Or
Unfriendlys/Valentine Killers/Seven Year Itch/Octopus/Broadzilla
The
best part of this entire review was the fact that I didn’t have to go this
overblown award show. In fact, I
bypassed all of the hype and headed directly to the Magic Stick to see the
Unfriendlys opening up for the Valentine Killers. I immediately ran into some people who had been at the Music
Awards Show and they immediately reinforced my decision by complaining about the
awards show. There’s nothing
wrong with having these awards shows, but it’s impossible to cover all types
of music in one evening and some of those nominations seem to use the same logic
that gave a Grammy to Milli Vanilli.
This
was my first time in seeing the Unfriendlys
and they were well worth the wait.
The songs were fast and these guys played with a ton of passion – I
can’t wait to see them round town. Next
up were the Valentine Killers and unfortunately I could just not get into their
music. The crowd was pretty slim and maybe that contributed to the
problem.
Saturday
night proved even busier. First up
was a trip to the UD campus on Livernois and Six Mile to see Seven Year Itch
from Toronto playing at the Grounds Coffee House as part of a benefit show and I
got their just in time for the 10:00 pm show.
There weren’t a lot of people there, but this three piece played a very
strong set. It’s not easy to
drive 200 miles to play in front of 30 people or so and not be disappointed, but
these guys hid it well. They play
more a radio-friendly alternative style that isn’t really my favorite type of
music, but I would strongly suggest checking them out the next time they’re in
town.
After
this show I committed yet another of my frequent social disasters by not even
saying goodnight to a very cool friend of mine and missing out on an invitation
for some post-show celebrating. Instead
I headed up Woodward to the Magic Bag and for the Octopus/Broadzilla show.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve been at such a heavy metallish show, even
though I’ve seen Octopus play at the Magic Stick with the Paybacks.
The place was jammed and I became very self-conscious that I was
virtually
the only person in there without a tattoo or body-piercing.
I tried to cover up this obvious deficiency by yelling “Rock &
Roll” at regular intervals and hiding in the corner.
Broadzilla, fresh from playing the Music Awards, the night before just
tore the place apart. I was quite
surprised that Ferndale could handle such music without passing some ordinance
about “prohibiting bands with 3 girls from playing heavy metal” or something
similar to preserve the quality of the neighborhood.
The came one of those weird scenes out of the X files or something. I was feeling kind of pissed at myself from blowing my friend
off and as I was walking to my car – I almost tripped over her car.
I don’t exactly know what the odds of this happening are, but they all
had gone for some drinks at another place…. Anyway, I couldn’t fine anybody,
I scribbled a note and left it on her car and then headed home trying to
figure out how these things happen…..