I always expect to see casualties after a Blind Shake show. After the tsunami of skittering guitars and machine gun precision drumming comes to a halt, it’s like you are coming out of a foxhole to survey the carnage. Even when they have technical difficulty (such as they did on Friday night at the Hexagon where the mics weren’t nearly loud enough) little can distill the force of nature unleashed when the Blind Shake is playing live. What the Hex lacked in mic power that night, the band made up for with sheer strength of will.
I like to think of the BS as a rock band. Their obvious influences draw heavily from punk and psychedelia, but I feel like their attitude and force is tantamount to what Rock should be, and what it generally isn’t anymore. Rock should take chances. It should blow your mind. It should be a little frightening. Rock should push the envelope by definition. The Blind Shake accomplish all of this, and without the traditional Rock stand-by, the bass guitar. They bridge this gap with the manically wicked drumming of Dave Roper, the guitar thrashing of brothers Jim and Mike Blaha, and an attitude that’s all business.
While entranced fans sweated in the Hex’s close confines on Friday, the Blind Shake treated us to some gems off of their recent release Carmel, including “Been Young” and “Midnight Scream.” Though Carmel’s home studio production captures much of the intensity of the live show, there is no parallel for the caustic energy of the real thing. Roper beats his drums like he caught them fondling his sister. The Blaha siblings play as though they are exorcising demons.
No less intense than our hometown heroes, The Cops played one of the opening sets. They are a Garage band out of Seattle that I have been waiting to see live since my head was first rocked by the single “Don’t Take it Personal Dave,” off of their Get Good or Stay Bad EP. The Cops mix an anti-establishment ethos with a hard-edged rock/punk sound. This is exemplified by their up-tempo skittering guitars, and by lead singer Michael Jaworski’s piercing voice, who at times sounds like he got vocal lessons from Joe Strummer. The Cops are touring in support of last year’s release, aptly named “Free Electricity,” and they mostly mined these newer songs to form Friday’s setlist. Much like the Blind Shake, the Cops take their music very seriously. Watching them pound out intense piece after intense piece, I was very impressed by their solid work ethic and lack of distraction. I expect to hear more great things from this band in the near future.
