Tropical Heatwave: New World and Orpheum
May 17th, 2009 by btreotch in Heatwave, Local Music, Reviews
The early evening monsoon that struck Saturday had the bands at New World Brewery running late. No worries, the music never really stopped, and though the rains would let up, the crowd would not. Packed in on the porch, those in attendance witnessed some of the best central Florida music.
The first set I caught was by the so-called “folk experimental” threesome of Lauris Vidal. The instruments may have been experimental and folk based — Vidal played everything from a homemade, wooden slide guitar to an electric banjo — but these guys are a crisp, blues-rock band. What sets them apart, though, is their use of dub & reggae influences to create a more syncopated sound.
Roppongi’s Ace rocked the mustaches off faces with their style of southern rock. I missed Ted Lukas and the Misled for some Cuban Club acts, but got back to catch the start of Will Quinlan and the Diviners’ set. These guys — simply put — are good shit. GreyMarket changed the pace, breaking out a light show & laptops to turn in a quite excellent guitar & drum driven electro rock set. (Pictured: GreyMarket guitarist Cave McCoy; photo by Phil Bardi, no glow added.)
The Sheiks played a solid, but ultimately unmemorable post-rock set giving way to a surprise late-night show featuring Johnny Cakes and the Four Horsemen of the Apacolypso. They opened up Heatwave at the Ballroom stage — I’m not sure how that set went over, but 1:30 a.m. at a still raging New World felt like a better time slot for the high-energy — and highly dirty — ska band.
Though the Orpheum offered complete cover from the rains, the club never got as packed — or spirited — as the rest of the Heatwave venues. I dipped in and out to catch a few acts, including seeing L.A.-based Sandbloom turn down the request of stage personnel to end his set so he could play his acoustic guitar, looped-based (a la Keller Williams) mash-up of an original song versus a Stevie Wonder cover.
It was interestingly mediocre. The Athens, Ga. foursome Modern Skirts played a tight, modern rock set that was — as modern rock can be — pretty boring. The gem of the night turned out to be fellow Athens artist The Visitations, who played a weird and fresh set to close of the night using guitars, good lyrics, laptops and accordions. Check them out.
To hear from the all the bands at Heatwave visit WMNF’s Heatwave page: http://www.wmnf.org/heatwave/bands
May 17th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
For the most part this post provides a very light, once-over of all the bands that performed at New World and a few from Orpheum. You pretty much give a vague description of the bands’ sound without much qualification. So why did you decide to give The Sheaks (not “The Sheiks”) such a negative connotation. “Unmemorable post-rock”? I think that’s pretty unfair given the fact that not many folks in the bay area have even seen The Sheaks yet. If you’re going to go out of your way to describe a band’s set as unmemorable you should really explain why or at least accurately describe what the band sounds like. That is, if your ulitmate goal is responsible rock journalism.
May 17th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
“So why did you decide to give The Sheaks (not “The Sheiks”) such a negative connotation. “Unmemorable post-rock”?”
Sorry for the misspelling. I don’t think it’s all that negative, as I said, they played a solid set. I don’t think it stood out in any manner, especially compared to the previous bands.
“If you’re going to go out of your way to describe a band’s set as unmemorable you should really explain why or at least accurately describe what the band sounds like.”
I suppose you’re under the impression that people who read the review are never going to give The Sheaks a chance to decide if they’ll dig them? I sure hope not. They whole point of the set being ‘unmemorable’ explains why I wouldn’t go into detail about the music. Obviously my goal wasn’t to write a 100 words on each set, or parts that I saw.
“That is, if your ulitmate goal is responsible rock journalism.” meh.. this is just a music blog after all.
Sorry to hurt your feelings. I’ll try and catch them again
May 17th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
You really want him to explain what he thought was not memorable about the band.
Perhaps you don’t really get the idea of unmemorable.
Adj. 1. unmemorable – not worth remembering
May 17th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
First of all, I would like to thank the author of this blog for responding to my comment. And no, my feeling weren’t hurt- I was merely trying to understand why you characterized The Sheaks the way you did.
I was really hoping for some sort of explanation, though. Which, by all means, is in no way the author’s responsibility to do (like I said I’m grateful for any response at all), but it would be fitting given that this person is a music writer for the area’s third largest newspaper. And I probably wouldn’t even mention that last bit unless I thought the author wasn’t really listening too closely to music (perhaps they were chatting with some friends at the bar or something). Which begs the question: was The Sheaks’ Tropical Heatwave performance “unmemorable” or “not remembered”?
Although, I didn’t mention it in my first comment- I felt the label “post-rock” was ill fitting for such a band. Don’t get me wrong- I’m a huge fan of post-rock music- it’s just that placing The Sheaks in the same category as Tortoise, Godspeed, Mono and Explosions in the Sky is just plain incorrect and misleading to your readers.
If I am way off the mark here, I apologize- I’m not trying to be vindictive, I’m just trying to get to the truth of the matter and to defend a local band that I feel is quite memorable and well worth checking out.
May 17th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
anon – i was mixing chatting and listening is disproportionate amounts.. i’m not going to get into a big semantical argument of rock subgenres, but I think post rock is bigger than just instrumental/experimental bands. I could have said indie, but I thought The Sheaks had more balls than a typical indie band and I don’t think they play straight up rock either. Could I describe their sound better? Sure. Obv words and labels do little to describe sound, but that’s what we use.
You’re in the band right? Send me an email: BTreotch@gmail.com
May 18th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Heya! My name’s Matt and I’m one of the guitar players in the Sheaks… It’s funny…I was all jazzed up hoping to stroke my fragile nerdling ego with at least some validating mention of our show when I stumbled onto this…but this is almost better somehow… Honestly btreotch, I’m with you…I think the Sheiks were trash…absolute garbage…I wanted to gouge my eyes out with broken glass and pour hot corn syrup into the gaping holes from whence they were untimely ripped… BUT…then the Sheaks came on and things weren’t so bad after all… ;p
Oh well, it’s all good…there were tons of great bands that night, and I don’t think I’m exercising my inner Liam Gallagher too much in saying I think we rocked it too and gave 150%…I was really proud to be up there with those guys and felt like we really bled it out…BUT…I understand it’s all a matter of taste, so I don’t take it personally… Do come see us again some time though and I will make it worth your while…in fact, I will swallow a live raccoon onstage if you do…ok that’s a lie…I probably won’t, but come see us anyway…
P.S.–Who is anonymous? Is this Mike? Email me at jimvictory@hotmail.com if you are not who I think you are. And for the love of Shatner, if you are a sexy indie rock girl, then stop writing this crap and come love this fat man damn you!!!!
May 18th, 2009 at 12:46 am
While I’m not the type to quibble about sub genres either, The Sheaks simply aren’t post rock. If you wikipedia the term “post rock” you will find many bands listed- as you stated- that are not just instrumental/experimental bands, however there is a certain connotation that is implied. The “balls” of The Sheaks is far more punk or garage rock based. I’m not really sure if there’s any argument there.
And sure, we all know that words can’t describe exactly how music makes us feel, it’s more or less a rock critics job to do so. Otherwise, what’s the point or writing for this blog at all.
Besides, the point that I was making was not one of semantics, but of appropriate and responsible critical writing. Especially when it comes to relatively new bands that the general public has not been able to form their own opinion on. In cases such as these it is especially imperative that a writer to be as fair and open as possible. Let’s use an example…
Say that I’m someone whose opinion you hold in high respect and I start slandering someone else. Now this person, just like all people, has strengths and faults, but because of my words you have a pre-judgment of who they are. Now lets also suppose that I met this person in brief passing, but made my assessments based on questionable evidence. Is it fair to that third party that I’m slandering them? Or should you be allowed to make your own judgment?
If someone had never heard The Sheaks before they read your blog would be able to ascertain a few things- 1) they’re solid (ie. well rehearsed), 2) they’re unmemorable (ie. not worth your time) and 3) they’re post rock (ie. they are experimental band and take a non-traditional approach to rock music). Aside from the first descriptor, this is a complete mis-characterization. That’s my point. Whether it’s with a few words, a blog or cover article it’s important that we describe things as they are. What’s the point of journalism or any form of communication if it’s mis-leading and/or untrue?
I know it was not your intention to due so, but in this case I think you did.
May 18th, 2009 at 3:41 am
I actually thought we are pre-post-post-pre rock…or is it post-pre-post-pre rock? I can never remember…
May 18th, 2009 at 10:29 am
roppongi’s ace rocked my face off. if i had a mustache, it would have caught on fire.
in fact, their rock made me grow a stache over night.
May 18th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I want to see Matt swallow that raccoon!
May 18th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Yeah…Roppongi’s Ace rocked it…their set was seriously one of my favorite parts of the day… Great songs and tremendous voice on their singer… They rocked so hard Rollie Fingers and Harry Reams were immediately placed in FBI protection… Rocked so hard I forged a ’stache from gorilla glue and the pubes of a nearby homeless guy…and it melted on impact… In fact, they rocked so hard I suddenly grew a uterus, gave birth to Tom Selleck, and HIS ’stache melted on impact too! You get the point…but yeah, they seriously did rock it…
May 18th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
haha! awesome.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
I agree with the raccoon swallower.
May 18th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Autonomous (misspelling), get a blog or get a life.
May 18th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
I apologize to all for my bout of mental masturbation surrounding a relatively small point. It did bother me, but I’d like to apologize to BTreoch if my arguements were too personal…It was just a brief wave of mental angst/boredom…
I should also say that I thoroughly enjoyed ALL of the bands I saw at New World on Saturday night. Some even more than The Sheaks. Peace.
May 20th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Wait a second there, Mr. Anonymous… You write as if you are the official Sheaks biographer and were ready to raize all of Fantasia and put heads on pig poles because we were called post-rock, but now you say you were bored and enjoyed other bands more than us?? NO…NO I SAYS! You have betrayed the Sheaks with this most unkindest cut of all, and it will not stand… This aggression will not stand, man! I demand satisfaction! Pistols at dawn! Or actually 2pm…I like to sleep in…maybe 3pm if Judge Judy is on…maybe longer if something on CMT is good….but once their Dukes of Hazzard marathon is over, you shall kiss the silver fangs of justice, sir!