Olympia is killing it on the show tip right now, especially with the house circuit. Every time I turn around there’s a new spot with a new name putting together amazing showcases of the next generation of Olympia talent. The Big Room is cracking, and with the Olympia all-ages spot getting further along everyday, I can already tell this is going to be an amazing summer for shows. It’s like my little Dallas cutie Dollhands said to me the other night:



“Olympia in the summer is the only reason I live here.”



Nuff said.



The last two times I’ve seen The Narrows it has been in Gorka’s garage. What better place to see a band named after tight and barely maneuverable passages of water scattered between Tacoma and Olympia, than a crowded garage with 30 of your close friends, co-workers and neighbors.



The door goes down and the show begins. A very active pickup begins to feedback as a cymbal comes crashing and the loudness begins. It gets right inside your very being from the first note struck. You feel it inside your every waking moment, pulsing through your soft tissue and straight into the marrow of your quaking bones. It takes control. The band brings the kind of ominous tones and chord progressions, with a dedication to distortion and reverb, that only the Northwest knows. It becomes a sea of understanding at 120 decibels.



The Narrows are a meditation on the void. A dark vessel captained through the foggy night by hellhounds with the scent of blood in their nostrils and hunger in their bellies. They are the knowledge of the deep sea diver facing the black at the bottom of the sea. They have resurfaced and brought back a guidebook on walking into the unknown.



[The China Clipper, with I Am A Wizard and KOZO, Friday, April 18, 9 p.m., $2, 402 Fourth Ave., Olympia, 360.943.6300]