Wednesday Roll Call

Sorry we missed you and the bands stellar performance. For us, exhaustion set in, and the dvd player and bed claimed two victims.

Originally posted by poorlulu:
the high strung rocked at jammin java, i can't believe you missed my stunning debut on cowbell………i rock

hopefully they will come play dc real soon……hint, hint seth

At one point I am pretty sure there were 8 people on stage. This was pretty impressive considering the High Strung is a three piece and at that point Josh, the singer and lead guitaist, was not actually on the stage.

I almost made my vocal debut, but alas, I cannot sing.

sounds like a Peelander-Z show, I ended up on stage at one of those…

Originally posted by Barcelona:
Clap your hands… might very well be the worst live band I have ever seen, really disappointing. Great band recording albums but this people shouldn't be allowed to play live. I thought they were awful, the sound was terrible. Would still buy their next album, but wouldn't see them live.

Ditto. Plus, they barely played an hour. They need to at least write more songs before I see them again.

Well then you would be perfect, for just about any indie rock band.

Originally posted by MTB-Markie:


I almost made my vocal debut, but alas, I cannot sing.

Originally posted by poorlulu:
the high strung rocked at jammin java, i can't believe you missed my stunning debut on cowbell………i rock

hopefully they will come play dc real soon……hint, hint seth

>>> I was up in Tysons and came down to Vienna on the way home about 9ish and walked in to Java and the place was pretty empty…..the girl selling ticks told me the High Strung was not going to be going on till about 10:30…..I slammed a quick Mocha,but still was comatose……..I left and headed home……I'm old and tired…..sorry I couldn't last for the duration….

What was the crowd like at the Black Cat? I had planned on going until Film School cancelled, then I decided not to waste 45 minutes looking for a parking spot.

Full, half-full? Just curious what type of a following the Cloud Room has in these parts…if any…

Originally posted by Lost Soul:
What was the crowd like at the Black Cat? I had planned on going until Film School cancelled, then I decided not to waste 45 minutes looking for a parking spot.

Full, half-full? Just curious what type of a following the Cloud Room has in these parts…if any…

Less than half full. Maybe 80 or so at best. A polite crowd (not a lot of chatting but not a lot of gyrating either.) Rogers Sisters were good but got a little monotonous towards the end. Cloud Room sounded nice, and on stage the songs had more bite than the album. Their lead singer was a bit overwrought at the beginning but the 2nd half of the set was better than the first half. With only two bands, the night was over just a bit after 11.

Originally posted by Lost Soul:
I decided not to waste 45 minutes looking for a parking spot.

On a weeknight? I've never spent more than a few minutes finding parking…

Originally posted by P.J.:

Originally posted by Barcelona:
Clap your hands… might very well be the worst live band I have ever seen, really disappointing. Great band recording albums but this people shouldn't be allowed to play live. I thought they were awful, the sound was terrible. Would still buy their next album, but wouldn't see them live.

Ditto. Plus, they barely played an hour. They need to at least write more songs before I see them again.

I'm with you guys…I think it's a prime example of a band getting "too big for their britches"…shoulda had a couple more black cat shows and another album under their belt before tackling the 9:30. The 9:30 can't be beat in terms of sound, atmosphere, etc., for a band that's tight, but sloppiness is all the more evident at the 9:30. The Black Cat's crappy acoustics at least hides some of the blemishes.

Originally posted by joz:
…shoulda had a couple more black cat shows and another album under their belt before tackling the 9:30.

Why? The band was able to sell out 9:30 in extremely short order – they're not going to do several tours of smaller places just to develop their chops. Bands play the venues they can sell out or get close. Alas, the quality of the band is not often tied to that metric. When seeing a young band, there's a risk factor involved.

Originally posted by Bags:
Bands play the venues they can sell out or get close.

exactly … i remember not too long ago when the killers were the 1st openers on a 3 band bill at black cat, then within a year they were headlining arena-size shows … doesn't mean they got any better (they hadn't, they still could only play like 45-50 mins and they can't play live), if they had to play to their talent, they'd be headlining at the velvet lounge … but they could fill the big places, so more power to them

Originally posted by Jonas Grumby:
not going to be going on till about 10:30….

glad I didn't head out. That's late for them. I'm getting old.

Originally posted by Bags:

Originally posted by joz:
…shoulda had a couple more black cat shows and another album under their belt before tackling the 9:30.

Why? The band was able to sell out 9:30 in extremely short order – they're not going to do several tours of smaller places just to develop their chops. Bands play the venues they can sell out or get close. Alas, the quality of the band is not often tied to that metric. When seeing a young band, there's a risk factor involved.

such is the predicament for a band like them. Sure they could sell out 930, but I don't think they were ready for a place like that.

I recall Arcade Fire being in a similar position and yet I thought their show rocked and was way better than CYHSY.

With all the no-shows, I guess I don't feel bad for only hitting one venue last night. I could've swung by BC to catch the Cloud Room set after CYHSY but needed to be at work early this morning. The nerve of my employers.

With my expectations clearly in check for CYHSY, having seen their BC show, I thought they did ok. They started better than last time but didn't finish as strongly, and it really came apart at the end. I think the lead guy (Alex Ounsworth?) is much more talented than the rest of the group and even he is not a natural performer. They have their moments, but the band as a whole just doesn't consistently deliver live.

It's too bad because I think they write good songs and have good musicianship. Like someone said above, I'll eagerly buy the next album but I don't think I need to see them live again.

And I see I was mistaken, I wouldn't have been able to catch Cloud Room. Glad I didn't try…