volcano choir show review, for real

We went and saw Volcano Choir and it was awesome. Yep, the local rock star did a concert at his alma mater, in a campus auditorium (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire). I believe it was the first of two nights there.

The opening band, Adelyn Rose, appear'd on stage and my first thought was, "holy fuck these hipster looking pieces of shit are going to suck". And then the music started. And my initial judgement was right on. But then something funny happened: they ceased to suck as I was drawn in by the lead singer's vocals.

And the shitty sound didn't help their cause, because the style struck me as an almost shoegazey indie rock by way of the new wave of pseudo bluegrass bullshit being peddled by assholes. It can be so hard to nail a band's style when you're first seeing them live. Anyway, overall, I enjoyed them, when I know I shouldn't have.

The hard scheduled 30 minute intermission followed Adelyn Rose, during which the lights came on and the elderly couple seated in front of us busted out a newspaper to kill time. Srsly, they came prepared. Prepared to rock, then prepared to read, then prepared to rock again. Also noteworthy was the higher amount of older folks in attendance.

Sure as shit, half an hour later, out comes Volcano Choir. Aside from some awkward dancing from frontman Justin Vernon, the set was awesome. Kind of odd/cool was the podium setup the he used. It appeared he was flipping through pages on the podium, as he sang, not sure what was going on there.  Also at a couple points he was wearing headphones.

The sound was great and the band seemed PUMPED to be there. The guitarist in particular, when introducing a song or making color commentary, always had a huge smile on his face, and came across as genuinely excited. His hair was either platinum blonde or grey, and from our distant (but sick) balcony seats, he appeared to be older than the rest of the band. Also, he looked like Julian Assange. None of that had any impact whatsoever on my enjoyment of the show.

Admittedly I am not familiar with their two-album catalog, but they played the hits that Heckyeahwoman wanted to hear, and I did recognize a few from her streaming the albums. It was cool, their sometimes Isis-meets-jangly-yet-kinda-droney-indie-rock-sound went over really well live. With the better sound quality, relative to the opener, none of the instruments got drowned out in the frequency of others.

I think the pop sensibilities the band employs in their music really keeps the attention of the audience, because let's be honest, if you're not typically into this type of music, it could be a snoozefest. Great vocals, combined with a knack for sneaking in catchy and sometimes repetitive guitar lines, both also play a huge part in that.

Very catchy, very well done, I look forward to picking up some vinyl in the near future. I also look forward to any opportunity to be seen with Heckyeahwoman in public.

I've never seen Bon Iver, and word on the street is that I may never have the chance. But as long as Volcano Choir is around, I can totes live with that. And even if Volcano Choir weren't around, I could still totes live with that.

volcano choir show review

Sorry for the hold up on the review, but last Saturday night we went and saw Volcano Choir. In case you're not a hipster, they are Justin Vernon, of Bon Iver Grammy-fame, and like five other dudes. I believe the band was around prior to Bon Iver and is now his main project.

Well, it looks like there will be another hold up on the show review - expect it next week sometime. While waiting, the following is a brief anecdote from my recent trip to the dentist.

I went to the dentist.

I got my teeth clean'd.

I got fillings.

Notice the "s" in fillings, denoting multiple fillings. Please note that they were "re-fillings" on old cavities from when I was a young punk.

It was as we were wrapping up when the real meat and potatoes of this story occurs. Just as I was getting ready to split, the dental hygienist axed me one, she asked me what type of cologne I was wearing, because I smelled good.

Without missing a beat, my reply: "at my age, just not stinking is the only cologne I ever wear now".

HUMP DAY PUMP UP: CLASSIC PUMPJAMS

The impending weekend got you down? Not too PUMPED about beautiful fall weather and football?

Well turn that frown upside down, friendo, cause the fine folks at HYM dot org got your back.

Well, the first step, slamming as much freshly brewed, strong as fuck coffee is on you. But after that, we got'chu. Crank up that volume and get yourself into a better place.

Imagine this, your boi, the lead author of HYM, LLC, on the drive home from work yesterday, tired, not feelin' a work out, coming home to an empty house, save for our fuzzy, orange cat-son giving me the usual warm greeting.

Still not feeling the work out, but I gotta do it. Begrudgingly I headed downstairs to trudge through 35 mins of brutality. Then it hit me. I need THE PUMP. 

GOTTA HAVE THAT PUMP.

And it was like the purple unicorn that lives under my (sick screened in) porch answered my thoughts and THIS SONG came on:

IT WAS LIKE SOMEBODY CAME DOWN INTO THE BASEMENT AND TOOK OVER MY BRAIN AND FLIPPED THE TURBO SWITCH.

Cause I just dropped to the ground and started BANGING OUT PUSH-UPS. But the funny thing there is that I did so many push-ups that I GOT IMMEDIATELY pissed that I wasn't doing any pull-ups.

So I fuckin' got up and started doing pull-ups.





Wow, getting sweaty and angry. Obvi the focus here has been on getting PUMPED and SWOLE and JACKED beyond belief.

But what about my mind?





Well let's just assume that in the above PUMPJAM homeboy is yelling about his mind, but that's just a metaphor for a .357 magnum. So really he's armed with a handgun. Sounds better, sounds PUMPIER.

And besides, all that mind stuff and being smart and philosophical and wise, save that for Heckyeahwoman, she's the brains and beauty of the operation here, I'm just the brawn.

Take that to heart and PUMP OUT THE LAST HALF OF THIS WEEK LIKE IT EVEN MATTERS IN THE END.

PUMP UP AND PUMP OUT

damn, who that?

The other day, Heckyeahwoman and I were on a minor road trip, and had to stop to get gas. Pretty standard, hit up the first Kwik Trip we saw. Sadly, we were both so stuffed from the monstrous breakfast we crushed an hour earlier, that there was no way we could fit in a hot dog.

While I was pumping gas so furiously that my brow may or may not have furrowed a bit, something caught my attention, out of the corner of my eye.

Mmmmmmmm who that fine woman wandering her fine way up to the gas station? In fact, the exact question I thought to myself was "oh wow, who is that?"

Took but just a second for me to recognize her as my wife.