Sunday, September 14, 2008
Next Big Nashville NBN08: Day 4: Talk to the Hand
Posted by Seth Graves on Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 5:33 PM
It’s not entirely accurate to say the NBN ship has officially sailed for this year, but it’s definitely lifted anchor. Anyone still looking to milk a little more music and booze from this thing can probably be found at the festivities in East Nashville today—but definitely not me. I’m having a hard enough time cracking the whip on my last remaining brain cell trying to remember just what all went down last night.
The night wasted no time getting down to the badassery. I kicked my evening off at The Basement, showing up just in time to catch the much- and rightfully-hyped Shoot the Mountain. Frontman/guitarist Joe Blankenship’s jingly guitar hooks and absorbing lyrics make for a compelling sound that comes off at once both familiar and fresh.
Next up, a completely-revamped Danger Bear showed off a few new members and a much beefier sound to go with them. Jacob Jones’ sorrowful, hellbent, beer-soaked outlaw anthems sounded better than I’d ever heard them.
While I’m sure Caitlin Rose was about to rock a few faces off, I started getting the itch and it was time to move on. I stepped off the shuttle at Exit/In right as the Privates launched into their cover of Paramore’s “Misery Business” delivered with their signature razor-sharp punk ‘n' roll style. The Howlies followed up and hyped the hell out of everyone with a crop of retro-flavored psychedelic garage rock jams, coated in harmonies and drenched in reverb.
Next, a drummerless Ghostfinger, missing half their personnel and reduced to the group’s core of singer/guitarist Richie Kirkpatrick and piano man Matt Rowland proved that all they need to put most other bands to shame is each other. With what looked like an iPod shuffle providing the backing tracks (quite possibly at random), the duo laid out a set comprised mostly of tunes from their newest The Feeler. Their previous habit of bouncing between twang, metal, and classic rock has properly congealed into a blend of rollicking southern indie pop that’s pretty much impossible to mistake for any other band.
It was around this time I found myself engrossed backstage in a series of seemingly crucial conversations with the likes of too many people from too many bands to count, which no doubt seemed all the more urgent due to the heavy drinking and casual ingestion of cocaine off the backsides of strippers who were apparently there courtesy of How I Became the Bomb’s rider. (I’m definitely making some of that up for the sake of sensationalism.) By the time I made it back into the main hall, HBITB—sporting brand new tailor-made suits—were well into the ‘80s-derived dance-pop songs that have made them a local favourite (the extra “u” added for their European fans).
It was from here I caught a lift to the Diesel/U Music/Gay Werewolf after party at Cannery where my already-liquored-up psyche was immediately subject to total sensory overload. Shitloads of people, flashing lights, familiar faces, the Features rocking onstage, DJs playing upstairs, people snapping photos, folks were getting haircuts, screen printing shirts and a face painting booth was dolling people up to look like zombies. It took a good hour and several more beers or so to acclimate. After The Features, folks flooded the upstairs at Mercy Lounge, the patio being the place to be if you wanted to talk to all your smoking friends. Downstairs, Jensen Sportag and Justin Kase were providing a small but fervent dance party with their fractured, futuristic club beats. Frankly, it was all one hell of a good time, and by the time I was able to soak it all in, it was over. The downside of starting a party at 1 a.m. is that it only lasts a little over an hour before they start kicking you out. A premature step out the front door prevented me from gaining re-entry, and I was forced to bring my evening to its inevitable close.
Comments (43)
Showing 1-43 of 43
Dude, we get it. You get drunk. Can we please get someone who's not 12 beers in by the 4th band to write some shit up? Fratboy Seth was already old at bonaroo.
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Where were the sponsors at the NBN "events"? The only evidence of Fat Tire were two neon signs hanging on either side of the stage. I was hoping for free beer or at least some schwag. I didn't go to the Redbull event, but I heard they were MIA there as well. Which is exceedingly strange because RedBull usually just can't wait for any opportunity to rub their carefully crafted brand persona all over your cock.
you know. i noted this last night as well and definitely meant to make mention of the sponsor thing in this post. like who gives a shit if Fat Tire and Red Bull are sponsoring if there's no free or at least discounted stuff? they could at least spring for a no cover event. it's like how yazoo used to sponsor 8 off 8th, and yet everyone is still paying full price for their beer.
oh, and to the first comment: wha wha wha wha (i don't know how to type out baby crying noises).
Seth can't be that much of a drunk, cuz he's gotten all his recaps posted the next day. I haven't even finished my Thursday write up yet.
Shoot the Mountain was rightfully-hyped. That band better get in a good studio soon.
Danger Bear was great. I've never seen them before, just the t-shirts. The 5 Spot guy plays drums???
Caitlin's band was the best lineup I've seen play with her so far.
There actually was a great deal of evidence of the sponsors.
Fat Tire sponsored upstairs. It is against Tennessee state law to have any discounts on alcohol after 10 PM. (It may actually be midnight for beer.) Because of that, there is no way to have beer specials for an afterparty. If there were any beer specials (and I'm not saying there were), they could only be advertised via word of mouth.
As far as effectiveness for the sponsors, their name was mentioned every time the party was and is still being mentioned today. And we sold a ton of Fat Tire, simply because of that. Well, I guess the fact that it is a good beer has something to do with it, too.
If you couldn't find the sponsors downstairs, you must have had way more than 5 or 6 beers because Diesel was giving out free t-shirts, Paul Mitchell was doing haircuts, Boss was doing screen-printing & Gay Werewolf was the giant screen next to the stage.
Either way, I'm glad people care about the visibility of our sponsors, and we can certainly try to elevate it from here on out.
FATTIRE DIESEL PAULMITCHELL BOSS HOLLYHOUSE
FATTIRE DIESEL PAULMITCHELL BOSS HOLLYHOUSE
FATTIRE DIESEL PAULMITCHELL BOSS HOLLYHOUSE
FATTIRE DIESEL PAULMITCHELL BOSS HOLLYHOUSE
FATTIRE DIESEL PAULMITCHELL BOSS HOLLYHOUSE
FATTIRE DIESEL PAULMITCHELL BOSS HOLLYHOUSE
FATTIRE DIESEL PAULMITCHELL BOSS HOLLYHOUSE
FATTIRE DIESEL PAULMITCHELL BOSS HOLLYHOUSE
yeah. i mentioned - in the original draft of my comment - that the sponsors downstairs were ultra visible. free haircuts, t shirts, screenprinting, face-painting booth, photo booth, etc. that's how it should be.
but yeah. upstairs - the effectiveness of the sponsors sounds really beneficial to them. but all i really give a shit about is what i get out of it aside from getting to look at more signs, banners, and advertisements.
didn't know that about the legality of drink specials, though. gives me one less thing to bitch about, for sure.
Ghostfinger didn't live up the hype. Two guys in funny outfits singing forgettable songs with no drummer...ugh. The drunk chicks loved it, though. I actually liked the Privates and went up to buy merch but no one was at the table so I just took the CD. It sounds nothing like the live show.
forgettable... so that explains why so many people were singing along and shouting "whooo!" in unison during the pre-chorus of "Aminal Eye"
I'm guessing I'm one of the 'drunk chicks' from up front at the ghostfinger set, which I was actually totally sober for.
Gotta say, any band that can play a set like that, sans drummer, and still have a stage prescence those guys do, they're doing pretty good.
They were shouting 'whooo!' b/c it takes NO knowledge of the song to sing along to that.
Ghostfinger is incredibly over-hyped.
All their best stuff sounds like something else, but with Billy corgan singing. To Richie Ghostfinger: write something that doesn't sound like 3rd generation M'boro/Spongebath records crap.
there, i said it...stop kissing so much ass, Casio, whoever you are...
whoever i am is seth graves, author of this post. i praise what i like, and i diss what i don't like. no ass kissing is necessary.
you're entitled to your opinion, but to say a song is forgettable when at least half the room is obviously singing the lyrics is a little contradictory to me.
Van also plays for Black Diamond Heavies, who stay on the road pretty much constantly. So seems Ghostfinger are only lucky enough to have him on board a couple stints per year.
Yeah Ghostfinger is fucking LAME with all caps.If you guys think this shit is original its time for another trip to the cluestore.Who gives two shits if the singer has a mustache and acts fucking retarded.I think there is a fall closeout sale,all clue's half off to customers not wearing white belts.
draw me a map to this clue store and burn it.
if loving the 'Finger is wrong, i don't want to be right.
how bout you check out the chill-the-fuck-out-its-only-music online merchant.
You guys talk about a Nashville Curse...this is the real curse. Mistaking good technique/musical proficiency FOR good music. It seems this quality, which defines most of what comes out of country music row, has overtaken the indie rock world. And the Cream seems to be the flagbearer. Yeah, you have your token slacker bands, such as Meemaw and Totally Snake, which lack both good technique AND good music. Most of the other bands, though, play really well, but their music is shite, and if not shite, mediocre, at best!!!! In your desperate attempt to forge out some sort of cohesive "scene," you've allowed yourselves to settle for 2nd/3rd best.
Here's an elementary aesthetics question for all the bloggers and fans of these bands: what makes Ghostfinger 'good?' what makes shoot the mountain good?? What makes How i Became the Bomb good? This is a subjective question, but since the general consensus on this blog is that these bands are good...defend your claims.
This is a sincere post...no hating involved.
Well put blinded!These peeps only think these bands are only good because it's trendy to like them.
yeah, i get it. you're cool because you think everything everyone else likes sucks.
i've encountered your kind before. so many opinions on what's horrible, but of course admitting you like something would collapse your whole facade and open you too up to scrutiny.
what makes those bands good? for starters, after a show, i go home still singing the songs. i don't give a shit if they know how to play or not. if they write good tunes, they're okay with me. what's the big fucking deal?
spill it, buddy. if everyone sucks, who's so fucking great then?
h
To yeah, yeah, yeah: are you completely satisfied with what the Cream/Scene offers up as the best, coolest bands in the area?? Do you unquestioningly accept that this is the best Nashville has to offer? Just b/c blinded, who may have overstated his/her argument a bit, may not like ANY of the bands around here, doesn't make him a hater. Maybe, you're just too willing to like whatever comes along; to be accepted; to feel like you're part of a scene...
it's quite sad.
Since blinded can't SEE, no wonder he doesn't like what Nashville has to offer. It would suck to rely on nothing but your ears around here. Good thing Cream's got eyes in the back of its head.
firstly, it's mighty pompous of you to assume i'm incapable of liking anything on my own terms and need the approval of faceless bloggers to justify my tastes. Cream writers obviously have their preferences, but i'd hardly consider them the taste makers.
secondly, if someone posting here doesn't like ANY local bands, then they're pretty much only coming here to shit on what everyone else likes - which actually DOES makes them a hater by the very definition.
maybe you're a little too willing to shit on whatever people seem to be into. trying to make yourself look cool by hating on whatever's popular isn't exactly much better than liking it for the same reason.
if you don't think local bands are good, fine. name some shit that isn't local by which all others should by measured. it's not that hard.
i just find it funny that people like this will never admit to liking anything - at least not anything anyone has heard of - or anything hasn't sold a couple million copies over the last 30-40 years.
quite the cop out, if you ask me.
After you hear Ghostfinger you go home and sing along?Come down to the store "yeah yeah" and we'll give you a free clue and may the good lord have mercy on your soul.
Thank God someone has come to tell me what GOOD music is around Nashville. Please enlighten me. I have been under the assumption if I enjoyed a bands live show, enjoy their records, and admire their musicianship, they were good (to me at least). All you fine folks at the clue store, I would LOVE to make a purchase.
No,your totally right!"Ghostfinger"is fucking badass and there musicianship is unmatched in this town or any other town.Maybe you just enjoyed shitty music that copies other shit.Did you ever think of that one "hmm"?
so let me get this straight... i'm an absent-minded sheep for liking a band - allegedly only because the Cream told me i should - but smashing my new copy of "The Feeler" because some anonymous asshole tells me it really sucks would make me a free thinker?
and if your big problem with Ghostfinger is that they copy other bands, then there's no wonder you don't like music. everybody steals, everybody borrows. we in the biz like to refer to them as "influences"
there's a difference btwn being influenced by something AND wearing those influences on your sleeve. i'm guessing that the dissenters' problem with ghostfinger is that they shamelessly ape their influences, and they get mad props for doing it. yeah, it's hard to be truly original anymore, but try your damnedest to hide those influences. Some of the younger generation, i think, hear something for the 1st time and think they discovered it and rip it off, and then think no one will know. Unfortunately, for ghostfinger, they constantly play the 'smashing pumpkins,''elton john' and 'wings,' among others, on mainstream radio.
to ligion: yeah, it would suck to rely on nothing but your ears around here, b/c then we wouldn't get to see your incredible hair style...
i agree.
listen to the Rolling Stones. they were just ripping off Son House and Muddy Waters.
fuck that shit. Saves the Day listens to nothing but Sonic Youth - but you would never know it, because they HIDE their influences. hence, it is definitely better music.
Do you really consider yourself in "the biz" casio?You write bullshit about your drunk halfwitted social scene for a blog mostly kissing people asses.Get a grip man!
I like Ghostfinger. Played shows with them a few times and jammed with Matt on some side stuff. They're good musicians and they put on a good show. I'm usually swilling the haterade with the best of them but these guys are legit.
exactly. hillbilly casino are still wiping the lipstick off their bums.
as far as getting a grip, i'd suggest you get a grip on my resume before making any more ignorant judgments.
Can we get back to the epic retardness of somebody implying that Saves The Day are better than The Rolling Stones? That's just absurd...
totally snake ripped off their entire shtick from a little band called snakerider and we al applaud them for it. in that case you say that snakerider invented snake party metal. everybody wins. people like seth and mr. maloney and all the rest cover it and help us promote the scene and the music because its their job. they act like investigators trying to find the new thing in town that is a sweet hang. while we all make music and flip burgers at the dairy dip. we dont have time to do what the do. they do it for us, and they do it well.
dont hate. create.
Dear Non-Believers:
First off, I never said my resume had anything good on it or not. Either way, your accusations are still unfounded and misinformed. I'd rather steer this argument back to it's point of origin.
If anyone subscribing to this blog is blind, it is you. But don’t feel insulted, as you are, without a doubt, just a drop of water in an infinite sea ignorance. I myself wasn’t so much a believer as I was before now, typing this from thousands of feet in the air, soaring over the top of the Grand Canyon where I see the grander context in which Ghostfinger fits like a puzzle piece lost behind the sofa since the beginning of time. The truth is, Ghostfinger is and will prove to be the greatest and most important band this town has ever seen and ever will see before its inevitable demise comes at the hands of an impending revolution that will in time make us the home of Third World Country Music. Their surreal witticisms, faux-metal guitar licks, and unlimited AM radio throwbacks are but a mere scratch on the surface of an inconceivably massive glacier moving at an ever-sluggish pace right beneath your feet. Under all the goofy facial hair and gimmicky headbands lies the heart of everything rock n roll has ever strived to be. A pop culture manifestation an estimated 100 years in the making.The Holy Grail lost in all the shimmer and clutter of this glittery saturation we call the intertubes.
As a band, I can only compare them to the likes of the mighty Voltron (and if you’re old enough to know to ask me which Voltron, the answer is “both”). Each component is plenty deadly on its own. However, as most of us believers have witnessed, when all 5 (Bingham Barnes is the yellow lion) conjoin to form the arms and legs of the enigmatic Richie K (black lion), all it need do is yield its mighty fucking sword to deliver an irrecoverable, crushing blow to any object (living or inanimate) to have the misfortune of obstructing its path.
Those may be Matt Rowland’s hands you see tinkling those pseudo ivories, but surely no one who’s seen it up close can deny that he’s but an unwashed vessel through which a being far more advanced than ourselves is operating. Much like the frequencies in a dog whistle our ears cannot detect, Richie’s voice is accompanied by that of a million others from dimensions unknown. Angels? Perhaps, but who can say for sure. It is rumored that Van Campbell bartered his soul to Lucifer in exchange for his drumming gift - but who are we to confirm or deny?
Like Jesus Christ, global warming, the Bush Administration, and Fruit Stripe Gum, Ghostfinger’s impact won’t be seen in this generation, or for several more to come. Followers such as myself will continue spreading the word for years to come, and will be prepared for heretics, infidels, haters and nonbelievers such as yourself who haven’t yet seen the light and embraced the handlebar mustache that holds your fate. Fortunately, the limited capacity of us mere mortals will be reinforced to the Nth degree by the timeless and divine doctrine that lies in the bands two full length albums, These Colors Run, and The Feeler (and the early Pink Chocolate demo if you're into the Old Testament). It is these two pieces of pop culture majesty that will carry the band into greatness on this planet and others, light years forward, in galaxies far, far away. These men are not thieves. They are only putting to good use what was generously given them by Mick, Lou, Elton, and Peter fucking Cetera.
Fortunately for you, my dear skeptics, the ‘Finger can only help, not hurt you. For all your hate and scrutiny, it’s important to know that Richie and Co. will always have love for you. Forgiveness is attainable during every performance, and contributions for the cause can be made at the merch table.
Forgive them, Richie, they know not what they do. If history has taught us anything, there will inevitably come a time when all your good deeds will be punished. Like Socrates and Oscar Wilde before you, you’ll be accused of corrupting the youth and encouraging false idolatry. Your sermons will be silenced and your guitar involuntarily laid to rest. Martyrdom will suit you well, my friend. When you’re dangling up there on the cross, I assure you you’ll look down and slightly to your left and find me, Seth “Casio “ Graves with nothing but tears and admiration in my eyes.
Your friend, in life and in death,
Casio
right on, bawston sean! saves the day? yack.
i didn't get a chance to catch ghostfinger's set at nbn, but, "the feeler" is grrreat!
was being facetious with the Saves the Day comment.
my point being, even if they listened to good music, which they very well might, it wouldn't matter cause their shit sucks. It's a good thing the Stones were biting on Son House and Muddy Waters, instead of Ricky Nelson and Pat Boone. G.Finger obviously listens to good shit and their music shows it. there's so much awful music in this world, i don't give a shit where it came from or what else it sounds like, if it's fucking good, give us more of it.
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