Author: Cody Daniel

28 years old. Mick Jagger without the Swagger. Lover of all things music. Huge sci-fi fan.
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Jack White – August 13, 2018 – WAMU

My excitement for this concert was a fickle thing.  It started out at a 10.  Then I heard the new album Boarding House Reach and my excitement dived to a 6. I got tickets when they were first announced, so before the album came out.  I thought for sure it was going to sell out. I don’t think it ever did. I’m still surprised as to how that didn’t happen.

Anyways I got tix for me and my concert buddy Jake Flatt.  My roommate Josh was supposed to go but ended up bailing last minute. We called around and asked just about everyone to fill in the last spot.  Our buddy Michael who does booking down at the Central was down so we ended up driving down that way and meeting up with him there for some quick drinks.

From the Central we walk to Wamu.  Once we showed up we were surprised to see they had these pouches you had to put your phone in so that you couldn’t use them during the concert.  They’re locked tight so theres definitely no filming or pictures allowed. Or finding your friends if you lose them in the crowd. I will say I love this idea though.  I’ve been to lots of concerts where the crowd is cell phone centric and it does ruin the “aesthetic”. The Maroon 5 concert is one great example of that.

Anyways I definitely did not care for the opener.  Can’t even remember their name.  I just remember thinking “how the heck did they get the opening spot?!”

We just chilled in the beer garden portion of Wamu in the back left the whole time but we had a great view of the stage.  Jack White finally came on and of course it was amazing. There was a cool countdown movie before he got on stage.  It was made especially cool since no one had cell phones so we just kind of had that clock to go off of.  The clock would speed up and slow down so everyone was kind of on the edge of their seat as to when he would hit the stage.

He started off with his best song off of the new album “Over and Over”.  All of the musicians are of course top notch and I immediately was impressed with Jack White’s guitar work. The stage was bathed in Blue Light and in fact throughout the whole concert it was just constant blue light.  It really made for a cool experience. You wouldn’t think it would be exciting but it does give it a unique look.

Song and song that came on Jack White always stood out for his amazing guitar work. Especially the tone! His guitar tone is topnotch.  I mean I guess thats common sense but it was just cool to me to hear it live, not produced on an album.  Highlights for me were hearing Hotel Yorba, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, and Daughter (Pearl Jam Cover).

Quick funny story on Hotel Yorba. Its always been one of my favorite White Stripes songs. When I worked in a call center you always had to say letters over the phone to the old customers.  So it would be like “B as in boy, or C as in cat”.  One day I was spelling something out and I got to Y an I said “Y as in….Yorba”.  The lady was like “Yorba?!!” I just responded with “yea Yorba”. Pretty hilarious. Anyways..

The Daughter cover was absolutely killer! it almost sounded like Eddie Vedder on stage. I thought it was cool because Pearl Jam had just did a White Stripes cover less than a week earlier at Safeco so it was a cool nod of the head their way.

Anyways, after 12 or 13 songs we ended up ditching out early.  It was a Monday night and we all were worn out from the weekend and having to work in the morning. I ended up googling the rest of the setlist an only missed 5 songs, so for what its worth it wasn’t too bad.

I will say that after seeing him live I have a new respect for Boarding House Reach.  The musicianship live is something to be well respected, and its no wonder that he’s become one of the biggest names in Rock and Roll in the past 20 years.  I look forward to catching another show next time he swings through town.

Here’s a cool example of how the show went (although this is not from the Seattle show)

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Looking Back – Kings of Leon’s “Mechanical Bull”

This was not the post I was going to do. In fact out of all of Kings of Leon’s albums this is not near the top.  I am a fanboy, and I do love all their albums, but  this would  not be near the top.

HOWEVER

When I first moved to Seattle it conveniently kind of lined up with the release of this album.  I first bought my Kia Rio and this was about the only CD I had in my car for months.  Every song and note became ingrained in my head.

I can still recall going to the bowling alley in Burien jamming “Supersoaker” and singing out loud with Collin.  Or being stuck in traffic on the way to work listening to “Comeback Story”.  Or just having parties at Theresa’s house and jamming the out to “Family Tree” and that masterful bassline.

No real point to this post, I was on the computer and this album came on and I was hit with a wave of remembering. Truly an album that puts me in a very particular place. Arguably, a better, more carefree place!

 

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Subpop Fest – August 11 – Alki Beach

Well I unfortunately gotta keep this one short and sweet.

A little backstory on this concert.  It was the 30th anniversary of Subpop.  Subpop is of course the famous record label that gave bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden their start.  After 30 years, and many ups and downs, they’re still at it.  Some bands on their label are currently some of my favorites, so I was really looking forward to this concert.

Unfortunately my favorite signee of theirs, Afghan Whigs, played the night before.  I was at the Pearl Jam concert so I can’t complain too much. Even though they wouldn’t be at the festival I was still really looking forward to catching Bully, Metz, Hot Snakes, and Father John Misty.

After Pearl Jam I ubered back to my place and went to bed as soon as I could in preparation for this free outdoor concert.  Me and my roommate woke up like giddy school kids, ran up to the gas station to buy some booze, and came back down to get the party started at 10am.  Our friend Saman showed up and we threw many, many drinks back waiting for the music to start.  Around noon we headed to the beach which is only a block away.

During what I’ll call chapter one I was able to catch Bully, Kyle Craft, and Metz.  I wasn’t expecting much out of Kyle Craft but was very pleasantly surprised.  He sounded great! I unfortunately didn’t know any of the songs but next time he’s in town I’m definitely going to check him out.

Bully was of course amazing. The lead singer apparently learned how to record from Steve Albini who did Nirvana’s second album “In Utero”.  I could definitely pick up on some albini-ness in her recordings and I was glad to hear the same during the live show.  She put on a great show, the band definitely revolves around her.  The other musicians are great, they just don’t seem to get into it as much as she does. Maybe they’re musicians for hire? I dunno.

I then got to see the last 2 songs from Metz.  I’ll be honest I wasn’t too into it.  The energy was definitely super high which I loved, but the sound almost seemed jumbled.  Very abrasive and noisy.  I can see myself getting into it in the right mood, but wasn’t really for me. I don’t see it as a daily listen or a favorite of mine is why I’m getting at.

After Metz I went back to my house to re-charge and fell asleep.  I woke up and was super bummed I missed hot snakes. Anyways, I made my way back out to the beach and got to hear beach house. That is some relaxing stuff.  I don’t smoke weed anymore but I imagine if I did I would listen to this.  The atmosphere was pretty cool during this show. The sun was setting so it was perfect for the music.  Again though..their stuff is not for me.  This time instead of noisy and abrasive its just too reverb-y and dreamy. I didn’t hate it, but lets just say I was easily distracted from the performance.

Lastly after this my friends left me by myself. I didn’t want to leave because I wanted to check out Father John Misty and see what the fuss was about. I dislike crowds and let me just say I was JAMPACKED in there.  I was definitely out of my comfort zone but wasn’t too far from the stage.

I stuck around for about 6 songs and like Kyle Craft I was pleasantly surprised. I had always thought of FJM as full of himself, conceited, and a total douchebag…which I guess to be honest he kind of is. But as far as music is concerned he’s great, and I genuinely enjoyed every song I heard.  Since then I’ve been jamming Real Love Baby a lot.  I’m glad I stuck around because it’s opened a new realm of music I want to check out.

The crowd got to me eventually and I ended up leaving.  Overall a great day full of music, but I’m disappointed I drank too much towards the beginning causing me to go to sleep around 4. Oh well! Live and you learn.  I at least now have some new artists to check out and other ones I know I’m not into.

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Song Spotlight – Death Cab For Cutie “I Dreamt We Spoke Again”

Wow, what a return to form for these guys. I was perusing iTunes like I tend to do and was surprised to see some new Death Cab out and about.  I didn’t have high hopes at all, as honestly I haven’t been a fan for a while.  Luckily I’m way wrong and am so happy that I am.

This song brings me back to doing adderall, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and driving around trying to write lyrics with my buddy Laren back when we were 18/19.  Back then we listened to “intellectual” stuff like Death Cab and Bright Eyes to try and get inspired to write better lyrics. Not sure it really worked but nevertheless, the sound of Death Cab definitely brings me back.

I love the drums in this song and the cool, twangly (yes I’m creating that word) guitar sound.  I’ve tried to do a similar tone on some Po’ Brother songs but always fell short.  The production on this song is amazing and honestly if I still smoked weed I would blaze it up to this tune. Great track, I highly recommend checking it out!

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Pearl Jam – August 10, 2018 – Safeco Field

This one was a dream come true. it also was maybe the most expensive concert I’ve ever paid for.  Tix were around $130 a piece…for the cheap seats! Still I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to see one of my favorite bands, and also one of the last remaining grunge bands around.

When I was in high school I never really got into Pearl Jam. I always thought they were kind of cheesy.  Maybe thats because my timeline involved bands like Nickleback and Creed? Anyways, that all changed when I formed the first band I was in, Po’ brothers.  I was 21 and kind of a mess.  I was living at my friends house down on Allentown road and bought a kegerator. I’m pretty sure I was just cruising on credit cards and beer and playing lots and lots of music.  It was around that time me and Collin started hanging out all the time and one of the first bands we both got into together was Pearl Jam.

We used to make fun of the way he sung but also genuinely got completely into every facet of the music.  Still to this day “Corduroy” is my favorite Pearl Jam song and it relates directly back to these times in my life. Lots of parties in the garage, lots of empty kegs, and lots of guitar playing were had to this song (among other things I’m not going to write on the internet).  Anyways, I’ll quit my preamble by simply saying this music is a timestamp for me so my expectations were very high.

Alyssa and I met up with Paige and Jake at his house to have a few prefunk beers before the show.  We decided to leave super early because we were afraid the line would be insanely long.  I’d been to Safeco before to see Tom Petty and the line was insane, we figured Pearl Jam would be worse.

Luckily for us we were wrong! We showed up and pretty much walked right in. I have no idea how that worked the way it did but I’m not going to question it.  The merch lines were a different story though and went on for what seemed like miles.  I really wanted a poster to remember the show by but my patience is notoriously low and there’s just no way I could force myself to sit in a sweaty line for an hour or more. Long story short, we made our way to our seats and took a quick pic before hand

The show started off with 2 songs I’m not really into “Oceans” and “Footsteps”. They’re both slower so I can see why they started off with them. It was also kind of a cool atmosphere with how the night was just beginning. It kind of put a calming but anxious mood to the whole show.  I was on the edge of my seat absorbing it in as best as I could (from miles away).  The backdrop of the stage was amazing with these lights raising and lowering in the background. It was cool, I wish I could explain the feeling I had watching it but the closest I can say is that it was a feeling of “togetherness”.  The kind of feeling I’ve only ever had at a Grateful Dead or Dave Matthews show. It’s how you know you’re surrounded by tons of people who are into the same thing.

Next song up was Nothing Man and thats a song I know all the words to and am super into. This is where it kind of kickstarted with me.  I had had a few beers and was enjoying singing along.  The next couple of songs were super rocking and eventually they got to Corduroy.  I was extremely excited, I can’t even tell ya.  It was better than I could imagine.  I was just surprised with how much all the members were running around the stage and getting into these more rocking songs. I mean I knew Pearl Jam put on a hell of a show, and I know it’s nothing like when they were younger, but still I was impressed.

To be honest I could ramble on about the rest of the set but I’m just not going to.  It would take me longer than it’s honestly worth.  Each song was amazing, with some clear highlights jumping out like Daughter, Better Man, and Even Flow.

Eventually towards the end of the set is where things got real interesting.  Eddie came out with an acoustic and covered Tom Petty “I Won’t Back Down”. It was amazing seeing everyones lights out and the quality of his voice.  You could tell Tom meant a lot to him and apparently he had been at the same SafeCo field show I was at to see Tom last time he was in Seattle.  This part of the show really stuck out to me.

After this they went into even a string of other cool covers.  “Crown of Thorns” by Mother Love Bone was a huge surprise and probably a historic once in a lifetime rendition. I remember looking at Alyssa like I’d seen a ghost. I couldn’t believe what we were witnessing.

After that amazing song they went into some cameo appearances and covers. They at one point brought out Kim Thayil from Soundgarden and Mark Arm from Mudhoney.  Eddie was pretty drunk at this point and told a long winded story about how his younger brother liked Mark Arm better than him.  Mark Arm came out and simply said “Awkward..” It was pretty hilarious.  They then covered some Iggy Pop and MC-5 which was of course amazing.

At this point the concert had probably went on for 3 hours. The stadium turned the lights on but Pearl Jam kept playing. Like I said, Eddie was wasted and honestly sounds like Ozzy up on stage. I was confounded as to how he could still sing like he was, cause it sounded perfect.  Alyssa was kind of bummed at how wasted he was but she admitted he sounded perfect singing.

They closed the night with a cover of Baba O’Reilly, which I thought was really cool since The Who is Eddie’s favorite band, and the last song was Yellow Ledbetter which Mike McCready of course killed.  It was the perfect ending of the night or me. That song brings me back to being 11 or 12 and riding in the truck with my favorite uncle Troy.  Since he went on to become and alcoholic and leave his family…the song brings me back to a better, happier time.  Just the sound of the first few chords gives me almost instant happiness. Like I said, it was the perfect ending.

Afterwards we made our way out into the throng of people and waited for a good hour or so for a ride home, but I gotta say, it was the best concert I’ve been to all year and probably top 5 concerts I’ve ever been to in my life.  All in all a great, great time and money well spent. Below is a video I snagged of their cover of Mother Love Bone. Enjoy!

 

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Song Spotlight – “Baby Bluebird” – Fruit Bats

I don’t know what it is about certain songs that just make me listen to them over and over and over until I literally wear myself out on them.  For this song though, it think its the random diminished or dissonant second chord thats played in the verse progression. Unexpected and, if I DARESAY, beautiful.

Then when his vocals hit for the chorus.. “If you’d given me most of you, I’d of handed over all of me”. Pretty powerful stuff.  Makes me want to go driving on a cloudy day…away from just about everything.

No drums are in this song which I guess just goes to prove that a good song is a good song in its own right.  While I’ve been writing this I’ve listened to the song 3 times and still can’t get enough of it. Funny how when your feeling down you just want to listen to “down” music.

Anyways, totally recommend this song to everyone. Even your grandma will like this. Below is a cool alternate version he plays on piano…may be even better.

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John Fogerty @ Chateau Ste Michelle – July 20, 2018

Its always been a dream of mine to see CCR.  They’ve always had this mystique behind them that just makes it seem like there was no world of music before they were around.  Seriously, they have so many hits in the short amount of time they were together it truly is insane. And its just a distinct classic sound, it really does blow my mind that John Fogerty is only 70.

Jake came through in the clutch and offered me a free ticket to see Fogerty at the Chateau Ste Michelle Winery.  Well I should say Paige came through since she ended up bailing so Jake had the extra ticket to begin with.  Anyways I had my reservations. First off, its only John Fogerty (not the full CCR band), 2nd he’s super old, and third it’s at a winery. But it’s free and I’m easy, so I said yes.

Jake kindly drove all the way there.  We pulled up to park (which was completely full) and Jake just drove past all the security to the “reserved” area and parked.  Easy enough!  We even crossed some barricades and red tape and went in the back way.  Didn’t get to meet Fogerty though.

So anyways we’re finally in this joint and it’s wayyyyy fancier and nicer than we were expecting.  I mean I don’t know what we were expecting since we knew it was a winery, but this was..uhh…not our scene.  Lots of old folks.  We even saw people eating salad, AT A ROCK CONCERT.  Everyone apparently got there after their early morning mall walks because the place was packed.

Me and Jake went immediately to the wine bar and bought 2 bottles which we would then drink from the bottle the rest of the concert. we attempted to find a cool spot but literally everybody had claimed huge amounts of land with their picnic baskets and chairs and coolers and what-have-yous.  We brought nothing so we made our way back to the dumpsters.  That place sucked so then we went to the very, very back.  This was a  much better spot and actually not too bad of a view.  We could drink our wine from the bottle in relative peace and also gander at the peacock that was randomly walking around the concert.

Alright so nows about the time John Fogerty hits the stage and right away we knew it was going to be a good show.  He sounded amazing! To top it off he was even playing CCR.  I was worried since it was a solo show he’d only stick to his solo stuff but fortunately I was wrong.

He was running around stage like a wild man.  It was cool to see.  His crowd interaction was great and he even had some cool stories to tell the crowd.  He held up his guitar and told a cool story about how it had been stolen back in the early 70’s. Apparently his wife found it in 2010 , bought it, and gave it back to him as a birthday present.  Pretty neat! If it had been my guitar that would have been stolen I would have fallen apart, can’t imagine how great it must of been to be reunited with it.

About halfway through the show he brought up his kids on stage.  One son plays guitar and the other is a definite front man. He came out in an all red (looked to be velvet) 70’s one piece suit and was jumping around and singing with his dad.  I thought that was pretty cool. Apparently their in a band called Hardy Har. I haven’t listened to them yet but I can’t imagine its terrible with a legend as their father.

Anyways, was a great time and I’d definitely be down to see him again, although if its at the same venue next time I’m getting there early and bringing lawn chairs.  Here’s a vid (that I didn’t take) from the same concert!

 

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Assortment of Songs that Make Me Remember

I’ve had an absolutely glorious music-fueled weekend. Even more so than usual. I sat down to write some concert reviews and a song by the Antlers came on and I was just about knocked down from all the memories that came flooding in.  It was a great time of my life.  I was 23 and had just started Po’ Brothers.  No cares and no worries, we just practiced 4 to 5 times a week.  All we did was hang out and make music. Simpler times that somehow fade away over time.

At the time there was no doubt in my mind we would make it if we played enough.  I found out over time it takes more than practice to make it. Still those were the days.  We had our favorite bar called The Irish Exit that even had a meal named after us.  The Po’ Boy Special.  Ramen Noodles and a PBR tall boy for $5. Our first album release we did on the top of a skyscraper in Louisville and made around $3,000 dollars.

I attempt to remember other aspects of my life back then and its hard to do.  Music permeated every facet of my life.  Sadly I’m not sure I made much time to do anything else.  I think I’m finally getting to the point in my life where I’m doing other things (and wanting to do them!). Still..there’s a sadness, or reflectiveness, looking back at that period of my life.  Good and Bad, but it was definitely an era.

We used to practice in a basement that would literally flood if it rained too much.  We’d be there jamming at 1 am, and there I am just splashing in puddles with my amp and peddle board on wooden pallets and concert blocks. My room had a broken window that stayed broken for a while.  I think we had people over every day.   I used to work at a kiosk selling phones and I was the manager so I got to make the schedule.  Looking back I don’t know how I functioned.  There was a period of time where we were playing 2 shows a week.  Definitely couldn’t do that now.

Anyways, point of all this was I wanted to write some songs down that I hope I don’t forget over time like I almost forgot the Antlers.  Crazy how the feeling I get when listening to them isn’t necessarily good or bad.  Just very reminiscent.  I guess it IS sad that now that seems so far away, like another persons life or a movie you watch. Weird.

Anyways the beginnings of a list:

“French Exit” – The Antlers
“Passenger Seat” – Death Cab for Cutie
“Lenders in the Temple” – Conor Oberst
“Empire Ants” – Gorillaz
“I Stand Corrected” – Vampire Weekend
“The Old Year” – Cassino
“Please Come Home” – Dustin Kensrue
“Ragged Wood” – Fleet Foxes
“Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters” – MGMT
“Sleepyhead” – Passion Pit
“Gideon” – My Morning Jacket
“Ten Years Gone” – Led Zeppelin
“True Love Way” – Kings of Leon
“Little Lover’s So Polite” – Silversun Pickups
“Dissident” – Pearl Jam
“Non-State Actor” – Soundgarden
“But, Honestly” – Foo Fighters
“Ahead of the Curve” – Monsters of Folk
“Is There a Ghost” – Band of Horses
“the Cave” – Mumford and Sons
“Crystal Baller” – Third Eye Blind
“Little Bombs” – Dashboard Confessional

 

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Dead and Company @ The Gorge – June 29th, 2018

I’ll go ahead and apologize for the quick review of this show but I’ve seen them once before and honestly I write on here for myself and no one else…

A little backstory….2 years ago I went to sooo many shows.  I’d say it was somewhere around the 100 show range.  Looking back at it I was bummed because I didn’t have a “history” of all the shows I’d seen.  I mean off hand I can think of Primus, Dawes, Journey, Tom Petty, Dave Matthews..but thats just the beginning of the iceberg.

I decided I needed to fork over some money to start up a website to where I could treat it like a journal and keep track of shows, songs I like, and heck I might even start writing about tv shows I like.  It’s just hard to remember stuff anymore and its nice to be able to look back and be like “oh yea I love that!”

Anyways back to the show at hand, this was my first time heading up to the gorge the same day as the show.  Let me just say, I’m never doing that again.  Traffic was horrendous, and the line at the gorge was godawful.  I seriously don’t know how they could screw up so bad but hey, I’m not surprised. Best part though was my buddy Jake was in town from Indiana and we were gonna have a good time.  It was me, Jake, Jake, and Alyssa. We ended up meeting with Allen and his daughter Aleina.

Right when we arrived we only had half an hour to “chill” before we needed to walk to the show to catch the beginning.  I think we kind of took our time and chugged some beers and ended up leaving a little late.  Sure enough we missed the beginning unfortunately. I’m telling you, never show up the day of the show!

Anyways, as was the case back in 2016, the vibes were great and everyone was in a great mood.  John Mayer was sporting his new “90’s” look on stage wearing what looked to me to be a pink jacket. All the players were spread out on stage nicely and Bob Weir had a nice spot up front looking OLD.  He’s still a shredder of course.

The setting at the gorge is unbelievable and I was overcome with a sense of peace.  I had a great time drinking some beers and catching up with Jake to the sweet sounds of John Mayer just shredding the crap out of the guitar.

One downside of this concert compared to the last one was I did not know hardly any of the songs.  I think I only knew one, “Playing in the Band”.  That was kind of a bummer…granted you can’t go wrong with the Dead…but still I would have liked to have known more of the material.

Regardless the musicianship was out of this world and it was just great being around friends in that setting.  We ended up leaving a little early and headed back to the campsite.  I was pretty toasty and after a short amount of time I was passed out in the tent.

Next day we had a nice trip home and got some food in Ellensburg. Kind of the usual for a gorge trip! Anyways you can see the “official” link below for a real live video from the show! Enjoy.

 

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Song Spotlight – “Come to Me Now” – Kevin Morby

Here’s another one I found on the recommended for you by iTunes.  I for sure thought this was The War on Drugs but I was wrong! Not too sure on the history of this Kevin Morby guy but I love this song and that’s enough for me to say I’m sold.  Production is rock solid…I’d imagine if I smoked weed like I used to this would be a perfect song to kick back and zone out to.

There’s a real zen quality to this song and I really got into it during some stress in my life.  This song was a great relaxing escape for me and I meant to write this post a month or two ago to get the word out.  I’m so glad I didn’t forget.

Moral of the story. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, try kicking back at night on your porch, outside, or wherever…just make sure this song is on in the background.  I think you’ll have a good time. You let me know.