Did you know Funky Winkerbeans is actually nice inside? I had no idea. It's got neat old art of ladies on the walls and big columns holding up the bar.
Anyhow I caught Hermetic and Haunted Beard at No More Strangers. I also found Eric Axen from Hermetic's wallet on the floor, which got me a shout out while the band was playing. This turned into a free beer bought for me at the band's request. So woo! I don't dislike Hermetic, but I never really get excited about their music. Their music is pleasant and I would never avoid it, but indie-rock with a baritone guitar isn't exciting to me. They're nice guys, good musicians and everyone else seems into them. Perhaps I am just old and cynical.
Opener's Haunted Beard had the opposite problems. I really love the crunchy heavily distorted sounds they make. These guys make really processed music with theremins, a chaos pad, some mics, keyboards and a lot of FX pedals. It sounds great in the way Black Moth Super Rainbow or Tobacco song sounds cool just for the noises they make. The music Haunted Beard played last night dragged on a bit long and ends up a bit too jammy/experimental for my tastes. If they could tighten up their sounds into something shorter and more refined it would be amazing. I spoke with Justin after their set and apparently they were suffering a lot of technical difficulties and spent most of their time on stage trying to get things to work properly. So fair enough that's a good reason for not nailing out some awesome songs. It'll be cool to watch these guys develop their sound and hopefully iron out the problems they faced on Saturday.
The night closed with DJing from the No More Strangers DJs, who are pretty fun DJs. There was dancing.
Photo of Ben Jacques from Haunted Beard by Tristan Orchard courtesy of winniecooper.net. (I even asked this time!)
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Funky's!!!
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