Category: music

A lot of good bands come through Dallas. That is one of the things I love about living here.

Last night one of our favorite bands, The Wedding Present, played the small Deep Ellum Arts Co. with opening band the Tubs.

I’ll be honest. I had a long day before the show. I’d gotten up early and we took the dog for a long walk in the humid and sweltering nature preserve, then I was outside in that same miserably humid and hot weather (luckily it was at least cloudy) for a 5-hour library outreach event at a neighborhood block party. In short, I was depleted and tired.

I give this background because I didn’t really want there to be an opening band. I wanted to just go enjoy the Wedding Present starting at 8pm and be at home in bed and asleep at 10:30. I was…tired as shit.

Turns out the opening band, the Tubs, was great! Loved ’em! Gonna order their music!

Here they are…

OK, on to the Wedding Present.

We saw them here in Dallas back in 2018, so it has been a while. They are absolutely one of our top 10 bands, and probably top 5.

Nothing makes me happier than going to see great bands with my wife, especially if the band is one of her favorites. I love sharing that with her. I absolutely can’t imagine spending my life with someone I don’t share that with. So there we were with all the other old post-punk/indie-rock gray heads to see this incredible band that so few people know about. This morning at breakfast we were wondering why the Wedding Present never really “broke” in the U.S. when so many shitty bands did. Even in circles that really know indie rock music a lot of people are clueless. It’s – just – fucking – weird. Did they just not make good business decisions? Are Americans just THAT stupid? (there is strong evidence to support this).

At any rate, the ignorance of the masses was the gain of the enlightened few last night, when The Wedding Present played at the Deep Ellum Art Co, a small venue set off from the main douchebag wankery of the majority of Deep Ellum by a couple of blocks. I suppose it might hold 200 people max, and it was not maxed out last night. This is simultaneously a shame because the band deserves more turnout whilst being a boon to us, as we were able to stand about 6 feet for the stage as if we were seeing the band at a small club in Leeds when the band formed, the way the Gods of Rock intended.

The band launched into their show, in which they played their entire Bizarro album and delivered a tight and blistering show. Other than the singer and songwriter David Gedge the lineup of the band has changed a lot over the years. The current lineup is impressive. At 65 years of age, Gedge shows no signs of slowing down. It really says something about a musician and a band to be touring in place where perhaps only their devoted fans will show up, not making a lot of money, and still absolutely killing it. When we walked in, Gedge himself was staffing the merch table. We spent a lot of money and got some really good stuff.

I’ll close with this. Go see your favorite bands live.

I’m just sitting here on the sofa, lights dim, listening to this staggeringly wonderful album pour soundwaves all over me, and I’m feeling all the feels.

Tonight I’m continuing the Radiohead. 1997’s  OK Computer is such a beautiful album. I can’t believe it is almost 30 years old. The years have gone by too fast.

Anyway, this record is just so beautiful. I’m sitting here with my cat and dog (wife is out of town) and I just want to weep from the otherworldly bliss. Yes, I find it that moving. And yes I like being a little sad sometimes. It helps.

Radiohead. Hail to the Thief. So good to fill up the room with this beautiful brilliance. Was going to listen to Kid-A, opened the CD case to find it empty! I probably ruined the CD in my car and threw it away years ago and forgot to replace. Oh well. Replacement now ordered. Being an adult with a little money is cool.

When this is over I’ll pull out the iPad and read some blogs post from people I follow using the Reeder app.

It is Sunday evening and I just opened this multi-disc Led Zeppelin live collection, How the West Was Won.

I can’t even imagine what these concerts must have been like. Holy shit — just so good. Mind-blowingly good. I’ll bet a lot of auditory nerves were well-damaged those evenings without a single complaint.

Damn I love having a nice stereo. Really the only good reason, other than having a yard for a dog, for owning a house.

I just finished listening to Coda earlier today. Also just amazing.

So in this post I’m going to walk back my statement about all the young people’s music being shit. It’s not. In the last few months I’ve seen two opening acts that I thought were really good. I was really referring to the music that is actually popular with the masses of young people, but I also admit I really have no idea what 20-somethings like. Basically I’m talking out of my ass, based on shit like Beyonce and T. Swift. But the truth is that even when all the greatness of Kraftwerk, Gang of Four, and so many other great bands was being created in the late 70s and early 80s some absolutely ghastly shit was also being produced.

That is my assessment, and a music-historian I am not. I’m just a dirty old skateboarder who likes his punk, post-punk, electronica, and classic rock. And if you are a Beyonce or Swift fan — well — not everything has to be for me, so carry on with your horrible music. Enjoy it, because life is too short to not enjoy things. Same for fans of all the new country stuff or whatever. Again – I’m talking out of my butt because I couldn’t name a single Beyonce or Swift song if my life depended on it. NOT. ONE. For the record, Swift apparently is generous with her crew which makes her a good person in my opinion. Beyonce – I have no idea – but that’s not my world. She did apparently make a country album, and as that may have upset racists it pleases me greatly.

So, to sum up —

Some of the kids are alright.

This band – Othering – opened for Gang of Four. Two guys. One guy played synths and operated the electronics and played guitar, and the other guy played drums. They were really good. I have no problem with people using electronics, actually. These blokes wrote all the music, programmed the synths, and really were great. The drummer as absolutely fantastic. I loved ’em. I don’t think this music video does them justice for how much they actually rock, but here it is.

Then we saw this band Rocket open for Ride a few months ago. Super band! When I saw them it filled me with hope — young people making great music with guitars, bass, and drums. Honestly, I thought they were better than Ride by quite a lot.