mercury is number one in that category, but if there's anyone who can give him a run for his money, it's Pelle Almqvist. I wouldn't be surprised if he evolved one day to a ball of pure energy, because even when that guy is "resting" on stage, he is still full of energy. That guy doesn't stop moving... he needs to stand on everything you can stand on: the drums, the speakers, the sides of the stage that only have six inches of ledge to stand on. If he's not on stage, he's in the audience, slapping hands and putting the microphone to them. He knows he rules every single audience member in the palm of his hands. If he wants them to scream and jump, he'll make them. If he wants them to be quiet, they'll shut up. He's that fucking good.

- And by the way, you know that fucking Maroon 5 song, "Moves Like Jagger." That song is based off of Pelle. And if it's not, it SHOULD be. Douchebag Adam Levine should have learned something when The Hives... grrr... opened... *takes a deep breath, holding in anger* for Maroon 5 years ago. You would think Pelle was Mick Jagger reincarnated until you realize that Jagger is still being kept alive by the Lazarus Pits.

- His brother, guitarist Nicholaus Arson, is just as energetic. When he's not singing backup, he's all over stage, rocking the fuck out. Along with the drummer Chris Dangerous, it just adds to my theory that they're just pure energy in rock form.

- Dr. Matt Destruction and Vigilante Carlstroem, the bassist and guitarist respectively, just play it cool on stage right. But even when they play, they play to rock your socks off. And I love Dr. Matt's rock-out face. I can't help but smile.

- Their music is also infused with that raw energy they possess on stage. They play that "fast punk music" that Californians love, Pelle claims as he's on stage. And well, he's right. It's fast, it's in your face, and it's rock. Their slower hits are fucking catchy, and you get that blast of energy in 2-4 minutes per song.

- The Hives, along with The Sounds, The International Noise Conspiracy, The Cardigans, and The Sahara Hotnights, are the reasons why I would give any Swedish rock band a good listen.

- If you want the concert experience of your life, you need to go to a Hives concert. If you can't handle the wave of general admission, moving constantly, pushing you in all different directions, then don't worry, I can't anymore either. But you owe yourself to either get yourself a seat and enjoy from afar, or stand in the back, and just see the experience upclose. I have to warn you, like any other concert, there will be the usual share of assholes who have no respect for others and act like a complete dick. This just gives you a good excuse to punch someone in the balls for not showing their fellow concertgoers the common courtesy to not have 250 pounds of stanky ass ramming everyone within ten yards of them.

- And one final note... they're totally worth coming out to Oakland and staying up late to see them. Sure, it's the Fox Theater, and that in itself is a good excuse to go to Oakland, but that's just an added bonus.

And now, I have to recover and get some energy up for the next concert tomorrow, the Silversun Pickups. It won't be as beautifully chaotic as a Hives concert, but it will still be an awesome show, if I'm to take into account all the times I've seen them live. The next four shows -- Garbage, Offspring, The Uptones, and The Monkees -- should be just as interesting. I've got a pretty good concert season ahead of me. I wonder if it'll beat out the season I had a couple of years ago. I shall see. Until then, rock on.

Ashes to Ashes: What To Do With My Dead Corpse

While talking with co-workers, someone brought up the topic of death and what to with our bodies after they passed away. Someone said the person they knew who was on the verge of death was going to be buried, and another co-worker said they just wanted to be cremated and brought up a service that scatters ashes below the Golden Gate Bridge.

I told them that I want to be cremated... I don't want to waste money on a wooden box/bed that I won't really get to enjoy. However, instead of being scattered in JUST the San Francisco Bay, I want half my ashes scattered in Amsterdam. I know I lived in San Jose longer, but Amsterdam is more of a second home to me than San Jose. I just felt more at ease in Amsterdam than when I was in San Jose. It was a lot more laid back than in San Francisco... unless you started biking too slow on the main streets. It wasn't the prostitutes nor the weed that won me over... the canals, the attitude, the awesome apple tart, the school and the awesome friends I made there... those won me over.

Now, I'm not requesting my ashes being divided into two places because of some spiritual stuff like my "essence" being in two places at once. I don't even think it'll matter much after I'm dead, since... you know... I'll be dead. However, this gives my friends and family (or whoever decides to take on the task of taking my ashy remains to Holland) the opportunity to visit the City that I love as much as San Francisco... if not, sometimes more so.

Now over time, I'm sure my conditions will change. I'm sure I'll add a city here and there, like Paris or whatever city that wins me over later in life, but I'm sure Amsterdam and San Francisco will still be a part of those cities' waters my ashes will pollute be scattered in.

Scattering my ashes, though, isn't EXACTLY my first option. If I had $2300-25000 to completely waste and not care about losing, I would totally turn my ashes into a FUCKING DIAMOND! I know there's several companies out there that do this type of thing, and I think it would be totally creepy and cool at the same time. My diamond could be passed down from generation to generation. The ONLY reason why I would ever want to do this is so that whoever possesses the ash gem could summon me a la Final Fantasy 6's Esper summons. Anyone trying to mess with my family could summon me from the diamond and my ghost can appear out of nowhere, scare the shit out of their tormentors, and I can throw a fucking fireball in their fucking face!

Yeah, that could totally happen.

I'm only kinda kidding about that ash diamond, by the way. Kinda. I'm a dork, I know.