• For any of you who live in the south suburbs of Chicago, you are missing out by not hitting up the (newly named) Pancake House.
• Nnamdi (drummer for Albatross, The Para-Medics, in about a thousand other bands) is in a neat position; his parents have moved to California, and left the house to him and his siblings. Which means, assuming he can keep paying the mortgage, the entire house is turning into a DIY indie/punk flophouse/venue. Thus, there was a show last night, and it fucking rocked.
• By way of advice for people who throw house shows, a few suggestions:
•• Say right on the poster/event, “no drinking or drugging”. People will do whatever the hell they want inevitably, but this buffer means that you’ll have at least two bands before it starts breaking out. This also means that a vague lid will be kept on to avoid a police presence.
•• Have places for people to chill out outside is key. I’m pretty certain most every chair in the house was outside, including a squishly leather chair and a papasan(!!!). Made for good hangings and loungings.
•• $3 door makes everyone feel happy.
•• Fun little gimmicks are terrific, too. We had a toy xylophone outside, a giant box of peanuts, and between bands 3 & 4, one of the guitarists made like A HUNDRED pancakes for everyone, so we all just grabbed plates and syrup and butter and oh my god they were like the best pancakes ever. IT WAS GREAT SO GREAT.
• Okay, so the bands. The night opened with The Para-Medics, Nnamdi’s primary side project. It’s basically an excuse for each of the musicians involved to just open fire at top level, and they did so. Last time I saw them was at a comic book shop, so hearing them in their natural environment (stuffy suburban house foyer) was terrific. God. Nnamdi on drums… He’s incredible. He’s the best drummer I’ve ever seen.
• Gun was next. I don’t know wtf to think about Gun. I heard them alternatley described as Rage Against The Machine and Kid Rock, but then the guitarist started doing this punk thing, then like this honkey-tonk blues guitar bit for a while. It was loud tho that’s for sure.
• Paper Mice was fucking phenomenal. Honestly, I’ve never heard a band like them before. I think their longest song was about… 1:50? I mean, I bought their album after the show, sixteen tracks, about twenty-five minutes long. It’s punky guitar/drum/bass, really aggressive almost-spoken-word vocals, but there’s a lot of rapid stops and tempo changes, and some kinda Kinsella sounding parts in there too… Okay, because I’m having such a hard time describing them, that should convey how incredibly original and interesting they were.
• Young Devilry ended the night. They spent too much time talking and setting up, but they were fun, sorta pop-punk but with almost shoegaze tone. I liked them, didn’t love them, but their CD was a worthy acquisition.
• In short, these bands were amazing, house shows are beyond amazing, and I love it all. Yay life.
