Videos at outside_issues_nov_11_2023
I didn't have any plans for Saturday night so when I saw that the @rabbithole_pdx crew had a lineup change for their Outside Issues (Tiny's Coffee After Dark) show, and @notcomagirl was going to be playing, I decided to Give Rock Music a Chance.
First up was @shitcog, and they were, by far, my favorite new band of the night. I mean, you had me at "shit cog" -- but also their live set sat at that perfect place between pop-punk and hardcore that is my jam, and their lead, Carmen, was full of that explosive energy you love to see fronting a band. They've got an EP release show on Nov 25 at Mano Oculta (the old Twilight Room space)
The second act, @asakujakujaku, down-shifted into some -- dream pop? shoe glance? -- I am not a professional music critic so I'm not sure what to call it, but it felt like a warm hot spring and the band humans were some of the sweetest I've met. One lent out their guitar to a shitcog member when a string popped and another was constantly stepping in to readjust the good mic on the shitty stand during the @dependent_pdx set.
Third on the bill was @torch_the_band, down from Seattle. Just some good old-fashioned guitar-based indie rock like Mom used to make. Also the only band brave enough to wade into "Why do men even Roman Empire?" discourse.
Fourth up was @dependent_pdx, a month-old band with strong skater energy playing the two boy feelings -- "sad" and "mad" -- and doing it great. Their set got perfectly into flow despite the aforementioned mic issues and I'm still a little disappointed that "tape the mic" was the solution instead of "let that one girl try to hold it during the song".
The fifth and final act was @notcomagirl -- but not as I'd seen them before. Quin did a solo acoustic set which was striking and lovely after a night of loud-ass guitars (based) in a space that is, perhaps, not the most acoustically engineered. I'm generation MTV unplugged and I've always loved how different versions of a song can either lay its heart bare or, like Quin's haunting White Stripes cover, put it in a new light entirely. Really special set and I'm glad I made it out.