THE MORNING AFTER...............

The Detroit Dish

Friday, March 2, 2007

At about 1:15 am, near the end of Porchsleeper's set on Saturday night at the P.L.A.V Post 10, the band did a cover of The Replacements "Can't Hardly Wait", and the song sort of echoed what I am thinking now, "I can't wait for the next Blowout". No, I didn't see any new bands that were life changing and I probably didn't see the band that will be "the next big thing" but to me, that isn't what the Blowout is totally about anyway. Sure I saw some great sets and found new some bands I will totally see again, but to me the Blowout is about the experience of running from venue to venue, hanging out with friends, drinking too many Molsons, seeing bands try and play better shows than they normally would just because it’s the Blowout, and just having fun. Obviously everyone comes to the event because they are supporters of local music, but the experience that is part of the festival is what makes the Blowout different from just a normal night at a show.

Another great thing about the Blowout is the chance to see a bunch of bands you probably would never go see. Sometimes we all get comfortable with the bands we like and will go see the same bands over and over. This is a hard cycle to break because let’s face it, who wants to waste a weekend night paying $7 or $8 on a band you may or may not like when down the street is someone that you are a fan of, if that makes any sense at all. The Blowout lets you try out bands and not feel guilty about not liking them. I will admit, there were a couple of bands that I watched 2 songs and that was enough for me. I also saw other bands that were new to me that I will see again. In a way the Blowout is sort of like those Time-Life series you can order on TV late at night -- keep the ones you like, return the ones you don’t.

It’s possible the Blowout has almost gotten too big. Maybe next year they need to take a few venues off the list because there were some places that bands just aren’t meant for. Less bands would possibly also make for easier decisions on who to see at a given time.

Here some highlights of some things I saw on Friday and Saturday night.

First up on Friday was Freer. I had sort of seen them before, only catching a few songs of their set a couple months ago but I liked what I heard so I wanted to make sure I saw them this time around and they did not disappoint. Freer is a band that needs to seen live. On stage they bring an intensity and passion to their songs that isn’t totally there on their recordings. The best example was the set closing “Secret Chorus” which was one of the best songs I saw performed during the Blowout.

Scarlet Oaks played at Holbrook Café which by the way has the best “art” of any venues. The paintings on the walls are not to be missed. Last year Holbrook wasn’t used a venue, glad that it was back this year. I thought the sound there was really good as well. Anyways I had seen Scarlet Oaks open for someone at the Lager House last month and immediately fell for this band. They are a little bit country, a little Dylan-ish, a little rock. Something about this band makes me want to hang out on the front porch and have a few beers, and yes that is a compliment.

Siddhartha was already onstage when we showed up at the K of C. I’ve heard from a lot of people that really aren’t into these guys for numerous reasons, but I am not one of those people. No they are not re-inventing the wheel but they play a great mix of rock, soul and r&b, but what is great about them is their high energy live show. This band delivers onstage. Maybe sometimes people aren’t used to seeing a band actually move onstage and Siddhartha is in constant motion the whole show. How can you not get into a band where the lead singer is running around on stage and in the crowd banging on a baking pan?

The next band I attempted to see was The Hadituptoheres but that didn’t work out. I attempted to take the trolley from K of C to Paychecks. The logical route I guessed the trolley would take didn’t happen. I ended up getting the “tour of Hamtramck” which took about 20-25 minutes. By the time I got into Paychecks the band was of course finished. I ran into some people who did say the band put on “the best show of the Blowout”, this made me even more pissed. The lessoned learned is, I guess ask the order the trolley stops before getting on.

Next up was the band I was most excited to see during the Blowout, The HiFi Handgrenades. I think the band had played only 1 show before Friday but you would never know by seeing them play. It seemed that the band had been playing together for years. The band is made up of John Speck (The Fags, Hoarse, Skeemin NoGoods), Tony Vegas (Grande Nationals, Hey Sailor), Robby Graham (Hoarse) and Ryan Vanderberghe (Suicide Machines, Left in Ruin). These guys cranked it out from start to finish almost going right from song to song. They were definitely one of the loudest bands I had ever seen play at Small’s. Their sound is more or less punk but it’s mixed with great melodies that Speck has always been known for in his previous bands. One thing that impressed me about the band was the playing and backup vocals by Tony Vegas. I had seen the Grande Nationals before and really didn’t notice his playing all that much, but on Friday night he played some great guitar solos and his vocals were really solid. Who knew?

On Saturday I saw a band called Dutch Pink which apparently has been around while but I had never heard of or seen them before, I randomly choose to go to the Belmont on Saturday. I am glad I did pick this show because these guys were a nice surprise. Lead singer/guitar player Dustin Leslie looks like Johnny Depp circa Benny and Joon and sounds like Tom Waits. They blended many different musical styles and I never knew what was coming next. At one point I’m pretty sure a “no parking” sign was being played. Check these guys out if you are looking for something unique and want to see a good show.

As I was leaving the Belmont I walked by Record Graveyard and saw through the window that Tim Vulgar was playing. I caught some of his show once already on Thursday and was into it so I stopped in to see what was going on. At 1st he just played solo then his band, consisting of a bass player and drummer, joined him onstage. I don’t know what it was but I totally loved it. I can’t describe their sound accurately but it was a mix of punk and noise but there was actually a lot of melody to these songs that I was really into. I have seen Human Eye and Clone Defects in the past and they really aren’t my thing , so I was surprised how much I like this. Tim Vulgar was for me my “surprise band” this year. Someone let me know when he is playing again.

At the K of C Hall Johnny Headband were entertaining and fun as usual. You can always expect a good show out of these guys plus this time they threw in a cover of Pet Shop Boys “West End Girls”.

It was now time to pick a band for the last show of the Blowout and I went with Porchsleeper who played at the P.L.A.V Post 10. Now this is new venue for this year’s Blowout and it’s been getting pretty bad reviews for the most part. However I didn’t find it as terrible as most and something about it seemed like the right place to end Blowout '07, but it was definitely not the greatest place. The bar sort of needed to be seen to be believed, but it was pretty much an old, drafty hall with pictures of FDR and old Polish generals on the walls. The “stage” had 1 florescent light above (check out the MCR Flickr page to see said light) it and looked so low budget. Anyways enough about the bar, more on Porchsleeper . These guys have long been one of my favorite local bands. They play a mix of boozy alt-country and loud 70’s rock and their shows are always a blast and this time was no different. It was a perfect way to end the Blowout for me

As mentioned in an earlier post, check out the MCR Flickr page for pics from all 4 days of the Blowout.

Thanks to everyone at the Metro Times and their volunteers for putting this event together and for always being cool to MCR. Thanks to all the bar owners for letting the Blowout take place in your establishments. Most of all thanks to all the bands and musicians for entertaining and inspiring us over the 4 days of the Blowout and all year long. Personally I’d like to a give a“shout out” to my Blowout crew this year. Jasper and the Webvomit gang, Ron, Liz, Bruce, Damore, Gorilla, Jackie, Jeff, Grizz, J Rad, Jacquie, and Loftus who I think I ran into at 80% of the shows I saw, and everyone else I ran into this year. Hanging out and running into all your friends in the streets of Hamtramck is for me what truly makes the Blowout.

Here are a couple other takes on the past weekend. New Grenada weighs in with their Blowout experience on their Myspace blog.Over on Ben Blackwell's blog he gives his thoughts on the Blowout Launch party.

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