The City Veins

I meant to write this earlier, but it’s been a busy week.

The best live band in America is hands down The Roots. It’s not even a question in my mind. No other band is that gifted, that versatile, that flawless, and that fun. I saw them a week ago in my hometown of Allentown, PA, and they blew my mind. And this is after I’d already seen them seven times previously (yes, seven).

They have to be one of the hardest working bands in the business today. They are seemingly always on tour, and they also crank out incredible albums every year or so. And still, with all that travelling and recording, they never half-ass anything. Everytime I’ve seen them, they’ve blown me away, but I’ve seen them in a lot of cool places, like DAR Hall, Warner Theater, and the-no-longer-existent Veterans Stadium in Philly. The thing that’s so amazing with them is that every show is how effortless they make it look to be that f-in good. If you’re a fan of music and/or fun, you must go see them.

That’s sort of not the point that I wanted to make though. My original point was to convey how impressed I was with their show last Thursday. Allentown is a fairly insignificant little city, halfway between NYC and Philly. Most artists usually skip in favor of shows in Philly and NYC. The ones that do come are usually has-beens or wanna-bes, and on the rare chance a big, current artist comes to town they often half-ass their way through an hour or so.

Not the Roots. The Roots f*in brought it like they were playing a sold out stadium. These are guys who’ve done things like back up Jay-Z at Madison Square Garden and play to tens of thousands at Bonnarroo. They had no reason to be in Allentown, no reason to be at such a relatively small club, and certainly no reason to give performance they did - especially on a Thursday. But they put on 2.5 hours of one of the most energetic sets I’ve ever seen out of them (or anyone) and it was amazing.

THAT is the kind of band I aspire to be in. Not one of these trendy indie bands who stands motionless on stage and bores the hell out of you. I want to be in the band that can play the big rooms and the small rooms alike and always blow everyone away. The Roots get why people come to shows, they do right by their fans. That’s why I’ve seen them 8 times, and that’s why I’ll probably see them at least 16 more times.

Oh, and Questlove might be the greatest living drummer on Earth.

Thanks to those who came out Saturday night for our benefit show for the Sunbeam Foundation with our friends Anchorage, My Friend Autumn, and the Forest.  Over $1700 were raised, their most successful night of the year.  The bands were awesome as well, especially Anchorage, who despite only playing shows very rarely is hands down one of the best bands in DC.  If they weren’t so lazy they could go places (j/k guys).

The DC Arts Center made for an awesome (and quite intimate) location too.

As for us, it was fun-filled night of equipment failures and sliding drumsets, but that didn’t stop us and we played alright. Besides, it was worth it to help the cause and for the general fun of the evening, which included a quite spirited auction and Terrence from Anchorage taking shots of bacon vodka.

Also, this place is the shit. I’m rarely ever in Adams Morgan, but I might go back more now that Charles introduced me to it.

Wow…wow…wow.

Tom from These United States shared this with me. Someone made a MySpace dedicated to my high school band (I suspect it was probably Joel, Tom’s brother and the bassist of said high school band).

So without further ado, I present to you…the one… the only…

BANE’S WISH.

Yes that is me in the window. You have to love the 1990s “sad band” pose.

You can relive all of our shortlived glory here: www.myspace.com/baneswish

(Be kind please…I was like 14 or 15 and it was the ’90s.)

I considered formatting this picture, but I was afraid you would lose insight into Spencer’s soul.  Look at the fear coupled with confusion in his eyes.  I think this properly articulates the way this band has felt for the last few days of practice.  We’ve been trying to write and we have been awful.  It’s a damn good thing we’re not writing an album right now becuase it would be some of the most boring work to ever come out of DC…..and it would force Spencer to look like this permanently.

One of our new songs, “Freedom After The Fall,” features Spencer in I clapping counter rhythms in 5/4. It is by far the most obnoxious thing that I have every done musically, but it sounds really good, particularly on the EP.

I want people to know that I feel guilty when we play it.

Recently, he have been playing better concerts, with better audiences. Audiences that want to participate. Clapping is normally an easy place for everyone to join in, and this part is in a what seems like a natural place for everyone to clap along, except that it is a difficult part. I am still counting it in my head when we play it. The result is this moment when people start to clap, but then give up.

That is why part of me wants to cut out the clapping part live.

Except that it sounds really good.

I contemplated writing out the rhythm here, but I think that may be more obnoxious then the actual part (if such a thing is possible).

Photo by Flickr user mrplough.