Coincidentally, just as we’re about to celebrate one year of SA Rocks, two of the first bands I reviewed were playing in town, so I figured Karma...gotta go see ‘em again!
Thursday night I headed out to Club Kristal to see Spoonfed Tribe. I saw these guys at Sam’s back in June of last year and was very impressed with them (the 4th review I ever did). So I was ready for a night of some tripped out tribal jams and was, of course, not disappointed. As I walked into Kristal, Spoonfed Tribe were doing their sound check, so I got to see a little of the preparation they do to get their unique sound with all their many different instruments. I also got to chat with Egg Nebula a little before the show. Very nice guy. Have to say I had a bit of a giggle when he stuck out his hand and said, “Hi, my name is Egg.” That’s just not something you hear very often!
Monkies Doin' It - The Badass Chick Bass PlayerThen the 1st band, Monkies Doin’ It, came on. Egg had told me that they were a sorta reggae band from the coast (Kingsville, actually). Yes, their music is very reggae-based, and it also incorporates quite a bit of jazz, along with some blues, rock, funk, etc. They are an 8-piece band with a singer/trombonist, two guitarists, a kickass female bass player, a guy on baritone sax, a guy on turntables, a drummer and a percussionist. The singer, with an ever-present cigarette in hand, alternated between smoking, singing and jammin’ on the slide trombone. That guy must have lungs of steel! To get a taste of their music, check out the video clips on the Video Page.
Spoonfed TribeNow, Spoonfed Tribe: I tried before to describe this band and failed. They don’t fit into any specific genre that I can come up with. I can say tribal, experimental, funky, psychedelic. You can go listen to their songs on their website or MySpace page. But to truly experience Spoonfed Tribe, you must go to one of their shows. On their website, they say “...imagine a Show that captures all senses, offers a musical style to everyone, glows with a fluorescent fury and creates space to be different and unique all while making you dance like an idiot!” And dance like an idiot I did!
Spoonfed TribeI spent a night once in the campground of the Texas Renaissance Festival. There were impromptu drum sessions going until 4 in the morning, fire dancers out in the field, huge drunk men wandering around dressed as wizards, women in gossamer gowns dancing around campfires, and everything was just a little...surreal. That’s the closest experience I have had that I could compare to a Spoonfed Tribe concert. And I’ll leave it at that. To get a tiny idea of what it’s like, go check out the video clips on the Video Page.
Friday night we went over to Sam’s Burger Joint to see Vallejo and Del Castillo (the first review I ever did). Of course, when we got there we had to grab a Sam’s burger (a must when at Sam’s...I almost ate the whole thing this time!). So, once again, we didn’t really get to check out Vallejo. We caught a glimpse of them and heard a little of their playing as we fought through the HUGE crowd, trying to find a small space in which to stand. All I know is they played “Oye Como Va” and”Low Rider.” At this point we were squeezed into the only open space we could find, back behind the bar where you can’t see the stage at all. Sorry, Vallejo, one day I will catch you where I can actually watch the show!!
During the break between bands, people shuffled around a little and I went to go scope out the possibility of finding a place to stand where we might actually be able to see the stage. I discovered that they had opened a garage-style door opening to the outside area between the burger joint and the bar area and that there were very few people taking advantage of this. So we fought our way back through the crowd and were rewarded with a great view and fresh cool air. Perfect.
Just to reiterate one point here...this place was absolutely packed! This was by far the largest crowd I have seen in San Antonio for a band that is not a “national act” playing at a large arena. I think it’s time for Del Castillo to graduate to the big leagues and start playing at larger venues. True, this show was a CD release for the new “Brotherhood” album, but still, I think it’s time. People LOVE these guys!
Del CastilloAnd for good reason. No offense to Latin bands or Latin music lovers, but I’m generally not a huge fan of Latin music, just for the fact that I don’t know much Spanish and have little to no idea what they’re saying. With Del Castillo, that’s irrelevant. I don’t need to know what they’re saying. You can feel their passion in their music and see it in their demeanor on stage. These guys love what they’re doing, they have a blast doing it, and that is translated to the audience. Plus, their talent is amazing. There is a certain stereotype of the passionate Latino, and their singer is the essence of that, not only in his voice but in his whole performance. You can understand the emotions of the song without needing to understand the actual lyrics. And Rick and Mark Del Castillo are hands-down two of the best guitarists I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. When I describe Del Castillo to people as “flamenco rock” (the best description I can think of), they look at me like I’m nuts. But I stand by that description. Flamenco guitar is my favorite Latin style of music and there is a lot of that style in their playing, and at the same time, excuse my French, but they fucking SHRED!
Del CastilloUnfortunately, I can’t show you an example of this, although we got some awesome videos. Staci balanced up on a chair for probably15-20 minutes and caught some great video footage. Alas, when I caught Rick after the show and asked him if I could put a video clip up, he said, “It’s fine with me, but you have to ask our manager,” and their manager gave me a resounding “NO!!”
Del CastilloSo, I’m very bummed about that (and about the fact that they didn’t perform my favorite Del Castillo song, “Mi Carino,” but what’re you gonna do?). But, if you would like a taste of Del Castillo, there are clips and videos on their website that you can check out. As with Spoonfed Tribe, the best thing to do is really to catch them live. I highly recommend it!
Well, the show was over and it was barely past midnight, so we decided to drop in at my favorite neighborhood bar, BoozeHounds. I knew that Iris was playing there, and I hadn’t seen them yet, so we stopped in there for a bit before heading home. Now, in all truth, by this time I was getting a little buzzed and we probably spent more time talking than actually focusing on the band, but I can give you the main impressions that we got. My first was that this was the most clean-cut rock-n-roll band I’ve ever seen. Not a longhair in the bunch! They did a great job on most of the songs, but I have to be honest (go ahead and start with the hater comments!) and say that there were a couple of songs that we felt were a little out of the singer’s range and maybe he should stick to songs that stay in a lower range and avoid the highs. Other than those couple of songs, though, we very much enjoyed it. They played a good mix of songs, from KISS to System of a Down to Def Leppard to AC/DC. I caught a video of them doing “Black Magic Woman,” so check it out over on the Video Page.
IrisSaturday night I had a little business to discuss with Cesar, the singer of Johnny Drama, so I went up to Charlie Brown’s for a little while. Caught their first set and a little bit of the second. I was very impressed with this band. Cesar has a very good voice and they really work the crowd with the joking around between songs. They also venture quite often outside the usual songs that most cover bands do. Sure they did a few of the cover band staples like “Cumbersome” and “Beverly Hills,” but they also did Everclear’s “Santa Monica,” The Toadies - wait, NOT “Possum Kingdom” but “Tyler”! Fuel’s “Shimmer”...and they got a great response when they did The Hives’ “Hate to Say I Told You So.” They also pulled out some Rage and some Bush upon request. And they did one of my favorite songs that I’ve never seen a band do...”Sex and Candy” by Marcy’s Playground...awesome job on that one! I wish I had been on the ball enough to catch that one on video, but I wasn’t. I did get them doing Radiohead’s “Creep”...check it out on the Video Page. (It’s pretty dark as there was only backlighting from a TV screen behind the band (whose idea was that?!), but the audio is decent.)
Johnny DramaAt this point, I had a little bit of time before I had to get home, but as it had taken me 10 minutes to get my last beer, and I can only judge that the bartendress was drunk off her ass, I decided that by the time I got her to get me another one, it would be too late, and business attended to, I went ahead and left. Seriously, the last beer I got from her, she came and took my order, went to the cooler and got the beer, stopped and chatted with some girls at the bar, looked at the beer in her hand, trying to figure out why it was there...I waved my money until she realized I had probably ordered it, brought it to me, took my money, went to the register and stared at it, trying to figure out what she was supposed to be doing, looked around...I waved a napkin at her...she figured it out, charged me $1.00 less than she was supposed to, stopped to chat again, looked at the change in her hand and tried to figure out where that came from and what she was supposed to do with it...you get the idea. At one point she went in front of the stage and mooned the band.
Johnny DramaAnyway, I’m happy for her that she was having such a good time, but I decided to go ahead and go on home. And thus ended a weekend of awesome music!!