Recent Stories with tag Visqueen

The opening half of last night's Deck the Hall Ball was a Whitman's sampler of poppy rock acts that might have seemed more at home at a fundraiser for KEXP than a holiday party for The End. The doors opened at the after school special hour of 4:30 p.m. to admit the around-the-block lines of mostly underagers waiting to get a prime spot for Muse.

By the time Visqueen finished their sound check, introduced Rachel's niece to the stage, and changed into their rocking clothes, the concrete arena had filled to respectable capacity for the hometown opening set. Each band fit about six songs into their thrifty twenty minute set: Vampire Weekend mostly played the hits from their self-titled debut and threw in "Cousins" [youtube] as a taste of next month's Contra. ...

Walking into the new(ish)ly-reopened Crocodile Café for the first time was a bit of a shock for me. The dilapidated old dive of yore’s been shined up and turned into, ahem, a genuine high-class venue, with a more audience-friendly main hall (no more wooden beams obstructing the stage view), fancy rock-star photos and gig posters lining the walls, an upstairs level, and an adjoining swanky pizzeria/bar. It’s right purdy, though the old knuckle-dragger in me sorely misses the funky, punky, ramshackle vibe of the old Croc.

Thankfully, the club’s continued to book quality local acts, three of which took to the stage on October 3. Newcomers Throw Me the Statue shared a record release party (for their sophomore long-player Creaturesque) with one of this town’s most beloved power-pop ensembles, Visqueen. Power trio Little Cuts anchored the opening slot.

The latter warmed up the audience capably serving up the kind of meat-and-potatoes loudness that this region breeds so well—...