The coldest weather in years...old friends...return to the forest of the DALEKs...unicorn poop never touches the ground...

Battle Rockets - the White Cascade - Jan 16 @ Sadlack's (Raleigh)

Just over two weeks into 2009 we ended up with the Coldest Day Ever, a ridiculous day with a low of 14. We had planned on having our January show be a polar bear show, this was the line I had been kicking around, but the polar bear aspect met us in the middle.

So we got excited... a challenge! See, Sadlack's shows are outside. Could we play in under 20 degree weather? Would they let us?

Armed with these thoughts I went about my week. I went to work and then to the Cash household, where Matt and I drank a bottle of apple wine from his family vineyard and had some righteous conversation. Primarily we planned the M33 Forum, which is going to be a festival by and for bands in our family on the Cash land up in Franklin County (Centerville, to be precise).

More on that to come.

Goodbye, Titan were unable to play, which was sad but unavoidable. They made it out to support us anyway and brought some badass friends of theirs. Cthulhu bless those damn sexy dudes.

Insane in the propane.

We arrived and were told that it was way too cold to play outside. We insisted, we practically signed disclaimers. Honestly, we're way too loud to play inside at Sadlack's so it makes more sense to play a place where noise level doesn't matter as much (i.e. outside). I had a reuben, loved it, and we set up the PA. Cash ran to the grocery store to fill one of the propane tanks so we could activate the mighty pillars of heat.

Did I mention the potato chips, and how amazing they were? I wish more places fried their own chips.

Chas & Dan, our friends from Gray Young, came out for a while. They had a show at the Cave with Birds and Arrows that same night, so they stuck around as long as they could. However, while they were there they agreed to play both the M33 Forum and Drone Valley '09! I didn't even have to ask about Drone Valley... Chas said something along the lines of "Are you fucking kidding me? Of course!"

I swear, there were times when my blood was freakin' frozen.

We started out right at 8:00 with "On the Fields of Battle." Tilson joined us on the spare tom, as we like it, and he and Mike played an extended intro which was pretty cool. This was a good song to start on. The guitar parts aren't too tough, so it wasn't a huge challenge for my petrified hands, and it's pretty high energy. I won't say it warmed my blood, I won't say anything actually did that during our show, but at least it kept frostbite at bay.

We kept the energy high for the first few songs, following "On the Fields of Battle" with the surprisingly thematic "the Glaciers Recede" and "Conflict of Supermonsters," which got really good response and some good compliments after the set. From there we played "Forced to Retreat," "Flying Falling," "the Last Word..." We finished out on "Protohuman," a reliable set ender. The moment we were done playing the cold rushed in like the sea rushing into an Indonesian ferry (too soon?).

Things that were difficult during this set: there were times when my fingers just wouldn't bend, which proved problematic for the closing riff of "Flying Falling." Using the slide was pretty torturous, too. I should have thought back to my marching band days under Mrs. Cabaniss, way back at the dawn of time, when she advised us to keep our trumpet mouthpieces in our pockets until we needed them.

I guess that's what I'll do with my slide next time we play a show where, to put it artfully, there were more people in attendance than it was degrees Fahrenheit.

Yr Cold Weather Friend

Our show took about 50 minutes, which made me happy. I liked the rapidfire sets we started off with for the first four Battle Rockets shows, when we played in 35 minutes, but I felt like playing for 50 minutes allowed us to really get comfortable.

I went inside to thaw my hands and catch up with friends. My sister made it out and she brought her fuzzy white lumberjack hat with her...

Mute became the White Cascade about two weeks ago. I dig the name and I feel like it reflects their evolution as a band. They played this show as a three piece, with Matts Guess, Cash, and Robbins braving the murderous elements. I remembered a conversation I'd had with Cash a few days ago, during which I realized that their music would complement the weather nicely. It's very elemental stuff. Picture a gigantic tornado, two miles across, rolling by a little Kansas town. The tornado never touches the town, never hurts anybody, but it dominates the skies and everyone can see it. After a few minutes they lose their fear and walk out of their houses into their yards to watch the beauty and the devastation. When it's gone they're shocked, their eyes and their ears are overdriven from the input, but to some extent the sky seems empty without it.

I was particularly impressed by the third song, a new one. Robbins had a few spectacular switchups. Very ballsy writing on the drum part, considering he achieved all these beat changes without fills. I knew Robbins had a good sense of time. I had no idea how good that sense was until this show. I love the new song and will update this with its name once I hear back from the White Cascade.

The Matts locked together beautifully for this show. It was mixed well, with vocal clarity they didn't have at the first Sadlack's show. I think it's because (for one) Cash turned up his bass amp to brain rattling levels. For another, Guess brought a few reverb units for his vocals. Those things sound really good.

I walked with my sister for a few blocks and, upon returning, realized that you could hear and feel the show from two blocks away. There's a NC State dorm across Enterprise St. from Sadlack's and neighborhoods on each side. That said, we played to a larger audience than we knew.

DALEK

The DALEK heaters lasted pretty well. By the end we could only keep one going at a time, so during the second half of the White Cascade's set the audience would cluster around whichever heater was functioning at that time.

So we broke down the PA and had some good conversation. I met one particularly tiny person, Margaret, who knew music really well and gave us some fantastic technical compliments. Thanks! Also, it was really cool for Rose of Sadlack's to allow us to play outside when she had such serious misgivings about the idea. I'm glad we did. I dig a variable.

It was rad to meet Steven, Sarah's longtime boyfriend, who I'd heard so many nice things about. Turns out he's as entertaining as a jungle gym built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Really cool guy. He and Sarah had some really nice things to say about our music. I especially appreciate compliments from people who don't typically listen to instrumental music. Thanks, guys!

Mike and I came prepared for the worst and didn't even need half the cold weather gear we needed. We left happy. I made the 40 minute ride home, accompanied by Thom Yorke's solo record.

Serious confusion at one point, near 540, when I looked over at the car beside me to find the passenger giving me the finger for no obvious reason. It's comical, really, how amped up people can get about the most insubstantial things... and towards strangers? Fuck all that, it's been a good week with good friends, and we still have our Nightlight show next week to look forward to!

I'd like to play the Cave soon. Gray Young's there tonight, Steven'll be playing there tomorrow night, the White Cascade, Goodbye, Titan and Natasha El-Sergeny will be there Sunday for the early show. I've been to several shows there since our move and it's been a really cool spot every time. Well, Sundays are my booking days... I'll get right on that.

Next: Jan 22 - the Nightlight, Chapel Hill!