Backseat Sandbar

If you are from Louisville, you know Wax Fang.  Soon, everyone will know them.  In full costume, they covered Prince’s Purple Rain in its entirety and proved more entertaining than the fireworks show itself.  But, let’s start from the start because it was a long day.

After waking up at 8am to wait in line at ear x-tacy for Record Store Day and a full day of vinyl hunting, I headed downtown to “Go Crazy at Thunder” at The Louisville Ballet Center.  I forgot to “dress to impress” and wore jeans, but oh well.  Louisville’s The Pass started playing as soon as I arrived and I was excited because I was told I would hear some new tracks from their upcoming debut LP release.  One of those tracks, “Criminal” is some of the best stuff I’ve heard them play and it just so happened that I got it all on video (check it out below).  Their EP has been getting a lot of buzz and our friends at Pretty Much Amazing called their song “Crosswalk Stereo” one of the best so far in 2010 (edging out The National’s “Bloodbuzz Ohio” by a couple spots).  You can download “Crosswalk Stereo” at the link above.  Needless to say we are big fans, and you should check’em out ASAP.

After a few beverages and a helping of the buffet for a base, I got to see Lexington’s Chico Fellini for the first time.  I wont go into it, but I had wanted to see them at the Pour Haus a while back and didn’t because of a sound problem.  Well, they were worth the wait.  They provided the crowd with a stylish blend of high intensity lounge rock.  It was dramatic and over-the-top, but not in a way that it lost its appeal.  A nice surprise and a great way to set up the fireworks show.

Fireworks.  You probably saw them.

Okay.  What happened next will be hard to put in words.  My focus was on Wax Fang’s staple theremin, front and center on stage, then the band walked out in full garb.  Wigs, frills, glam, gloves,  and fake mustache (wait I think that was real).  The highlights had to be “Take Me With U” (video below), “Computer Blue” (video below), “When Doves Cry” and, of course, a smashing finale with “Purple Rain.”  Everything was spot on and I don’t mean just the tunes and the vocals.  Scott Carney embodied Prince’s personality and flamboyance.  It was truly a spectacle.  You hear people talk around town about the talent of Wax Fang as musicians, but I don’t think I truly understood how good they were until Saturday.  So I liked the show, if you couldn’t guess.

[NOTE: IF YOU MISSED IT, THERE WILL BE AN ENCORE AT THE ZANZABAR NEXT WEEK TONIGHT (4/20)!!!  JUST $7.  DOORS AT 8.  MUSIC AT 9:30.   I'LL BE THERE FOR TAKE TWO!!!]

[UPDATE:  According to Facebook, "Wax Fang : Oh, snap! Prince lost his voice. Purple Rain at Z BAR to be rescheduled for sometime next week. Stay tuned. Spread the word."  Kinda reminds me of Wax Fang's free Nachbar show back in September that was canceled for the same reason.  I guess I can wait until next week, but I hope it isn't on Wednesday because Beach House is playing in Nashville.]

[UPDATE: The show will be on Tuesday, April 27, 2010.  See you there!]

Bigger than the show is the realization that Wax Fang will be the next big band to come out of Louisville and we will be happy to call them ours.  They recently signed with Absolutely Kosher Records out in California and in May they are going to re-release La La Land digitally, on CD and for the first time ON VINLY!!!  On top of that, they were hand selected to play Pavement’s All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK (also in May).  I see them riding this wave right on to everyone’s iPod (and record player).  I can’t think of another band more deserving of the success.

More pics and video below the break….

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Drag City has released a taste of Bonny Billy’s new album with The Picket Line.  It is one of my favorite songs off of I See a Darkness, “Death to Everyone.”  They played it in Lexington at the Old Tarr Distillery (now Buster’s) and it may have been the highlight of the show.  It is a spiced up version of the original and, if you haven’t heard it, I think you’ll like it.  Unfortunately, it won’t be on the actual release.  It was recorded for it, but didn’t make the final cut.  Not sure why.  Here is a list of the songs that will be on the album:

Funtime Comedown:

01 Ohio River Boat Song
02 May It Always Be
03 Hemlocks and Primroses
04 The Glory Goes / Wolf Among Wolves
05 We All Us Three Will Ride
06 Easy Does It
07 Lay and Love
08 Rider
09 Rambling Fever
10 You Want That Picture
11 Idle Hands Are the Devil’s Playthings

Bonny Billy w/ The Picket Line- Death to Everyone

More details…

Bonnie “Prince” Billy has announced a new live LP (with digital download) through Drag City with The Picket Line called Funtown Comedown.  I could not be more excited for this album.  The album comes out November 17th December 15th, but you can PRE-ORDER HERE. (Thanks to Dan Lubbers for the heads-up.)

From Drag City:

LIVE (in the studio) is the Bonny one with next-generation bluegrass band known as The Picket Line. They’re the official dance band of Funtown, a metaphysical little community in the woods outside Louisville. Bonny and the boys (and girl) run through a set of BPB classics, some Palace songs and a few classic country covers. VINYL ONLY! (And download exclusively on the new-and-retro-improved www.dragcity.com!)

Abut the pressing…

Vinyl LP pressing. 2009 intimate live recording by Will Oldham (AKA Bonnie Prince Billy) and young Bluegrass band The Picket Line. In the wilds of greater outer Louisville Kentucky, there is a place called Funtown. You won’t find it on any map, and you might just lose yourself in the woods out there trying to pin it down to the ground as well. Yet, Funtown is a place, as much as it is a place of mind. It was in this place, in a clearing and on the shores of a pond, that Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy and The Picket Line combined forces to play his music and their music and other people’s music for a community of people to hear and watch and swing and step to. Live in front of friends and family is the way of Funtown. It was as fun as it sounds and more, in ways which have mostly been channeled down to the two sides of a groove and presented to you here, wrapped twice in full-color sleeves.

PRE-ORDER HERE

Here is a video of Bonny Billy and The Picket Line playing the “Ohio River Boat Song” at the Old Tarr Distillery:

Bonnie “Prince” Billy has announced a new live LP (with digital download) through Drag City with The Picket Line called Funtown Comedown.  I could not be more excited for this album.  The album comes out November 17th December 15th, but you can PRE-ORDER HERE. (Thanks to Dan Lubbers for the heads-up.)

From Drag City:

LIVE (in the studio) is the Bonny one with next-generation bluegrass band known as The Picket Line. They’re the official dance band of Funtown, a metaphysical little community in the woods outside Louisville. Bonny and the boys (and girl) run through a set of BPB classics, some Palace songs and a few classic country covers. VINYL ONLY! (And download exclusively on the new-and-retro-improved www.dragcity.com!)

Abut the pressing…

Vinyl LP pressing. 2009 intimate live recording by Will Oldham (AKA Bonnie Prince Billy) and young Bluegrass band The Picket Line. In the wilds of greater outer Louisville Kentucky, there is a place called Funtown. You won’t find it on any map, and you might just lose yourself in the woods out there trying to pin it down to the ground as well. Yet, Funtown is a place, as much as it is a place of mind. It was in this place, in a clearing and on the shores of a pond, that Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy and The Picket Line combined forces to play his music and their music and other people’s music for a community of people to hear and watch and swing and step to. Live in front of friends and family is the way of Funtown. It was as fun as it sounds and more, in ways which have mostly been channeled down to the two sides of a groove and presented to you here, wrapped twice in full-color sleeves.

PRE-ORDER HERE

Read our BPB & The Picketline Funtown show review HERE

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy surfaced again last night in Lexington, Kentucky at the Old Tarr Distillery for a Save the Hemlocks Benefit.  I was one of the lucky 300 who got to see Oldham at Funtown back in July, and it was a no brainer to make the short trip to Lex and see this performance.

Bonnie Billy and Thomas A. Minor and the Picket Line took the stage after The Englishmen and The Swells, but immediately ran into sound problems.  There were a few kinks in the sound for the other bands, but when Oldham and Co. took the stage, all the mics were off and the lights were out.  After a pretty long delay, a few of the stage lights were illuminated, but the sound was still on the fritz.  The show went on, however, and Oldham sang the first three songs without a mic.  He opened with “Easy Does It,” a song he would later play again when the sound problem was fixed (or at least improved).  After a few shots at people from Lexington (largely directed at the sound guys), a couple mics were restored and the band shared them the best they could.  At one point Oldham was doing push-ups while singing into a mic set on the floor next to a guitar amp.

Despite this setback, it is hard to say anything negative about the show.  Oldham focused the Funtown show almost entirely on his new album, Lie Down in the Light, but at this show, he pulled from deep in his discography, including “Ohio River Boat Song” (see video below) and “Death to Everyone.”  He also played a Sam Cooke cover, “A Change is Gonna Come,” commenting that Obama quoted the song in his acceptance sppech (you can also see this video below the break). After a pretty long set (including down time for technical difficulties), the guys took a short break and came back for a three song encore, finishing with “Lie Down in the Light.”  No one left dissappointed and was warmed by thier Bonnie Billy experience, at least until we exited in droves into the below freezing winter night.

Oldham’s next stop is in Brazil, then on to Italy.  Our next chance to see him will be on March 12, 2009 in Bloomington, Indiana at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre.  He is set to release another album, Beware, five days after this show, so perhaps we will be able to hear some of his new stuff.

For information about how to help save Kentucky’s Hemlocks, click the image below…

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy- Ohio River Boat Song

For video & tons of photos, (more…)