Ska weekend memoriez with LTJ and RBF

Aw yeah, you know I went to Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish at the Wilma on Saturday, and you know I skanked it up real good and proper-like. I crack a lot of jokes but whatever, there’s a reason RBF is still selling out venues after all this time—they put on a good show, they mix up their setlist but always include the favorites, and Hawaiian shirts will never go out of style.

Here’s some pictures of RBF taken by Kyle “Potted Meat Product” Kulseth. Would’ve snapped some of Less Than Jake but they played last and by that point we were too busy picking it up. “Johnny Quest” will be stuck in my head forever.

side note: had the realization that Reel Big Fish songs are still just about the most perfect lyrics when it comes to describing my personal life, which would be a tad bleak except that there’s horns! nothing can ever be bleak with a horn section. I should get one to follow me around at the bars.

P.S. the Joey Running Crane and the Dirty Birds residency continues at the VFW this Thursday! With special guests from outta town and metal covers. Woo.

SKA 4 LYFE

Reel Big Fish is tonight at the Wilma! Or there’s Reverent Horton Heat and Nekromantix at the Top Hat. I have made my (ska) bed and will lie in it. Or skank in it, rather.

To that end, I direct you to Dan Brooks’ most excellent words on the matter of third wave ska:

“Ska is what would happen to punk rock if punks actually were rejected by society. It is insular, silly about stuff that should be serious, and serious about what is undeniably silly. It is the Scientology of music: a baffling cult that people keep signing up for and having a great time.” Go read the rest.

Party on, kids, and no matter what end you choose, I hope to see you for the inevitable afterparty at the Rose.

-Kate

missoulapunknews (at gmail dot com)

Teenage Bottlerocket and Dropkick Murphys are at the Wilma next week!

So Dropkick Murphys are already sold out, according to the Wilma site, but I’m willing to bet if you showed up outside the box office at 6 p.m. Tuesday you could get a ticket.

I toyed with the idea of going but remembered it’s the election that night, and work duties will have me elsewhere. So go dance yer lil hearts out! I saw Teenage Bottlerocket at Fest last Friday night and wrote some words about it for the Independent:

“How long can Teenage Bottlerocket keep playing three-chord verse-chorus-verse pop-punk year in and year out? Then again, how long can I keep seeing the band and buying its albums, year in and year out?”

So you should check that out and stuff.

I don’t think anything’s going on tonight, but Friday night there’s a punk show at the Palace. Looky at the show calendar for more.

Reel Big Fish rule.

Hey guys. Guess who threw all sense to the wind and went to Reel Big Fish at the Wilma last night?

That’s right.

And it was SKAWESOME!!!! Beer was drank, kids did skank, I got clocked in the nose and might’ve punched a dude in the throat by accident, all ended marvelously. And it ended by 10 p.m., which allowed me to cavort afterwards and still get to bed reasonably and wake at the luxurious hour of 4:20 a.m. to get on a plane.

So I’m hanging out in the Gainesville airport right now, waiting for the esteemed Grant Geiger to arrive on his flight (we coordinated this trip badly). On the downside, the airport bar has already closed. On the plus side, me and Grant are making Fest buddies in our respective airports, which bodes well for the rest of the trip.

Tomorrow, MOTHERLOVING FEST BEGINS.

If you are in Missoula, you oughta go to the Zoo City Apparel show tonight. The Eeries are real good. I wrote about ’em for the Indy: “The Philadelphia trio’s latest, Home Alone, was recorded at a band member’s dad’s house in February, according to the Bandcamp page, and released as an LP on independent-punk-powerhouse Evil Weevil Records and a cassette on Burger Records… Home Alone delivers nothing but two-minute sweet treats with no fibrous filler to get in the way.”

Click here to read more about the Eeries.

Our own Spencer and a Chicago band called Makosica are also on the bill with King Elephant.

have a SKActober guys!!

‘Kay, maybe that was one of the more forced ‘ska’ portmanteaus. Anyway, tonight Shramana, Modality and a SKA BAND!! from Billings called Farely Moore are playing the Badlander for FREE at 9 p.m. or so. 21+. (By the way, this is the weirdest goddamn line-up ever and I’m intrigued to see who comes out tonight.)

And then Wednesday, Reel Big Fish are playing zee Wilma. Tickets are like $20 and RBF are fun as shit. You should go. I saw them in Portland last year and what I recall of it was distinctly awesome. Trying to recover from a hangover in a hostel the next morning was not so awesome.

Anyway, your faithful editor would really like to go to RBF but has to be up at 4:30 to get on a plane the next day. Because I’m going to Fest in Gainesville. I know. Life is hard. But think of how much money you saved by not flying to Florida, and go spend $20 partying for Reel Big Fish. K? K.

Kisses,

Kate

Review: Motion City Soundtrack at the Wilma, 10-19-12

Designated Motion City Soundtrack Fan Grant– click here to read his review of MCS’s latest album— brings us this report:

The last time I saw Motion City Soundtrack was in Bozeman, during Warped Tour 2005. They got about two and half songs in before the PA broke, ending their set. When I heard they were coming to Missoula, I was pretty stoked that I’d finally get to see a complete set by one of my favorite bands.

Before the show, we had a little pregame session because having to pay $4 plus tip for a tallboy of Pabst is a crime. Adding the fact that bands opening for MCS aren’t probably bands I’d be totally into, then drinking beers was a great way to start the evening. While trying to down as many beers as I could while my stomach was full of veggie burger and fries, I missed the first band called Now, Now. I ran into some Great Falls friends who all seemed to enjoy the band. I did like Now, Now’s cat shirt they had for sale that said “Meow, Meow” though. Maybe next time?

The next band was Jukebox the Ghost, and within two songs I wished I’d kept on drinking cheap beer. This band was horrible, a guitar, drum and piano combo lamer than any 15-year-old’s high school band and it did not sit well with me so I just hung out in the lobby drinking overpriced beers. By the time I heard their dreadful cover of “I Just Wanna Dance With Somebody” I realized that I had made a great choice. After the dreaded music that came before, I was even more amped up to see MCS.

It was interesting to see the crowd makeup that night. I haven’t gone to many Wilma shows, but this was pretty small for a venue of its size. Besides parents with their kids in attendance, I think I was one of the handful of folks over the age of 21 there. It was all right though, because dammit, I felt like I was 16 with all the excitement building up. Finally, the lights went dim and the band came out on stage. They opened with “Worker Bee” and then right into one of my favorite songs, “My Favorite Accident.”

One thing that has always bothered me about MCS records is that the synth is always drowned within the recordings, but in the live setting it really stood out. MCS played a varied set that covered songs from almost all of their albums, while avoiding some of their cheesier songs. The only real stumble in the set was a cover song (I believe it was a Ben Folds’ song) that was just really awkward and kind of dumb. Throughout the entire set, frontman Justin Pierre was super humble and encouraged the audience to take pictures and video. He even asked the staff it was okay to do so. The band sounded super tight and they even changed my mind about some of the songs off of their new album, Go.

Overall, this was an awesome show that showcased a band that, while having some great successes over their carer, still come off as humble and kind as any band just getting their start. All though his voice was completely shot after singing, Pierre and his bandmates hung out after the show to meet with fans instead of retreating to the bus or green room. It’s a little gesture, but my respect for MCS is even higher than it was before. Although my throat is a little scratchy from pouring my lungs out singing along with the band, I don’t think I’ve left a bigger show like this one with a euphoric feeling of complete happiness and glee. I hope Pierre and crew plan on coming back soon because I could definitely get used to more Friday nights like these.

-Grant Geiger

Review: Motion City Soundtrack’s new album Go

LOOKIT!! The esteemed Grant brings us this review of Motion City Soundtrack’s new album Go:

As I write this review, I keep thinking back to all the times a Motion City Soundtrack record has been, if you will, a soundtrack to my life.

I was first introduced to this band junior year of high school by my girlfriend at the time who showed me the perfect makeout soundtrack, I Am The Movie. The band’s ability to be playful in songs (“The Future Freaks Me Out”) but also the ability craft a powerful, depressing song (“My Favorite Accident”) with tons of energy really drew me in. Their second outing, Commit This to Memory, is one of my favorite records, with themes of being able to smile through the depressing shit that guitar player/singer Justin Pierre was going through at the time. It really created an album of pure beauty. After that came a little stumble (Even If It Kills Me) and a solid major label debut (My Dinosaur Life) but now back at their home turf of Epitaph Records, Go shows a more mature, focused Motion City Soundtrack.

Motion City is one of the very few bands that have been able to ride the downturn of pop punk in the mainstream but I believe their reason for this success is that they don’t try to kid themselves and try to be a band they really aren’t. The songs on Go are ones you can tell they wanted to make and they did. While some of the “L.G. Faud”-esq playfulness might be absent a bit, the bands’ more mature route really shines in songs like “Timelines” and “The Worst is Yet to Come.” Overall, MCS has crafted an album that’s honest and they aren’t ashamed about it in the slightest.

With their return to the indie label (if you can call Epitaph that), Go has the feeling of a band being able to breathe, without trying to create that next Billboard-shattering-top-radio-40-better-make-the-label’s-money-back-pressure that I’m sure many bands feel when trying to craft a major label record release. While the album does induce some cringe-worthy lyrics (“Son of a Gun”) the band still presents a record that is catchy, experimental, and melodic while being straight-up honest to themselves. Motion City are back on their stride from My Dinosaur Life and with Go have now have put them back into a position where I am excited to see where they go next.

-Grant Geiger

If you’d like to review something for MPN–movies, music, we ain’t picky– missoulapunknews@gmail.com.