UME ... Again

Yeah, well after Linus Practice last night I headed out to Rudyard's to go see Oneida; Ume; and Black Snakes and Kangaroo. [Hey how many Ume shows have I seen in the last few months? This is getting a bit much, no?] Of course, nobody in Linus wanted to or could go and everyone else I contacted seemed to want to stay in, so I was off to Rudz sans a posse. Luckily there was a pretty good crowd. Stu from the Jonx was there along with Joe Mathlete, John Sears, Joel (fired for walking), Phil (Sharks and Sailors), and a bunch of other people which relieved my greatest fear of just picking my nose while I wait to hear a band.

I came in on Black Snakes and kangaroos last song which consisted of them shouting "Black Snakes and Kangaroo!!!" while collapsing onto their equipment and each other - pretty much a good humored band wrestling match with feedback but I would have liked to have caught a few songs. C'est la vie...this was their last show.

Ume followed up with a somewhat restrained set....well at least as restrained as Ume can be which means I could actually figure out what Lauren was doing on the guitar which is actually pretty impressive. I suspect she doesn't get the props she deserves as a guitarist since her performance is always this wild blur of hair when she really gets going. Next time you watch Ume play actually check out what she's doing; her hands crawl around the fretboard like some freaky long thin legged insect. And in case you, like me, were wondering, she uses a drop D tuning on one guitar and an opening tuning on the other.

Oneida closed off the evening with an amazing set. The two additional guitarists added a lot of texture to this bands 70's Krautrock sound but the drummer (who for some inexplicable reason look like the love child of Dana Carvey and Grant Hart last night) was, to me, the star of the band. The guy was just throwing in all these nonstop beats and fills that, when the band got into one of those one bass note grooves, just drove the whole machine into this unstoppable force. I caught a good part of their set but given that I had to work the next day 1am was quitting time for me. So I left the band and the audience dancing and bouncing as I made my way home to a nightcap with Rosa. If you were sleeping, you missed out.