Hater at the Knitting Factory 8-12-05

This was a good show man. Some raw and heavy rockin' from the Ben Shepherd fronted outfit. I was interested to see how he'd do at guitar and vocals since I was only used to his unique bassism and songwriting with the (mostly) mighty Soundgarden. I always thought his contributions to that band were among the more interesting so I ventured out to Hollyweird to see what was what.

The music was like some undulating psychedelic rock yet with that heaviness that is so identified with Seattle (I believe he is from and still lives there). He had trouble keeping his guitar strap from letting go of his guitar which if you play you know can mean trouble for your instrument and just be downright irritating, anyway he was getting heckled about it and he would respond by either saying "Fuck you" or "Fuck off!". Then he absent-mindedly (he may have been tossed) spilled his Red Stripe lager in front of the drum kit whereupon the drummer had to get up and soak it up with his shirt. Luckily they were in between songs.

He then launched into some incoherent, derogatory remarks in reference to the crowd. Some guy was trying to take pictures up front and he spit right on his head which I found pretty funny because it is obnoxious when your trying to watch the show and some jerk off gets right in front of you trying to snap away.

Sometime during the second part of the set he decided he didn't like the guitar any more and threw it across the stage where it resounded in a big kabong. He then got on top of the drum riser (which the drums were set up in front of) and started singing from there feeling the wall up and down. The show was cool in the way that it had a bit of an unpredictable vibe about it but the music didn't really suffer and sounded good I thought. I kind of like it a bit raw and unrehearsed sounding at times. Check'em out if you get the chance.

I went up and talked to him for a bit afterwards a little afraid he might sock me or something but he turned out to be very nice and smiled when I told him he was my favorite guy in that other band. Nice to see someone who was in an ultra-successful band go and do something like this and not give a fuck as it were.

Justin Dexter


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