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Apples in Stereo The
Holmes Brothers |
Stars
While reading a Pitchfork story earlier in the day I noticed Stars were playing in Millvale later that night. I’d never heard of them but was familiar with Broken Social Scene, a band that multi-insturmentalist Evan Cranley is also is a member of. And since their new CD, Set Yourself On Fire, had garnered pretty good reviews it seemed a decent bet. The teenager, currently paying off a video game, welcomed a chance to earn $5. So at 9:30 we headed out hoping we weren’t too late. Mr. Smalls, with a respectable crowd of maybe 100 or so, was a damn sweatbox again, but as long as you were able to position yourself in front of one of the many industrial fans gracing the walls of the venue it was tolerable. Stars were about four song in and playing “Ageless Beauty,” which is going to be the only song I know as I was listening to it earlier as a stream from their website. The crowd was very attentive and considering that the last time they played Pittsburgh was to only about “four people,” according to singer Torquil Campbell, the increased attendance was a testament to either their new CD or the magic of the Montreal music scene from which this band originates from. While grabbing a beer in the back we ran into the singer and keyboardist of local band Shade. They’re playing with another offshoot of Broken Social Scene, Apostles of Hustle next week. I shamelessly mentioned that “I’ve taken a couple of pictures at your Gooski’s shows” and keyboardist Craig seemed to be familiar with my site. Wifey wasn’t sure if that was a good thing but thankfully I never wrote up the last time I saw them in this very venue and which brings me to the whole point of this story. They sucked! But it probably wasn’t their fault as Stars was having the same problems tonight. Being an old church is cool but not really the best place to hear music acoustics-wise. It just seems impossible to fill in the open spaces when there is a modest audience. Stars were up there playing their hearts out but unless you moved towards the very front it was easy to dismiss what was going on as background noise. Just my opinion and Wifey respectfully disagreed that louder isn’t always better. So we watched the rest of the show from up front and there were some real inspired moments as this band was determined to put on a good show. After the hour plus set we bought a CD. Now this is where The Man would stick around for another hour getting autographs, pictures, his underwear signed, etc.. but we headed out of Millvale and over to Mullaney’s Harp & Fiddle in the Strip District. While biking home earlier in the day I’d noticed a sign outside that some band from New York was playing so we dropped in. Only about 25 or so were in the bar as we sat down and got a decent hour of music from The McCabes. Playing as a five-piece they mixed your traditional Irish tunes with more modern originals and a few great covers (David Bowie’s “Suffragette City”.) Since we skated the $5 cover I threw down for a $15 CD. This show appeared to be just a pit stop on their way to headlining three nights of an Irish festival in Newport, KY. I was digging the guitarist with the camo shorts as he occasionally wavered off at times into some Dead noodling territory. |
