I was so busy being down south I almost fo’got ta mentuhn that tonight is Monday Night SMiLE! You know we love SMiLE, Neil, and The Knockout. You also know we love Bridez; so tonight is going to be a good one:
This Monday June 2, you should leave the house with your eyes shut and wander aimlessly like a somnambulist. Without fail, your feet will carry you to the Knockout where you can safely open your eyes and take in the spectacle of smiling faces and dancing bodies. What will be the cause of the merriment?
At around 9:30pm, Frond will take the stage. They are composed of Amy and Andrew who used to be in Tapestry together (also known as Shag Tapestry) with the addition of Jesse from Bramble & Briar. This is bound to be delightful! http://www.myspace.com/tapestrymusic
An hour or so after this, the heavy and fun rock of Bridez will spin through your head. They filled a bill for me last month in a pinch, and I was so dazzled by them I invited them back right away. Liza’s best band to date, and a really hot one! (A hot date?) http://www.myspace.com/fakebloodjacket
Sometime before midnight, I will introduce the headlining act, namely Brian Glaze and the Night Shift. I’ll save my flowery rhetoric for that moment, and simply say that this is one of the most enjoyable, solid acts around. http://www.myspace.com/brianglazeusyahoocom
So don’t miss this show. It’d just be dumb. The drinks are cheap, the bartenders are friendly, and I’ll be playing all manner of groovy tunes before, between, and after the bands.
Also: Pam (from Sugar & Gold) will be guest dj!
The Knockout is at 3223 Mission near 29th street.
xox,
Neil
Except for the fact that I’m super tired because I couldn’t get to sleep last night, I think tonight is finally the night I’m not going to bail early because I’m exhausted and stick around for Brian Glaze. I mean it! Promises!
Anyway you know what we have to say about it, here’s the official word:
BRIDEZ: Consisting of Will Ivy, Liza Thorn and Abe Pedroza, BRIDEZ hail from San Francisco and cite seagulls, the beach, poppies, drugs, teen angst and expensive everything as influences. Hobbies include: recording, writing songs, doing acid and shooting music videos. “Ideally we’ll shoot a music video for every song because they’re all hits,” says Thorn. (Take her word for it). With their trash brat lo-fi brew of fuzzed out noise pop, this duo will have you humming their melodies while rinsing off the grime in the shower.
Before these videos, I wasn’t quite sure how to describe Bridez other than referencing Liza’s old band So So Many White White Tigers. But after seeing the grainy TV screen quality of shake out my hair it clicked — The Jesus and Mary Chain fronted by Jennifer Herrema. And not just because Liza works the same look. This is the nineties remembered by people who weren’t even teenagers yet in 1990.
PLEASE TO COEM! Hard place will have their new record (Get Your Hopes Up) for sale on CD and LP. There might be tshirts too. Everything for sale will have been pre-loved by the band in one way or another.
Bridez features Liza from So So Many White White Tigers and has a CDR out soon and people keep telling me that Easy Street can get any party started. EPIC WIN!!!
Today we are (kinda) hip to the internet trends. A muxtape for you with some bands we’ve talked about over the past year. Except for the Hard Place and Mon Cousin Belge songs, both of which come from albums out on our label World Famous in San Francisco, these songs were all totally available for free on the WWW so don’t get mad at me for stealing, ok?
I’ve listened to John Maus’ album Songs more times then I’m willing to admit. I listen and wonder how long it took Maus to program all the stupid Baroque moments that manically pop in and out of the album. I really do love those moments, even if they are a bit showoffy and ironic. I dunno, classical music isn’t funny yet, and I really doubt Maus is passionate about the Baroque period – he’s probably just into the naive 60s Baroque that everybody loves – he could probably give a shit less about the furniture.
The above video for Maniac was only recently put back up on YouTube. Let’s give him a break: from my experience, It’s hard to keep videos on YouTube because in moments of paranoia, you somehow visualize people laughing at you huddling around a laptop. In this video Maus looks like he hasn’t slept for days and yet he’s very confident (I’m not saying he’s high) about his cool. It’s the kind of video your parents would hate. The inde girl in the video puts it all in perspective. She’s hypnotized by his multitrack. She obviously hasn’t dated a musician before and she thinks he and his friends are all really cool. If I were in the video I’d tell that bitch to RUN. I love the Maniac video.
John Maus plays this Saturday, March 22nd at Kimo’s with Bridez.
Reading SF music blogs is so fatiguing, don’t you think? Say if your entire Internet routine was a prime-time PBS show, the SF music blog portion would be that fifteen minutes of super positive fundraiser babel. It’s always boring and desperate… and they’re always asking for you to care.
Luckily WFISF is different. We don’t ask to be loved – we’re lovable. We are advancing and developing new technologies so you, the blog reader, won’t have to read anything !
Bridez – live @ Cobain In a Coma’s “Spaced.” 1/24/08
Patrik from Cobain In a Coma decides to throw a ‘monthly’ every eight months or so. From what I can remember, there was first 4EVER, and then Stoned Age . This one, Spaced, seems to be the same deal as the others. The bands are his friends and if you go you’ll probably not feel invited even though it’s in a public place. I’m gonna go. I’m kind of masochistic if you haven’t already noticed. Jealousy and Bridez are playing. There will be a custom photobooth by Daniel Minnick.
They played at this invite-only apartment/art-space going-away/birthday party. There were big party bottles of vodka, balloons and lollipops. Spice Girls and Blink 182 were played full blast on a small portable CD player at the bar. There was lots of posturing and outfits – in a good way. Lots of young people taking the typical Polaroid photos – feeling like their life was important and worth documenting. It was kind of cute and optimistic.
So Bridez, formerly known as Wild Gold and Wildflowerz, make this really awesome dumb rock. I’m not really sure what it is. All I know is that I like it WAY better than lead singer Liza’s first band, So So Many White White Tigers. Liza basically does the same thing in this band: she makes this really squelchy sound with her voice that kind of sounds like a thermin by the time it comes out of the PA. She sings like that while doing physical comedy: throwing things, pouring drinks on people, and generally just being really in-your-face. You ether hate it for being too brash, or love it for reminding you of why you love loud music.
Well, I definitely love Bridez. They have a lot going for them. The boys in the band are super young – I’m talking under 21. Guitar player Will actually plays power chords and seems to tune his guitar in standard tuning… thank God. I was getting so sick of loud noise bands in San Francisco that took the Thurston Moore way too seriously and decided to reapproach the guitar by way of Sonic Youth. Drummer Phill’s playing style is pleasantly generic while still finding a way to be very expressive and fun. In the final analysis, they look statuesque on stage and that’s something that will never go out of style. Whether or not that transfers onto a recording… we’ll just have to wait and see. A great album would be their ticket out of being the cool urban houseparty band of the moment, but I don’t get the feeling they’re concerned about being anything more than that.
Bridez play Cafe Du Nord January 26th with White Williams… who is now famous?
I’ve been sick and busy with work and all sorts of fun stuff, but I’m back on the scene. More about that later.
Anyway, a few weeks ago Bridez, Forever, and The Passionistas played at Cafe du Nord. Bridez were totally killer. Fronted by Liza of So So Many White White Tigers and cobain in a coma, I think this band represents a different side of this girl. Unlike the intentional disaster area that a SSMWWT show is/becomes, where Liza does her best Courtney Love impression — antagonizing the audience and throwing things — while the band thrashes itself into the ground rather than actually beating out a song, Bridez is the flip side of that coin where disaster follows Liza around while she and her band mates honestly try to thrash out an actual song. And you can just about make out the song they’re trying to play — even as keyboards crash to the ground, stands collapse, and monitors are knocked over while Liza paces the stage like she can’t articulate herself — and that song is pretty awesome. Seriosuly, I think this girl has talent.
Forever were totally some kind of whiskey soaked or road ravaged rock band, the singer and guitarist looking into each others eyes like they’re in love with… well based on their sound and what their myspace page says, X. I liked these girls because they were excited to be on stage, but sometimes their songs were a little too much like later X, which is a little to straight up rock ‘n roll for me. Hopefully they can figure out how take that X influence and turn it into something more their own. Oh, and do you think they like X so much because its two Vs touching each other? Hmm.
I’m not even going to get into the Passionistas. They already think they’re the greatest band of all time. Even if I were to write something to the contrary would their eyes even be able to see it? Would their brains be able to comprehend it? I think through sheer force of belief my words would turn into praise.
