+ sound of urchin
Got to see these cats at the Seattle club El Corazon near the end of their west coast tour.
Crescent Moon is Dave from Ween plus Tomato from Sound of Urchin/ Moistboyz on drums. Dave sings and plays bass, Tomato sticks to the drums, with the occasional backing vocals. This is approximately the same set up that Dave played in his previous band, Instant Death, which has opened for Sound of Urchin and played some of those Moistboyz led benefit shows for Claude when he was in his accident. As I was talking to Dave when he was here for Moistboyz he told me that his friend and drummer from that band had died, so it was defunct. As sad as that is, it's good to see Dave moving on. He's a hell of a bassist, and works very well with Tomato. Tomato, for his part is one hell of a hard rock drummer. When he's with Sound of Urchin, he also sings, and in a way, that's a detriment to the band, since he does simplify his drum lines in order to cover lead vox. Without having to worry about covering anything other than the occasional lead vocal, Tomato can really rip off some interesting licks. In crescent moon, Dave plays the bass more like a guitar, playing a lot of chords-- not appregios, which a lot of bassists play, but strummed out chords. The only person I can think of that strums bass that much is Lemmy. Dave isn't doing it to get a fatter bottom end, as I assume Lemmy does, but he's getting the melody out of the strumming, and will take solos. The songs were heavy pop songs that had a good ear for a hook. My only complaint was that Dave's vocals were a little buried, and they were pretty good. It was an intersting and entertaining, and very unique take on a two man show. The highlight for me was a cover of Pink Floyd's "fearless" that was dedicated to the old hippies in the audience that might recognize it. The hypnotic chord structure of that song played right into the sound that Dave was pulling off, and it came out as something I called "swamp metal". Dave seemed to like that description. It fit his whole sound, but that song in particular. Earthy, sludgy fun. Seahag from Urchin sat in on one song and that was a pretty sweet blues jam.
Sound of Urchin have two members in Moistboyz, the aforementioned Tomato and Rev. B-ill on second guitar. They are filled out with "doodoo" on bass and "seahag" on guitar. Bill is an excellent guitarist from a pretty traditional blues metal sort of background. Likes big fat chords and solos based on blues scales. Seahag also plays in "project object" a Zappa cover band, and that goes along way to telling you the approach that he takes on his instrument. Seahag and Bill split lead guitar duties, sometimes from song to song, sometimes within the same song. No slight on Bill, but Seahag's solo style has that prog rock "where did that come from" vibe to it that I just love. And I think the man may have six fingers.
Urchin play one of the more ween inspired mixes of genre bending pop with a metal side to it. think God Ween Satan. Lyrics tend towards the funny, and even though there were like 35 of us at El Corazon, the motherfuckers played a solid hour and a half set to rock the crowd. They have a couple of discs out, but I've yet to see one that captures the intensity and heavy sound of the live show. The discs tend to be cleaned up and polished, and that's fine too, but until they cut a live or live in studio disc, they're selling themselves a little short on the albums. I've mentioned that Tomato simplifies the drum lines a little when he sings. For this show, the equipment./merchandise manager got behind the kit for a few songs so that Tomato could sing. He's not quite the same drummer, but is pretty damn decent, and it does show that Tomato realizes that he is better when he isn't splitting duties. I'd rather that they found a new singer and left Tomato behind the kit, but it seems to be mainly his band.
Ah well, it was a hell of a show. One of the smaller turnouts for a Urchin show in Seattle, but it was also a Wednesday.
Got to see these cats at the Seattle club El Corazon near the end of their west coast tour.
Crescent Moon is Dave from Ween plus Tomato from Sound of Urchin/ Moistboyz on drums. Dave sings and plays bass, Tomato sticks to the drums, with the occasional backing vocals. This is approximately the same set up that Dave played in his previous band, Instant Death, which has opened for Sound of Urchin and played some of those Moistboyz led benefit shows for Claude when he was in his accident. As I was talking to Dave when he was here for Moistboyz he told me that his friend and drummer from that band had died, so it was defunct. As sad as that is, it's good to see Dave moving on. He's a hell of a bassist, and works very well with Tomato. Tomato, for his part is one hell of a hard rock drummer. When he's with Sound of Urchin, he also sings, and in a way, that's a detriment to the band, since he does simplify his drum lines in order to cover lead vox. Without having to worry about covering anything other than the occasional lead vocal, Tomato can really rip off some interesting licks. In crescent moon, Dave plays the bass more like a guitar, playing a lot of chords-- not appregios, which a lot of bassists play, but strummed out chords. The only person I can think of that strums bass that much is Lemmy. Dave isn't doing it to get a fatter bottom end, as I assume Lemmy does, but he's getting the melody out of the strumming, and will take solos. The songs were heavy pop songs that had a good ear for a hook. My only complaint was that Dave's vocals were a little buried, and they were pretty good. It was an intersting and entertaining, and very unique take on a two man show. The highlight for me was a cover of Pink Floyd's "fearless" that was dedicated to the old hippies in the audience that might recognize it. The hypnotic chord structure of that song played right into the sound that Dave was pulling off, and it came out as something I called "swamp metal". Dave seemed to like that description. It fit his whole sound, but that song in particular. Earthy, sludgy fun. Seahag from Urchin sat in on one song and that was a pretty sweet blues jam.
Sound of Urchin have two members in Moistboyz, the aforementioned Tomato and Rev. B-ill on second guitar. They are filled out with "doodoo" on bass and "seahag" on guitar. Bill is an excellent guitarist from a pretty traditional blues metal sort of background. Likes big fat chords and solos based on blues scales. Seahag also plays in "project object" a Zappa cover band, and that goes along way to telling you the approach that he takes on his instrument. Seahag and Bill split lead guitar duties, sometimes from song to song, sometimes within the same song. No slight on Bill, but Seahag's solo style has that prog rock "where did that come from" vibe to it that I just love. And I think the man may have six fingers.
Urchin play one of the more ween inspired mixes of genre bending pop with a metal side to it. think God Ween Satan. Lyrics tend towards the funny, and even though there were like 35 of us at El Corazon, the motherfuckers played a solid hour and a half set to rock the crowd. They have a couple of discs out, but I've yet to see one that captures the intensity and heavy sound of the live show. The discs tend to be cleaned up and polished, and that's fine too, but until they cut a live or live in studio disc, they're selling themselves a little short on the albums. I've mentioned that Tomato simplifies the drum lines a little when he sings. For this show, the equipment./merchandise manager got behind the kit for a few songs so that Tomato could sing. He's not quite the same drummer, but is pretty damn decent, and it does show that Tomato realizes that he is better when he isn't splitting duties. I'd rather that they found a new singer and left Tomato behind the kit, but it seems to be mainly his band.
Ah well, it was a hell of a show. One of the smaller turnouts for a Urchin show in Seattle, but it was also a Wednesday.
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