I went and saw Bridez last night.

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’m usually SO annoyed by bands from Olympia. You know why? I’ll tell you why: they have it TOO easy! Olympia is the home of K Records and Kill Rock Stars. So it’s easy for a mediocre band from the small-ass town of Olympia to get a deal with either of these prestigious labels. All the college radio stations cream their pants for anything with the K or KRS stamp of inde approval. I’ve seen it before. Why can’t Olympia be like any other town? Why can’t they have great unsigned bands that break up after not releasing anything?

Fierce Perm is one of those rare bands from Olympia that actually rule. They’re not on K or KRS yet… but they deserve it. They played at LADY!! last night, which was pretty rad. It was my first time seeing the band, and I was really impressed. They were really punk rock in the ideal sense. They made their own kind of punk rock. The drummer was gorgeous. He’s not my type or anything, but he looked really cool playing the drums. There should be a welfare program for gorgeous drummers. The government should send a check to him because he really shouldn’t be doing anything else.

Carletta Sue Kay played right before the perm. Instead of their full rock band, there were only two of them. I liked it better than their show I saw a week earlier at the Eagle. I payed closer attention. Their song selection was phenomenal and they really committed to overindulging. Plus their outfits were OTT.

I’m really sorry to report that I missed Woman of Color. I was drinking white wine at a friend’s house. I was not aware of the time. Elton Tom said he really loved their MP3’s. We’ll report on them soon… I’m thinking they need to create a high-concept MySpace page first.