A couple of months back Isaac and I had all these grandiose plans of attending one of the most anticipated shows of the year, the O’Brother and Junius show at Kilby Court February 29th. I remember thinking how stoked I was to hear some Beneath Your Garden Window live after previously missing O’Brother’s slot opening up for Thrice back in November. At the time I was not yet aware of Junuis’ sweet sultry chaos but, when I saw that they were playing with O’Brother I checked them out and quickly discovered that this bands metal gaze amazingness was right up my alley (see New Jayams post). As the days ticked by I thought about this upcoming show at least once every other day because both bands were on constant rotation in the ol’ car stereo. Then one day I come home from work and my wife’s says “Let’s go to Mexico!” and I say “Sure!” then blinded by the glorious visions of playing tequilla water volleyball I promptly book the sun filled getaway so that I am returning home at like midnight on the 29th (the day of the show). Not realizing this yet I went to bed to dream of sombreros and fierce Mexican feral cats that tend to wander around the resorts down there. The next morning I am awoken with the sheer panic and terror realizing what I had done. I immediately logged on to the computer and soon discovered that it would be around $300 to change the dates of the trip. I seriously thought about changing things around, then decided that as much as O’Brother and Junius wanted me to be there they did not want me to sacrifice a bunch of money to do so.
My thoughts then went to Isaac and a huge regret set in because I am ditching out on our geeked out music man date. After texting him, he assured me that he was still attending and that he would buy me a sticker from both bands in exchange for a mail order bride from south of the border (seemed like a fair deal). This made me feel a little at ease but, deep down inside there was a very sad feeling of doom and depression. I remember as we took off blowing a kiss through the airplane window to my new two favorite bands that I was not going to be able to see.
Upon arriving back from a five-day sun drenched tourism binge I got a hold of Isaac to see how jealous he was going to make me that I missed the show. But, I soon came to find out that fates cruel hand had also prevented my friend from attending the #OBrunius show as well. Apparently he had an earth shattering battle with the Abominable Snowman while trying to shovel his way out of the blizzard that occurred in his driveway the night of the show. That snow crazed son of bitch cold cocked him and busted up his lip while simultaneously convincing all of his “other” friends not to go with him to the concert that night (ruthless bastards).
Exhibit A:
So long story short, neither of us made it to the show and we are both missing a piece of our soul and feel less masculine and hip for missing out.
As a result of missing out on the show I began stocking both bands on Twitter ( @obrothermusic & @juniusmusic ) and noticed that at every stop on the tour they usually had a local opener. To try to console my grief I began checking some of these bands out and the majority of these “local” openers in each town are downright bad ass. So as some sort of strange tribute and half-assed apology I thought it would be cool to shout out to some of the bands that I really liked that opened up for #Obrunius on tour and give them some recognition / praise for one, making sweet jams and two, being lucky enough to open for two of the coolest bands out right now.
Salt Lake City’s very own… Loom
http://www.facebook.com/loom801?sk=app_178091127385
Maps for Travelers Kansas City, MO (Home of the Royals… Go Royals!!) – Heavy Indie Rock
http://www.facebook.com/mapsfortravelers
Lucida Tela Littleton, CO – Progressive Ambient Rock
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lucida-Tela/138749486162138?sk=app_2405167945
Children of Nova San Diego, CA – Progressive Rock (So Good!)
http://www.facebook.com/childrenofnova?sk=app_2405167945
TheEnd of the Ocean Columbus, OH – Instrumental Post Rock
http://theendoftheocean.com/media
RIBS Boston, MA – Rock
Black Clouds Washington, DC – Post Metal Ambience (These guys don’t have much out right now, but they are superb)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Clouds/299404576740418?sk=app_178091127385
Beware of Safety Los Angeles, CA – Experimental Instrumental Rock
http://www.bewareofsafety.com/audio_video.html
Junior Astronomers Charlotte, NC – Indie/Post Punk
http://juniorastronomers.bandcamp.com/
The Soil and the Sun Grand Rapids, MI – Folk Rock / Space Rock / Post Rock / Great
If you dig any of these bands hook them up and follow them on Twitter or Facebook, Support Local Art!
Update: O’Brother will be opening up for Thrice on there farewell tour on 06/07 so I have a chance to redeem myself. But in between then it seems that the band will be a playing with ALOT of other bands…