The N.E.C. Summer Tour

Admittedly, it took me a while to warm up to these guys, but now I'm squarely on the bandwagon after their Corndogorama performance. They are doing a short tour on the east coast starting this week, so you OTP readers need to catch some ATL flavour:

The N.E.C. Tour Dates:

7/31 - Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light
8/1 - Asheville, NC @ New French Bar
8/2 - Lexington, KY @ The Void
8/4 - Brooklyn, NY @ Trash Bar
8/6 - New York, NY @ Cake Shop
8/9 - Ashland, KY
8/15 - Montgomery, AL @ Head on The Door
8/16 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

The N.E.C. : Milltown

The N.E.C. Myspace

Corndogorama Videos: All the Saints, Twin Tigers, Thy Mighty Contract, The NEC

Local bands at the Corndog:

All The Saints:



Twin Tigers:



Thy Mighty Contract:



The NEC:

Corndogorama 2008 Saturday (Day 3)

Josh and I have both been covering Corndogorama, so we're going to tag team you with yesterday's events complete with photos from Biggie C:

JW: Following a super-charged Friday night, I managed to make it back to corndog land in time to catch Morning State. As usual, they put on a solid performance. "Never So Strange" kept the truly devoted satisfied. I listened to them through my hangover - something not afforded to lesser bands.

SK: I didn't make it to the fest until Thy Mighty Contract had taken the stage. This ATL supergroup certainly combined the best elements of their respective sounds into a serious sonic assault. I wish I could have heard a few more songs from them, but good Corndog sets always leaving you wanting more.



Since Untied States canceled due to some legal troubles, I ran down to East Atlanta and grabbed some grub at the Australian bakery and Josh went to see the Corndog Eating Contest.

JW: OK – that Boone guy showed up again with the belt just to show it off. 17 corndogs in 7 minutes. This anomaly has no competition. I was waiting for the little girl about a third of his size to spew when she got 5 of them down and started kneeling on the ground.

SK: Upon my return we caught Sonen. Their show was ok, but not anything that grabbed me. They struck me as a par, average Atlanta band. Not bad, but not good. Right after that it was time for A Armada and the explosions of sound washing across everyone's ears was unstoppable.







JW: A Armada blew people's asses off. This Athens outfit managed to make so much beautiful noise that it blasted through the walls and compelled those outside to come in and pack the main room early in the day. I can't wait to get more of them.





SK: They were a tough act to follow, but The NEC did as good a job as they could. The first time I saw them, I didn't like them because it sounded like they were ripping off the Black Lips too much, but now they have added some shoegaze to their sound and are leaning more in the Deerhunter direction. But while they seem to be noticeably influenced by the ATL big dogs, their style felt much more distinct and unique this time. It's great to see a band evolve and improve.













The next few hours were all about rallying for the big shows later that night, and we rallied hard. The only musical info I noted during this period was that The Hiss suck.

JW: We were at proper levels of intoxication for Gringo Star. Atlanta's own lovable southern rockers were given a little trophy from King Corndog during their introduction. I think it was for Best Corndogorama Band or something. With that, they came out firing. The guys have their own version of musical chairs with everyone taking their turn at the kit. Best energy of the day. The highlight of the show was the poppy jam "All Y'all." However, when the band were mid-stride in "March of the Gringo" some of the equipment started to fail…and then it became obvious that they had been CUT OFF. The aforementioned trophy was promptly shattered on stage, mic stands were getting some "treatment", and overall displeasures were being shouted. The immediate aftermath saw a stage manager waving a schedule in Nick's face – to which he slapped away. The guys went to cool down and I caught up with them after Snowden's set. Further backstory from Nick reveals that they had played Corndogorama years ago under much less stringent stage managers. They were put over 3 hours behind to go on – and they held their end of the bargain and lit it up anyway in the wee hours of the morning. Now they've been bitten by the corndog again under opposite circumstances. A truly "Black Night". Too bad you didn't get to hear it.

















SK: I caught a little bit of All The Saints killing it inside before returning to the big outdoor stage for Snowden. They unleashed a set filled with hits from Anti Anti and a bunch of new material. As always, they are total badasses live. Some of the new material I liked and some I didn't, but I'm going to wait until the record comes out to pass any real judgment. Jordan said it was coming soon and eluded to some sort of legal issues might have been holding it up.















One last day of Corndogging, so it is time to do it to it.

Bonnaroo Weekend In The ATL

If you aren't going to the 'roo this weekend, it is still a really great week for shows in Atlanta. Tonight you can see Rush at Hi-Fi Buys, The National at The Earl, or Les Claypool at Variety Playhouse. Thursday night there's a great show at The Earl I highly recommend with Maserati, The Liverhearts, and Good Friday Experiment. Friday night there is a ridiculous amount of great shows. First, Battles, who I've fallen in love with recently, will be at The Drunken Unicorn. That's my pick of the week. But there are three other great shows. Lenny's is hosting The Stills and Go Motion, who we saw and was amazed by earlier this year. The Earl is boasting my new ATL faves Snowden, plus All The Saints and The N.E.C. Then Feist and Grizzly Bear, who we heart, are at The Variety Playhouse. Seriously, if you are not going to Bonnaroo you are required to go to one of those four shows friday night or you will lose mega cool points.

Live Videos and Review: Menomena, The N.E.C., Midwives (4-3-2007) Drunken Unicorn

Tuesday night I arrived at the Drunken Unicorn at 8:15pm because I thought I read somewhere that doors opened at 8pm. Well, they didn't end opening until about 9:20pm. I spent a good hour at the coffee shop next door playing Super Mario Brothers on the DS and then went in with the large crowd of folks waiting to be let in. First band up was Jeffrey Butzer's Midwives. They came out in masks and and matching suits like a classic ska/surf outfit and then did some fantastic surf rock. I've been getting into this genre a lot lately going back and listening to old stuff so it was great to hear a band doing that style so well. They even had a tiny piano for like kids that they would play on some songs. Really cool:



Next up was this band called the N.E.C. It includes members of Kill Gordon and Snowden's Jordan Jefferes. I like both of those bands but I was disappointed with this project. They sounded like the a watered-down version of the Black Lips with less intensity and less of an edge. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it just felt too much like a cheap ripoff. Near the end, some kids in the crowd came on stage hitting some of the band with vegetables and it just came off very contrived and out of place. Due to Snowden blowing up and Jordan Jefferes not having much extra time, he has left the band since this show and the N.E.C. will continue on as a three-piece:



I had been listening to Menomena's new album all the time lately and I was very excited about the show. I was not let down. Most of the set included songs off of Friend And Foe and they played them beautifully. They made use of an extensive instrumentation for a three-piece including an e-Bow and a Moog Taurus. There's something special about a band where everyone can take on vocal duties and shine. They seemed very appreciative of the crowd response and recalled bad previous trips to Atlanta while talking a lot of smack about Smith's Old Bar. You could tell that they were loving the crowd and were utilizing the energy well. If you have not looked into this band, do so because their album is one of the best to come out this year and they put on a hell of a show. My friend Bobloblaw79 took some videos: