Mar
07
2010

International Pop Overthrough - Night 3

(Add / View Comments) (0)Sunday, March 7, 2010 - 10:10:03 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
Last day of International Pop Overthrow in Phoenix today. We'd have liked to have seen Sugar High last night, but we couldn't really afford or justify the $10 cover each for each night.

We headed out to Scottsdale to meet Aaron before hand, for the Violet Wild gig. Only to arrive at American Junkie, killing time before discovering that the gig (well, Violet Wild opening anyway) was canceled. Which makes me thankful we saw them on Friday Night at 910. By which time it was about 4, so we decided to head straight from there to Hollywood Alley.

Grabbing a both, combined with the Alley's free wi-fi made for a good Sunday afternoon. The first band that we knew were Tramps & Thieves at 6. Leading up to that it was hit and miss with the bands. Admittedly, today didn't seem particularly well attended. Maybe it was the Sunday factor. But maybe it's because there should be more local draw cards vs. minor bands. It's a slippery slope I guess, having a festival to showcase new / less known bands is a good thing, but on the other hand, I'm not sure if how effective it is when there aren't many people to see it. Having a few more well loved local bands would probably make a difference.

Tramps did a nice little set. As Emmett said, early and sober tonight was a lot different to Yucca on Friday night. [wink] Up next was supposed to be Let Go, though a few days ago their slot changed to "TBA". Unfortunately, indeed they were no longer on the bill and weren't replaced by anyone. Hence next up were Domo - one of the bands we were definitely there to see. And weren't disappointed. It's only the second time we've been able to see them, and much like the last night, the experience leaves you wishing they played out a lot more. The set seemed to be all new songs (much like the last time we saw them at Yucca), a huge wall of sound that is really impressive coming from a three piece. I got pretty much the whole set on video, which was cool as we want to learn the new songs, especially Lawrence, Kansas.

The irony with that is that afterwards I asked Jason if he had a copy of Sweet Creepy to buy - thinking he was the one who runs their twitter page. Failed on that account, but (surely because it's the second time we've asked) he came by our booth later and handed us a CD-R and said "hope you enjoy this". Initially I just though it was a copy of the song "With Friends Like These...". Which worked out well, since on several occasions Katie has asked whether I had it on my iPod - which I don't. Sorted. Though, as it turns out, the CD handed to us appears to be the forthcoming album! Sweet! We've always been behind the game with Domo. Well, not behind the game per se, but certainly when it comes to owning their albums. Sweet Creepy came out 5 years ago, and we still haven't got a copy (though, not through lack of trying and systematically checking every Zia Records location in the valley), and it wasn't until we got to Phoenix that we picked up a full copy of Baby Mercury. So to have a copy of the new album (or what we believe to be the album) ahead of it's release next month is pretty damn sweet. And I can say that it's 14 tracks of power pop goodness that we've come to expect from Domo! It's nice that we'll have the opportunity to learn all the songs before the CD release party. Looking forward to buying a real copy at the release party, but love the fact we have this to tide us over.

Up next were The Lustkillers, a national touring band that looked remarkably like the Beat Angels had reformed. Not as catchy as them, but still the balls to the wall rock was enjoyed by myself. Sadly the sound levels were to the level of slight distortion which did kind of mar things some what. The band had brought their own lighting, which was cool and I wish they'd leave at the usually dark Hollywood Alley stage. There was a moment I thought we were watching Strange Young Things when the guitarist jumped off the stage and played a solo while rolling around on one of the Alley's tables. A move that I'm sure would have spoken to Corey Gloden.

The last band was a 60's psychedelic throwback band. We stayed for a couple of songs, but decided that it was time to make a move from the booth that we'd been sitting at pretty much for the last 5 hours. [smile]
Now Playing: Domo - With Friends Like These

Switch Styles

About Style Switching.

!Weblog Index

Feb March 2010 Apr
SU MO TU WE TH FR SA
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

Categories

RSS FeedRSS Feed