Went to see a couple local bands play last night. Pretty decent show for the most part. Stiff Valentine is a mostly solo project by LoudChris (with help from his imaginary friend Bob last night) providing a bit of noise and screaming on top of electronic tracks and guitar. Caustic Pleasures features LoudChris on keyboards, and sounds not a bit like SV. They’re more straight forward punk-influenced rock with 37 guitars more or less (2 guitar, 2 bass).

SV presented a paradox of sorts… We know that accepting candy from strangers can be a bad idea, but being CANDY, it can prove difficult to resist. Candy from a blood spattered keyboardist; how could that be a bad idea? I suggest next time that LoudChris take a bit of inspiration from 70s super-comedian Gallagher, but use a pig’s stomach as a pinata, filled with tasty treats; or eyeballs; either way. Interesting noise, and I only lost a tiny fraction of a percent of the hearing in only one ear; perhaps next time SV will try harder to affect a whole percentage point. I have a couple good shots of the blood and gore that will follow later.

CP has learned to tune their guitars, and they made sure to show us all through their set. At one time, all ofthe guitars on stage were being simultaneously tuned, and Matt made sure to call attention to it, stating that they learned their lesson last time. There were a couple hitches that I noticed, but nothing major; though some band members assured me that they sucked, it was a pretty decent show. A distinct improvement over their first outing; this time they had ALL members on stage.

CP started with 1 kilt-wearing member on their first public show. On this; their second show; they had two kilts. I expect they will eventually ALL be kilted and will open for The Real MacKenzies at some point.

A Spectre Haunting Europe; the headliner; was a miss due to work in the morning, nico’s hunger, and basic lack of interest…