The weekend of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival was precisely the perfect time to avoid all of the techno hype and head down to see some of Detroit's finest at the Magic Stick. As usual, the weather in Detroit over Memorial Day was rainy and dreary, but this certainly didn't stop me from a weekend of great entertainment.
I had spent most of the previous week traveling to California and Toronto, so all of the jet lag and lack of sleep didn't help me any, but I figured that the best prescription for lack of sleep is to stay out late and listen to great music. However, I must apologize to the Unfriendlys and the Bomb Pops for showing up late and missing their sets on Friday. I know these bands are both awesome and I will definitely plan on seeing them both soon. Instead I walked in to see Stroker Ace on stage already. This was a record release party for this ultra-cool band and you could probably find their 45 (El Camino Boy b/w Jailbird Baby) at the better record stores around town. My copy is already being worn down from too much play on my stereo.
The Paybacks put on their usual great show and rumors are flying that we might see a Paybacks record pretty soon. Let's hope that these rumors are all true. The best prescription for staying out late on Friday night is to do the same on Saturday. Since the Gore Gore Girls were headlining at the Magic Stick - I really didn't have much choice. The opening band on Saturday were Them Wranch from Cleveland. The crowd was very late in arriving and many missed the Wranch boys, but they certainly put on a fine show. The Gore Gore Girls keep getting better and better. A good crowd had formed in front of the stage by the time they came on and nobody could possibly have been disappointed in this band. This band is real solid and represent the Detroit garage style music very well. There are also rumors about an a second Gore Gore Girls release soon and I, for one, can't wait. The only bad part about all of these great bands in Detroit is the fact that sometimes you have to miss a show because they're going on at the same time. This Saturday I missed the Clone Defects at the Gold Dollar because of the shows at the Magic Stick. I'm sure that I would not have been disappointed either way.