Lights That Flash in the Evening: Superchunk/Tommy Keene/Let's Wrestle @ 930 Club, Washington, DC (9-17-2010)

Superchunk came to town on Friday with the great Tommy Keene and Let's Wrestle, an English band on the Merge label. My Washington City Paper review is live (rest of the photos are here) but a few things I didn't mention in my City Paper review are...

-I have not been able to stop listening to "Brand New Love," a Sebadoh song which Superchunk covered Friday night and recorded on the Tossing Seeds: Singles 89-91 record. I then sought out the Sebadoh version and HOW. ON. EARTH. have I lived this long and not known the beauty of Lou Barlow's writing? His voice delicately plays these gorgeous words and then you're hit with the massive wall of feedback, which gets louder on the last go-round of the chorus. It's such an incredibly stunning dichotomy that I'm now on a mission to educate myself in all things Sebadoh.

-Whomever it is that is doing the lighting at the 930 Club as of late, I BEG you, enough with the red/yellow lighting already. You usually do such a great job and I never have an issue but the last two weeks, you're just killing me man. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

-Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster does a riotously funny tour blog (here). Apparently, if Superchunk vs. Bob Mould were head-to-head in a loudness battle, Superchunk would win. I knew it would be close but wowza (and Wurster should know being the guy who's making a fair share of said noise). Says he:

I’d forgotten this feeling. I’m lying in bed in my friend Phil’s apartment the morning after a New York City Superchunk show– a scene that’s taken place a hundred times since I joined the band in October of 1991. And true to form, I’m in pain.

My ears are howling from last night’s sonic assault. And I’m not talking about the dressing down I received from that cop before the show (when did this “no throwing garbage cans through store windows” law go into effect?). Though I’ve spent our nine years off the road touring with other musicians (The Mountain Goats/Robert Pollard/Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar, etc) the Superchunk wall of sound is like none other. I’ve had the great pleasure of drumming with Bob Mould since ’08 and while those shows are LOUD I don’t recall waking up later with the sound of the world’s largest ocean (the Sea of Crete, if I’m not mistaken –someone please Wiki this) between my ears.(Source)

-I've always had a thing for drummers but awesome drummer + funny + cute as a button=I think I'm in love with Jon Wurster.

-Mac McCaughan, I just want to say that god bless you for showing that we older folks can still do a mean pogo. The man did not stay still the entire 90 minutes it was a great thing to watch. Oh, and Mac, "Learned to Surf" is probably one of the greatest power punk pop songs of all time.

-Tommy Keene's young nephew sat behind the drum kit for one song during Keene's set (as did Wurster). The best part? His nephew was sporting a Replacements t shirt from the cover of Let It Be. (If you don't know, Keene played guitar on one of Paul Westerberg's tours.I wish I had an uncle like Tommy Keene for reals...

-Let's Wrestle are super nice guys. I didn't get to see them at SXSW like I wanted, so it was great to see them here. And their stuff is on par with the catchy-as-hell "We Are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon."

Give a Listen:
-Brand New Love-Sebadoh/Buy Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock

-Brand New Love-Superchunk/Buy Tossing Seeds (Singles 89-91)

-Save This Harmony-Tommy Keene/Buy You Hear Me: A Retrospective

-We Are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon-Let's Wrestle/Buy In The Court of the Wrestling Let's