Wovenhand - 10/11 @ Drunken Unicorn
This was my basic conversation to several people prior to this show.
Someone else - "So doing anything fun this weekend?"
Me - "Yeah, going to see Wovenhand at the Drunken Unicorn. Very excited about that."
Someone else - "Who's that?"
Me - "Oh, it's David Eugene Edwards from 16 Horsepower's new band."
Someone else - "Ummm, never heard of them either."
Me - "Uh yeah, they were awesome. I'm really looking forward to it."
Someone else - "Okey doke then, you have fun with that."
Yeah, it's not easy being a super fan of a very obscure band, but I've gotten used to it. At least it generally means that I don't have to worry about the show selling out and the fact they'll keep playing in places as intimate as the Drunken Unicorn. Not like I'm going crazy over U2 and have to share their show with the thousands of people at Philips Arena. So for the time being, they're all mine and I like it like that.
But just in case there was a chance that the show could've sold out, as there was a fair amount of 16HP fans in town, I went ahead and bought my ticket to the show pretty early on. And the best part was that it cost me nothing. I used the $15 Criminal Records gift card I got for test driving a Scion a few weeks back to pay for it. So thank you Scion for fueling my obsession for this band.
Before the show, I went to the 5 Spot to support Rikki and her art show debut in the Southern Drawl's Spooktacular Halloween Show. She made these freakin' awesome plush dismembered hands to sell at the show. And she made a whole mess of them, including regular hands, Frankenstein hands, a giant hand and even an alien hand. They're pretty reasonable too, starting at only $15 each. So if you're interested, by all means reach out to Rikki, aka Aunt Icky to get your hands (get it?!?) on one of her very cool Morbid Toys. (And so ends my commercial for her new enterprise...)
So hung out at the art show for awhile and then figured it was high time to get over to the Drunken Unicorn because I didn't want to miss a minute of Wovenhand. When I got there, the place was pretty full. It was definitely a bigger audience than I had expected. It wasn't going to sell out at anytime, but I was still glad that I got my ticket early on. And even ended up running into a few folks like Paul, Victoria, Katy, Kat and somehow ended up spending a good portion of the show standing right next to Kenny Crucial. Guess this was the show to be at, who knew?
But when I got there, there was one of the opening band still playing. I think it was Royal Thunder, but not 100% sure. They kind of reminded me a little of Concrete Blonde. But there was a couple of times when they sounded like a female fronted Wolfmother. And had they had more songs like that, I probably would've picked up a CD, but those songs didn't seem to really represent their repertoire.
Then it was finally time for Wovenhand to start and I was quite giddy with anticipation. It's kind of sad how quickly I devolve into fanboy status with these guys. Can't explain it, but that's how it is. Been that way since the 16 Horsepower days and it's carried over to Wovenhand. And just who is this band that makes me squee? Well, the best way to describe them is Dark Folk. It's the quickest and easiest, but doesn't quite encapsulate their sound. But I don't think I could do it much justice, just go to their MySpace page and hear for yourself. You probably still won't feel the same way about it that I do, but not everyone likes the same kind of music. And it seemed very appropriate that they were touring in October too, what with Autumn taking hold and the earth withering away and dying as spirits arise. And apparently, they make me wax poetic as well...
The most exciting thing about the show was that Paschal was playing bass in the band. And the reason being, was that he was the bass player in 16 Horsepower too, so essentially there was 2/3 of that band playing on stage. Could there be a 16HP reunion one day?!?! Ooooo I can only hope! But they didn't play any 16HP songs, but stuck with the Wovenhand stuff. And the majority of the set was off their new CD, which I was waiting to buy at the show. So I really wasn't that familiar with most of what I heard, but I really enjoyed it. It was a really good show and the band was quite intense, but it was hard to see David Eugene most of the time, because he plays guitar sitting down. And he's also not one for banter, so it was pretty much less talk, more rock. Sweet. And after about 1.5 hours, they finally thanked the audience and finished their set. I went back to buy a CD and even picked up a t-shirt because they had a good one in a fat guy size.
Went back to the stage as the guys were breaking down their equipment to say hello and David Eugene actually remembered me! God I'm so gay for them. Talked to him for a bit and then asked Paschal about Lilium, his side band project, and he told me that he's in the process of finishing up a new CD that'll be out early next year. Didn't dare ask either of them about a 16HP reunion, because I didn't want to come across as more of a dork than I already did. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope. Because you just never know. Then I can tell everyone how excited I am about a reunion show for a band they've still never heard of. But I'm used to that.
Someone else - "So doing anything fun this weekend?"
Me - "Yeah, going to see Wovenhand at the Drunken Unicorn. Very excited about that."
Someone else - "Who's that?"
Me - "Oh, it's David Eugene Edwards from 16 Horsepower's new band."
Someone else - "Ummm, never heard of them either."
Me - "Uh yeah, they were awesome. I'm really looking forward to it."
Someone else - "Okey doke then, you have fun with that."
Yeah, it's not easy being a super fan of a very obscure band, but I've gotten used to it. At least it generally means that I don't have to worry about the show selling out and the fact they'll keep playing in places as intimate as the Drunken Unicorn. Not like I'm going crazy over U2 and have to share their show with the thousands of people at Philips Arena. So for the time being, they're all mine and I like it like that.
But just in case there was a chance that the show could've sold out, as there was a fair amount of 16HP fans in town, I went ahead and bought my ticket to the show pretty early on. And the best part was that it cost me nothing. I used the $15 Criminal Records gift card I got for test driving a Scion a few weeks back to pay for it. So thank you Scion for fueling my obsession for this band.
Before the show, I went to the 5 Spot to support Rikki and her art show debut in the Southern Drawl's Spooktacular Halloween Show. She made these freakin' awesome plush dismembered hands to sell at the show. And she made a whole mess of them, including regular hands, Frankenstein hands, a giant hand and even an alien hand. They're pretty reasonable too, starting at only $15 each. So if you're interested, by all means reach out to Rikki, aka Aunt Icky to get your hands (get it?!?) on one of her very cool Morbid Toys. (And so ends my commercial for her new enterprise...)
So hung out at the art show for awhile and then figured it was high time to get over to the Drunken Unicorn because I didn't want to miss a minute of Wovenhand. When I got there, the place was pretty full. It was definitely a bigger audience than I had expected. It wasn't going to sell out at anytime, but I was still glad that I got my ticket early on. And even ended up running into a few folks like Paul, Victoria, Katy, Kat and somehow ended up spending a good portion of the show standing right next to Kenny Crucial. Guess this was the show to be at, who knew?
But when I got there, there was one of the opening band still playing. I think it was Royal Thunder, but not 100% sure. They kind of reminded me a little of Concrete Blonde. But there was a couple of times when they sounded like a female fronted Wolfmother. And had they had more songs like that, I probably would've picked up a CD, but those songs didn't seem to really represent their repertoire.
Then it was finally time for Wovenhand to start and I was quite giddy with anticipation. It's kind of sad how quickly I devolve into fanboy status with these guys. Can't explain it, but that's how it is. Been that way since the 16 Horsepower days and it's carried over to Wovenhand. And just who is this band that makes me squee? Well, the best way to describe them is Dark Folk. It's the quickest and easiest, but doesn't quite encapsulate their sound. But I don't think I could do it much justice, just go to their MySpace page and hear for yourself. You probably still won't feel the same way about it that I do, but not everyone likes the same kind of music. And it seemed very appropriate that they were touring in October too, what with Autumn taking hold and the earth withering away and dying as spirits arise. And apparently, they make me wax poetic as well...
The most exciting thing about the show was that Paschal was playing bass in the band. And the reason being, was that he was the bass player in 16 Horsepower too, so essentially there was 2/3 of that band playing on stage. Could there be a 16HP reunion one day?!?! Ooooo I can only hope! But they didn't play any 16HP songs, but stuck with the Wovenhand stuff. And the majority of the set was off their new CD, which I was waiting to buy at the show. So I really wasn't that familiar with most of what I heard, but I really enjoyed it. It was a really good show and the band was quite intense, but it was hard to see David Eugene most of the time, because he plays guitar sitting down. And he's also not one for banter, so it was pretty much less talk, more rock. Sweet. And after about 1.5 hours, they finally thanked the audience and finished their set. I went back to buy a CD and even picked up a t-shirt because they had a good one in a fat guy size.
Went back to the stage as the guys were breaking down their equipment to say hello and David Eugene actually remembered me! God I'm so gay for them. Talked to him for a bit and then asked Paschal about Lilium, his side band project, and he told me that he's in the process of finishing up a new CD that'll be out early next year. Didn't dare ask either of them about a 16HP reunion, because I didn't want to come across as more of a dork than I already did. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope. Because you just never know. Then I can tell everyone how excited I am about a reunion show for a band they've still never heard of. But I'm used to that.