The Charming Snakes

Seattle's Charming Snakes live at the Experience Music Project from December 10, 2005. I'm not sure the band is still playing live, Rueben and Lacey seem to be focused more on their other band The Coconut Coolouts now. But the Charming Snakes played catchy p-rock and were always fun at bar shows, check 'em out on their MySpace page.

The Misfats are fatter and Misfitier than you!

Only one band can claim the title of "The world's fattest Misfits cover band" and it's Portland band The Misfats. Not only do they cover The Misfits, but they change the lyrics to be about food! Like most cover bands, you can probably only see them once or twice before it gets old, but the band is damn funny live. This photo is from a show they did earlier this year at the Monkey Pub. For more info about the band, check out misfats.com.

The Valley

Valleys are often large, big, crevices surrounded on all sides by walls of rock. If this is the kind of imagery a band hopes you envision when they name themselves The Valley, then these Seattle noise behemoth's were right on mark. Here's a review I wrote of the band for my column in Tablet back in 2005:

"The first time I saw Seattle band the Valley they took over a small stage in a fairly empty club and simply laid down the rock so loud and heavy I was floored. Their music hit on some crazy sonic level like Godheadsilo used to, where you not only hear it, but you feel it vibrating from the stage, across the floor and through your body. I think I actually felt queasy at first. If you mention the Valley to anyone who’s seen them, they usually say “The Valley are fucking loud!” Now, I’m not sure that being known as a loud band is usually a good thing; you don’t want to be known for driving people out of the room. But somehow it works for the Valley both live and on their debut album, released in January on Swingline Records. The band’s heavy distortion, heavy guitars and heavy drums are balanced by melodic songs and catchy vocals. With equal parts grunge and pop punk, the Valley blend two styles I love, but rarely find together."

Two and a half years later the band is still going strong. This photo is from a show they played earlier this year at The Comet. They've been getting airplay on KEXP, had a song featured on NPR as the song of the day, and just released a six-song EP - which locals can pick up at Sonic Boom or when the band plays live. Live you say, Dan? Upcoming Valley shows include:

December 8th @ the Showbox for the KEXP Yule Benefit
December 20th @ The Sunset in Ballard
December 21st @ Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma with Seaweed (reunited!)
January 11th @ The Croc in Belltown

Bacchus

Stoner rock much? Seattle's Bacchus play heavy, pounding, loud, thick punk rock. The kind of music that would be the perfect soundtrack to cars getting crushed in a wrecking yard or beating a sledge hammer against an anvil. They are a lot less metal than High on Fire, more in the vein of The Melvins or even mid-career Helmet, and they are fun live. But don't listen to me, check them out for yourself.

More Fitz of Depression photos

Olympia's Fitz of Depression are back together with a new line-up and have been playing shows more often over the past year. These are photos from their February 2, 2007 show at the Comet Tavern:

X

In highschool I had an old X "Los Angeles" tape I used to listen to a fair amount, but it wasn't until I saw their movie "X: The Unheard Music" that I really got some insight into the band's brilliance. Here's part of a review of the movie from the Chicago Tribune that came out when the movie was released back in 1986:

As unconventional as the band it portrays, "The Unheard Music" is an impressionistic, subjective semidocumentary. Writer-director W.T. Morgan spent nearly five years making the film, beginning shortly after the release of the group's first album, "Los Angeles," and ending prior to the release of its most recent album, "Ain't Love Grand?"

"This is not a documentary," Morgan said in a recent interview at the offices of Skouras films, the company releasing "The Unheard Music." "For me it's more a punk art film with lots of music. It's an attempt to try to cover the subject from a lot of angles, sort of like (Picasso's) 'Guernica.'

"It would be a disgrace to do this as a typical documentary. This story needs a treatment as radical as the story itself. A lot of punk music is a reaction to boredom, to the musical pollution they play on the radio. I feel the same about films today; it's wallpaper, no danger or adventure."

The band toured the same year. This poster is from their show at The Moore Theater in downtown Seattle, the first time I saw X live. They were excellent! And it's funny the Red Chili Peppers opened... at the time they were most known for the "Real Men Don't Kill Coyotes" song and video and Flea showing up in the movie "Suburbia," who could have known they'd get so big?

Jawbox

Silver Spring, Maryland is basically known for two things, being really close to Washington D.C. and as the home of melodic punk superstars Jawbox. Jawbox was formed in 1989 after Government Issue broke up and J. Robbins was looking for a new band. Housemates Kim Coletta and Adam Wade joined with Robbins on bass and drums for the first incarnation of the band, which self-released their first single and album ("Grippe") on their own DeSoto Records. Bill Barbot joined the band as a second guitarist for the band's second album, and later when drummer Wade left to play for Shudder To Think, Zach Barocas took over on drums. Tons of records and tours later, the band became a Dischord Records staple before jumping to a major label in 1994. At the time there was a lot of finger pointing and the word "sellout" was definitely uttered, but the band weathered on touring and releasing albums on Atlantic until they eventually broke up in 1997. These photos I shot when the band played Rkcndy in the mid-'90s.

Robbins and Barbot went on to form Burning Airlines.