hi everyone. last night i had the pleasure of seeing shellac in the most powerful city in the world. i was worried it would sell out so i went down early to get a ticket, then went back home to shower and get into my “show” clothes. i also had a couple of drinks.

i drive down and majestically find a parking spot right in front of the club. at this point i realize, i probably didn’t need to come early to get a ticket. once inside i realize it was nowhere close to selling out.

the show went very well for the most part. i took notes and here’s what i wrote:

1) the drummer is completely fantastic in a keith moon meets ringo starr kind of way. throw in a dash of the drummer of urge overkill. excellent chops!

2) sound wise: suprisingly not very loud. steve albini’s guitar tone was rather odd. i liked it, but for where they are at as a band, i don’t know if it’s very condusive to taking it to the next level. i guess if i had to compare a band’s tone that is where shellac is heading, popularity wise, is the foo fighters. if they can get more of a foo type guitar sound, the future is bright for shellac.

3) another thing they can take from don grohl is the showmanship chops. shellac did very little to get the crowd behind them last night. there was an occasional between song thing of asking the crowd questions but rock crowds need to be rallied DURING the songs, not in between them. they did do this weird acting like a bird thing and then catching cymbals but it seemed very orchestrated. that was great but it kind of broke the hidden rule in showmanship: never let them know you rehearsed it.

all in all, pretty good show and interesting night.

waltermalling wrote:2) sound wise: suprisingly not very loud.

Where were you, downstairs?

waltermalling wrote:i guess if i had to compare a band’s tone that is where shellac is heading, popularity wise, is the foo fighters. if they can get more of a foo type guitar sound, the future is bright for shellac.

Yr kidding, right? Shellac will never be popular.

hi irony. i wasn’t downstairs. suprisingly, because i could’ve played their world series of poker pinball machine all night long (russ, are you familiar with this game?). i was standing near the sound booth thing for the whole night and it wasn’t very loud. very, very easy to talk over them as most people around me were doing so.

waltermalling wrote:hi everyone. last night i had the pleasure of seeing shellac in the most powerful city in the world. i was worried it would sell out so i went down early to get a ticket, then went back home to shower and get into my “show” clothes. i also had a couple of drinks.

i drive down and majestically find a parking spot right in front of the club. at this point i realize, i probably didn’t need to come early to get a ticket. once inside i realize it was nowhere close to selling out.

the show went very well for the most part. i took notes and here’s what i wrote:

1) the drummer is completely fantastic in a keith moon meets ringo starr kind of way. throw in a dash of the drummer of urge overkill. excellent chops!

2) sound wise: suprisingly not very loud. steve albini’s guitar tone was rather odd. i liked it, but for where they are at as a band, i don’t know if it’s very condusive to taking it to the next level. i guess if i had to compare a band’s tone that is where shellac is heading, popularity wise, is the foo fighters. if they can get more of a foo type guitar sound, the future is bright for shellac.

3) another thing they can take from don grohl is the showmanship chops. shellac did very little to get the crowd behind them last night. there was an occasional between song thing of asking the crowd questions but rock crowds need to be rallied DURING the songs, not in between them. they did do this weird acting like a bird thing and then catching cymbals but it seemed very orchestrated. that was great but it kind of broke the hidden rule in showmanship: never let them know you rehearsed it.

all in all, pretty good show and interesting night.

You criticize Shellac for what makes me love them. You are kidding, right?
At least you had fun.

hi sylvain. i’m not critiscizing at all. just my music lover obserations.

waltermalling wrote:hi sylvain. i’m not critiscizing at all. just my music lover obserations.

I was just surprised by these observations from someone who belongs to this forum but, hey, it's your point of view. Thanks for sharing.

Sly Bug wrote:

waltermalling wrote:hi sylvain. i’m not critiscizing at all. just my music lover obserations.

I was just surprised by these observations from someone who belongs to this forum but, hey, it's your point of view. Thanks for sharing.

You should continue not to be surprised, because this is waltermalling.

Walter, I see your point now - back by the sound booth, where I was also standing, the show was not quite deafening enough not to be able to hear other people (unfortunately). I do think it was plenty loud enough though.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I, regardless. And yeah, that pinball machine is pretty dope.

how ironic, we were probably standing next to each other the whole night! i was at rancid the week before and i believe they were much fuller/louder than shellac was. not an indictment, just an observation.

I needed the pick-me-up this thread provided this morning. Good to hear from you, walter!