crazybobbles

It’s usually difficult to come up with a eye catching headline for a blog entry, usually I think of some random pun on a song title or put something so unwitty that it becomes witty (and perhaps back to unwitty again). The original title was going to be “The Mountain Goats: So proud to see them live” (which was kinda using lyrics from their song and latest album title Heretic Pride) but chances are most people wouldn’t get it so whatever haha. Anyway, I’ll be talking about a band called “The Mountain Goats” (which my dear friend from a certain island has informed me that the author of the book i’m currently reading, likes them, so woo!). The reason why I named it “The last thing that I’ll do” is because I saw them play OVER A MONTH ago in the PAST! (insert creepy theremin music) and it’s been in the back burner of things I need to blog about. So yeah, this is the Mountain Goats.

John Darnielle

Now let me tell you, the first time I heard it, I was very iffy. I was in someone else’s house and they had it on, my usual instincts/policy in listening to new music is that I like to take my time when I listen to new stuff, I don’t like being “force recommended” or badgered to listen to a new band, I like to take it slooooooooooooooow (that word alone should have taken you at least 5 seconds to pronounce, otherwise you’re not taking it slooooooooooow). The more someone badgers me, the least likely I’ll get around to listening to it (which reminds me, I need to listen to the Presets at some point before I get told off haha, but again, slooooooooooooooooow). To add to this, here’s a wee trivia, you apparently get a better sleep if you listen to music you know than with new music, it’s extra brain power to get familiarised with the new song and everything is unexpected, so yeah, don’t listen to new music when you’re asleep (unless you want to wake up feeling grumpy)!

“I want to cry out but I don’t scream and I don’t shout”

After downloading the album I was ready to give it a proper listen. His voice reminded me of Billy Corgan but the music reminded me of Okkervil River, it was a lovely listen, so BAM! I bought tickets to see him live at the ULU on the 15th of September (I’ll do more judging when I see them live haha). One of the tracks was a bit faulty so I made sure my complains were heard to the appropriate people. I’m bad with album reviews so don’t expect me to write any more! However, the easiest way to get to know a band is to watch a music video, so check this out and see what you think, it’s called Sax Rohmer. If you like it, continue reading:

After a lovely day at work (I can specifically remember the Monday groans as everyone slowly takes in the fact that weekend has long gone and it’s back to the normal grind teehee) I took my scraps of paper with the directions printed on it (god bless Google Maps) and went to the ULU. The queue was fairly long and it quite chilly, I think I had my jacket off and in my bag as part of my decoy to distract the security when they’re doing the bag search. I didn’t feel like reading so I listened to my ipod for a bit.

The Young Republic: cool band with a violin player

Eventually I took them off and started talking to the people in the queue, one was a quiet american exchange student and the other two were a couple (one was a journalist student and the other worked somewhere), they were quite bubbly and we joked around about touts (i again used my ticket tout + monopoly man joke which they all chuckled to, usually it’s easy to strike a conversation with people in a queue to a gig when you begin mentioning touts, they’re just good pre gig ice breakers!) I introduced myself (today I felt like using my alias “Bob”) and continued conversing with the kind strangers.

“And the fog on the windshield obscured our sad reflections”

Time flies by when you have company, we slowly shuffled into the venue as the doors finally opened (30 minutes late (otherwise Last.fm was epically wrong)). Smuggling cameras in small student union venues was like elementary ABC, I was able to walk in pretty smoothly as the checks were slack (oh yeah!). After settling in I took my camera out ready for the some action, I spoke to the couple about photos and whatnot I took, I showed them some samples of my work on my iPod, realising that I don’t really have any gadget handy in showcasing my photos at a decent size (which was quite a fail, I need an iPhone for that purpose! (donations are welcomed!)) We sat on the floor since the wait was long and people simply followed suit, I wasn’t expecting much moshing and craziness at the gig so phew!

Looks like Will from Okkervil River

The support band, The Young Republicans, reminded me a lot of Okkervil River, namely the singer, he looked quite uncanny, could easily pass off as his little brother. They were a friendly band, talked about how back then, you’d hardly see bands with violin players until Arcade Fire stepped in, I would disagree but whatever, I guess you just nod along and listen to the music (otherwise you’re known as a heckler). The crowd were a fun bunch, though the front row was filled with a lot of tall people with big backpacks making it awkward to photolise *waves angry fists of fury*.

After some post support band banter, we talked about random bands we were into, I talked about the plan of seeing at least a band a week (this was in the days where I didn’t have enough gig bookings and it wasn’t exactly a full fledge plan) and they seemed awfully impressed by the idea and enthusiasm I brought out, it was comfortable talking to them, made me realise that whenever you’re in a gig, you always had something in common with the person (eg you like the band you’re seeing) which made me feel more confident in talking to new people during future gigs (which I did). Anyway, in came The Mountain Goats, the crowd goes crazy.

“When you punish a person for dreaming his dream,
don’t expect him to thank you or forgive you”

The stage felt slightly bare with just 3 people on a stage, there wasn’t anything fancy on stage, just 3 guys, 3 instruments, standing opposite a bunch of horny fans. John Darnielle’s (lead singer of The Mountain Goats) welcomes us and immediately they begin playing. The lights were very bright (Photography geeks only: So bright that you could take photos at iso 100 and use fairly decent settings!) and the sound system was pretty good. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the band, no fancy jet packs or flamethrowers, just raw acoustic music (with hardly any effects too mind) accompanied by some raw soothing singing.

Songs I liked were Heretic Pride, Autoclav, So Desperate and Sax Rohmer #1. They reminded me of the Emiliana Torrini gig I went weeks and weeks later, John would talk in between each song and make witty and sophisticated jokes to humour the crowd. It was a relaxing and intimate gig, he told us that we were one of the best crowds they had and that it wasn’t a platitude and we could check the bootlegs for proof. That made me chuckle, well that and the song in which John gets the capo totally muddled up that he renamed the song 4 (where the capo should have been, but yeah it was funny if you were there)

Photolising was quite tricky tonight, the security guard had noticed me and several folks with DSLR cameras and made sure he gave us a word about not using it (rats, don’t bring DSLRs out during support unless they’re a band you equally want to photolise!). This meant I couldn’t whip the camera out during the gig because he had given me a warning already It was annoying watching him stand at the front staring at us, making sure we weren’t photolising, but no matter, I kept it cool and just enjoyed the gig.

Eventually our photolising opportunity came when the guy spotted some more photographers taking photos from the other side of the stage, he got someone to look out at his spot whilst he went into the crowd to tell them off, this is where you hear LOADS and LOADS of snapping and clicking as me and the other photographer went nuts at photolising the shit out of the band haha. Moments like these made my camera feel like a semi automatic silenced machine gun! Just a quick burst here and there when no one’s looking. After that I pretty much stopped and enjoyed the rest of the show until the last few songs when it was pointless telling me off at the stage.

The gig, though simple was all sorts of aural pleasures. Do check them out next time you see them play! You’ll enjoy the music and the intermin banters John makes. So yeah, The Mountain Goats, so proud to see them live (eurgh I hate cheese blog endings).