I saw Dreaming of Tanks last night at The Casbah. It was near dead when I walked in, but I was there at the unholy hour of 9 PM!! I only went out to chill with some coworkers one of whom insisted we check out his friends band (Dreaming of Tanks). Who knew i'd be blown away. Shit, you get all high and mighty and start talking trash about a "stale music scene" and then you're smacked in the face by virtual current scene strangers (who have been supposedly been playing forever) that you've never heard. To be fair I was told they have totally new material and a new awesome front man. If you saw them years ago erase everything you know about them (thats what my co-workers said). Im going to step far out on the San Diego Blasphemy Limb and say: They sound sort of like Pinback but better!! Burn-ish. Ha, luckily not enough people read this wittle blog for me to get shit for that! This band is a three piece that makes so much damn music you wonder where they are hiding their other musicians! Not only are the drum beats tight and diverse but the bass and guitar dance around each other in this almost psychedelically beautiful music with a clean yet gritty punk edge (via well placed guitar distortion and jam like riffs and solos). The drummer (Francis) has some awesome syncopation going on with crisp, tight and fresh drum lines. The great bassist (Jaime) is a huge part of what makes it sound different from other band in the same file, if you have a three piece the bass really does have to step it up if you want to avoid things sounding flat. The bass lines are very intricate and absolutely beautiful, it's not about being back up in that dept for Dreaming and I love when you can really hear the bass and it's even showcased at times. And then the front man and guitarist (Lance). Damn dude, never hurts to have a band fronted by a super talented guitarist who can just tear it up. We were treated to some beautiful, very engaging, very again, fresh, sounding guitar riffs, melodies and solos. It definentely got a the point more than once where you had to yell "Holy Shit this sounds bad ass!!" in your friends ear (and you really did have to scream cuz the sound was so god damned loud). The three parts together climb all over each other without sounding muddy or getting overcomplicated and bloated. Each member contributes 100% and so you end up with this bad ass sounding band playing at 300%. They handed out free pro looking CD's when they finished but my friends said it was their old stuff from years ago and didnt have any of the new material we had heard. BUMMER!!! Get an EP out!! Let me manage your band, I want to take you on tour!! Check out Dreaming of Tanks the next chance you get!!!
Minmae (I couldn't find pictures of Dreaming of Tanks and It's too hard for me to take pictures while Im rocking out and listening to the music!)
I also saw local indie rock band Roxy Jones rocking the Casbah and Minmae. Ok Minmae was SO GOOD TOO!! They melted my fucking face off more than once. Front man Sean fucking LAID IT DOWN with this soulful, makes you orgasm in your pants, murmur Holy Shit over and over, cant take No Dancing for an answer long bluesy delicious solo while his awesome band just backed it up superbly. They had an incredible sound, lots of songs to dance too. It was rock and roll!! They were all men (as opposed to waifish, moody, diminutive, quiet, pretentious emo kids posing as rockers) and they are obviously all skilled musicians who know what they are doing. They come out of Portland but Sean lived in San Diego for seven years. I suppose that is why the excruciatingly embarrassing crowd reaction to their didn't completely digust him like it did me. Holy shit this band just rocks the fuck out and then like four people are clapping and there is one weak Wooo in the silence following these epics songs. A+ for keeping your composure in the face of total lame ass ness. Fuck man, makes it hard to believe the Casbah is the birth place of SD punk and rock and roll. Minmae is heading out on a west coast tour before heading back home!
Roxy Jones
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