Local Beat recap 5/8/09 and Gray Young at Slim's

Well, what a pleasant surprise!  Corbie and Mike of Battle Rockets stopped by and for a band whose songs feature no lyrics, they had quite a bit to say (full disclosure: their joke, not mine).  They came in at the 5:00 hour and we talked about the show that night (with Gray Young and the Proclivities), their unique method of releasing demos and their brand new, homemade, $5 T-shirts.  As for that show, see below for more.

The demo method is pretty cool, as you'll hear in the clips below.  The band records every practice and saves what sounds good.  Then they burn a few copies of the most recent versions of tracks, date them, and label them--or have guest labelers do it, like our very own DJ Gray Matter.  They then take their demos to shows and sell them for $1.  That's a deal you can't beat.  Check out the interview below.

Gray Young and Battle Rockets 5/8 Part 1

Battle Rockets 5/8 Part 2

 



Gray Young called the studio during the latter part of the Battle Rockets conversation to let us konw that they'd been locked in the stairwell and unable to get in.  So we went and rescued them and brought them in for the second half of the interview.  They dispelled the self-contrived rumours that they're playing with U2 in October.  We discussed both bands' future plans, which include WE Fest.  Check out the interview with the entire cast of characters below.

 
Battle Rockets 5/8 Part 3

Gray Young and Battle Rockets 5/8 Part 4

 

Now, onto the show that night.  

The lineup at Slim's Downtown was this:

Battle Rockets

The Proclivities

Gray Young

Battle Rockets were entertaining and have quite a bit of energy, and it's always fun to watch that level of energy coming from a two-piece.  The Proclivities were--and have been for a little while--sans drummer, so they had D.A.R.Y.L. fill in and rocked out as a two-piece (a very dapper two-piece, might I add).  Although the lack of a real drummer was sort of the elephant in the room (at the risk of using their song lyric), they were obviously having a good time, and so was I.  Matt Douglas was chatting the crowd up as well, as per usual.  Lastly, Gray Young took the stage around midnight.  I must say, I've seen Gray Young several times over the past year or so, and every time I've seen them they've been exponentially tighter (and on this night, louder).  It has been really fun to watch these guys as they play more shows together, and I can't wait to see them again at the May 22 Lemming Malloy CD Release/Neckbeard Records Debut show at Local 506.  That's all for now, be sure to tune in to the Local Beat this week, details to follow in another blog post soon...