Thee Parkside March 13, 2004 Review by Jake Thomas I actually had a ticket to go check out the mellow country sounds of The Court & Spark down the street at Bottom of the Hill, but somehow it just didn’t feel right this night – something in me wanted a rock show, and by god I was going to have it. I sold my ticket and then made my way a few blacks down the street to Thee Parkside, where it’s widely known that if you want a rock show there’s a good chance they’ll have one for you. This nights bill featured a million bands like most nights at Thee Parkside, but the ones I actually caught were The Bananas and The Clorox Girls. Right after I stepped in the door The Bananas started playing…this band came recommended from someone whose opinion in music I value, and they were right – this was a very fun band. The singer was full of funny quips, the music was sloppy and poppy and a little bit punk, and the drummer was sitting on a crate that he broke by the end of their set. I have no idea if they have anything available for sale, they certainly didn’t say anything about it if they did, because I would have surely bought it. But then again, bands like this work best in a live setting anyways. Really catchy songs though that the ample crowd seemed to know all of the words to, and lots of happy moshing (essentially drunken bouncing off of one another wit ha lot of laughing) to go along with the sing-along. Somewhere between the first and second bands some random kid pinched my ass and then tried to blame it on his girl; I have no idea why (well, alcohol obviously), but that coupled with his incessant quoting of “The Chapelle Show” just made the night all that more silly and fun. After waiting forever, The Clorox Girls finally played. And no, none of them are girls, in case you were wondering. Pretty straight ahead, three chord punk stuff. Again, very sloppy but not nearly as poppy…definitely not as enjoyable as the Bananas but not bad either. Word on the street is their album is decent, I’ll have to keep my eyes open for it in the future. they did end on a high note, seemingly blowing the fuse and having their instruments crap out all at the same time, which led to a big pile-on on the stage and plenty of bewildered smiles from the band and crowd alike. The only instrument still audible in the end were the drums, and that was only until they were collapsed upon. I really wanted to stick around for The Fleshies, but I could hear my bed calling from the club; and at the rate the bands were breaking down/setting up, I would be there for quite a while before I ever saw the Fleshies on the stage. So home I went, happy with my choice of seeing a rock show this night – it really scratched that itch. ©2004 playinginfog.com |