Attention spans are decreasing. Let’s face it. People want their news and entertainment in cute little bloggable bites — ready made for a MySpace bulletin. People want pictures and hyperlinks and no compound sentences to slow them down. The world is moving at a thousand mile per hour, and most folks don’t seem to have the time anymore to dedicate their minds to a single idea for more than a few minutes. Whether we’ve been perverted by television, the Internet or Ritalin — I’m not sure. What I do know is there’s no sense in fighting it.
So, in celebration of short attention spans, I’ve dedicated this week’s Rock Rhetoric to not one, not two, but three sure-to-be-talked-about shows at Le Voyeur in Olympia this weekend.
Strangers Die Everyday will hit town tonight. If you think about it, strangers do die everyday. So, however bleak the moniker sounds, there’s obviously an element of truth to this foursome’s magic.
Like everyone else and their dying-to-be-hip brother, Strangers Die Everyday recently moved to Portland. Giving up the Rocky Mountains and nature-loving ways of Boulder, Colo., Strangers Die Everyday packed up their cello, drum, bass, and viola, and headed for the Rose City.
Portland can be a tough town, if only because with so many artists and musicians flocking there, it can be hard for a recently arrived band to stand out and get noticed. This has not been the case with Strangers Die Everyday. Their unorthodox approach and artsy feel is perfect for PDX, and Portlanders seem to be responding. The Willamette Week said, “Their music is rich with haunting cellos and violins, their sound is a mesh between classical and goth along the lines of Black Heart Procession and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The thing that is most amazing about the band’s live performance is how young its members appear to be, and how effortlessly they play.”
Personally, I’ve never been in an indie rock band with a cello, but something tells me pulling it off is anything but effortless. Strangers Die Everyday pulls it off. They’ll play Le Voyeur tonight along with Quinn Deveaux of the Brownbums and Lisa Papineau.
Friday, Oct. 5 Go Kart Mozart will be up from the Bay Area, stopping in at Le Voyeur to hand out a little of their fresh-faced indie rock, and probably check out the weather chart to see if it’s safe to go outside.
Confused?
Well, don’t be.
Most importantly, the chances of Go Kart Mozart pleasing the gang of Oly’s finest assembled at Le Voyeur Friday seem surefire. Go Kart Mozart is young. They play with energy. They exude fun. And they’re as indie as bands come. All of these factors, along with Go Kart Mozart’s Ben Folds playing with Weezer trying to sound like Green Day should make for a great show. If I was a betting man, I’d be willing to wager on it.
The only confusing part is why they named themselves after a line from Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light.” Perhaps they did it so clever rock journalists could make inane references.
Finally, Saturday, Oct. 6 Tacoma’s Cadillac Radio will head to Olympia for a free show with Saddletramp, the Hawthorne Effect, and Mania at Le Voyeur. If you were rating the rock at Le Voyeur this weekend on veracity, Cadillac Radio would take the cake. Strangers Die Everyday is soft and smooth like a baby’s ass. Go Kart Mozart steps it up a notch, taking out the cellos but relying on their high energy, pogo stick vibe. Cadillac Radio is a straight ahead rock band — Tacoma style. Featuring former members of Lazy Plain, Cadillac Radio is a band that never shies away from a stiff drink, wall of feedback, or epic song structure. Todd Clarke (vocals, guitar), Eddie Mulligan (guitar), Brian Autry (bass), and Greg Friesz (drums) make up the band. Along with shaking off hangovers, Cadillac Radio is preparing for the release of their debut EP, due out in November.
“Rock and roll song crafting is something I’m not hearing on modern rock radio. All that screaming bollocks is for the birds. Cadillac Radio is writing rock and roll songs that will be just a little different than anything else. It has to be,” explains Clarke.
“The folks can expect the show to be very free. We expect the same thing, so we treat these shows a little differently. We really go for it at these ones. I don’t know why, but if it’s a free show we don’t give a shit and it ends up being a gas for everyone. Olympia has been great to Cadillac Radio. The people are very accepting of whatever’s going on. I don’t think they get a lot of straight fucking rock bands, so I think it’s a breath of fresh air.”
Check out www.myspace.com/levoyeur for a complete listing of shows.
And go now. Enough of this reading paragraphs. You’re free. Send a text message or something.
[Le Voyeur, 404 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia, 360.943.5710]
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