The Long Winters and Nada Surf Sneak into the Croc Under Aliases

The Long Winters at the Crocodile

Never heard of the Newton Girls? How about Rad Snafu? Yes, well, neither had anyone else until about a week ago. The Crocodile quietly disclosed performances by each of these bands, held less than a week apart. Eventually they let it slip that the bands were in disguise, and the craftier among us could figure it out via anagram. Luckily, there were much smarter people than me in my Twitter feed that discovered the bands to be the Long Winters and Nada Surf.

Grand Hallway at the Crocodile

The Long Winters were preceded by Grand Hallway, an amazing group in their own right. They are talented musicians from other bands around town like the Maldives, Shenandoah Davis, and the Head and The Heart. Tomo Nakayama has a subtle power in his voice that commands attention from his audience. The crowd may have been sparse--the large group yet to come was only interested in the main act--but Grand Hallway gave credit to their name, filling every nook and cranny with their lingering melodies.

The Long Winters came on stage to a nearly (if not completely) sold-out crowd of die-hard fans. It had been a long time since they had played in front of a Seattle crowd, or as frontman John Roderick put it: "Way too long."

Half of them were newbies to the group: Eric Corson moved from bass to guitar, they've grabbed a new drummer to fill Nabil Ayers mighty shoes, and a friend of John's stepped in on the bass.

It was a helluva show that started with the entirety of what would turn out be their Sasquatch set, as well as a Crocodile-only bonus set. Roderick hit on most of the favorites from all the Long Winters' albums, including "Carparts," "Cinnamon," "Clouds," and "The Commander Thinks Aloud." I was left breathless and wired for the next couple of days. Hell, even if you weren't a fan, Roderick's tongue-in-cheek charm displayed between songs would have won you over in a second.

Pearly Gate Music at the Crocodile

A few short days later, while all those chumps were sitting in post-Sasquatch traffic, the Croc was filled to the rafters yet again. This time with a slightly different crowd (noticeably older) but just as feverish for the music to come.

Pearly Gate Music started out the night. Zach Tillman played a solo gig at the Round at Fremont Abbey last month that gave quite a different impression than Monday night. Their lyrics are at times touching and others funny, but always heartfelt.

Nada Surf at the Crocodile

Nada Surf has been around a long time. I had no idea how long until lead vocalist Matthew Caws noted it'd been fourteen years since the first time they had played in Seattle.  They have a surprising number of hits you might recognize from the soundtracks of television shows like How I Met Your Mother, One Tree Hill, and Six Feet Under. There was little--if any--early-era Nada played, dating way back to when "Popular" was their big hit. Despite (or because of) the lack of oldies, the show was amazing.

They may have been around the block, but these guys played like they were twenty-year olds, just excited to be onstage playing songs they believe in. You couldn't help but get swept up in it.