All photos and words: Paul Goodman
Grand Duchy's Thursday night show at the Black Cat was the act's eighth show since their May "warm-up" tour, and only their first since then to include Black's wife, Violet Clark. More on that in a second.
First: Bunnies. Bunnies played the majority of their 45-minute set to an empty floor. Apparently the three-man band doesn't have much of a following. Their sound is a combination of rock, punk rock, experimental rock, with some spoken word thrown in for good measure. And I like most of those sounds, but Bunnies had a strange way of mixing styles: it felt they lined up the sounds on a musical slot machine, pulled the handle, and played whatever came up. Not always bad, but the mangled mix and multiple false endings turned me off.
Things got a little awkward after the show as the lead guitarist asked his audience -- all eight engaged listeners -- if anyone had somewhere for the band to stay the night.
Anyway, Frank Black was clearly the draw, as people filtered in until the Cat was about 1/3 full. The crowd was definitely of an older vintage, and may have hoped to relive some of the Pixies magic. And they got a cover or two thrown into the mix.
Black's presence on stage was low-key and unassuming, a stark contrast to his wife and bandmate Violet Clark's apparent attempt at being a badass. She spent a good deal of her time on stage looking severe and sauntering around her corner of the floor with her bass. I might have believed that she was tough, too, except that she would routinely smile to herself. Maybe she's just overcompensating -- I can't really blame her for having a complex about performing with a bona fide rock star.
Anyway, enough about that. Pictures:
Previously in Live DC:
- 2/3: Live DC: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour @ RnR Hotel
- 2/3: LiveDC: Smith Westerns @ Black Cat
- 2/2: PHOTOS: Elizaveta @ Jammin' Java
- 2/1: PHOTOS: H Street Karaoke Championship
- 1/31: LiveDC: Carsie Blanton @ Black Cat
- 1/31: LiveDC: Loose Lips/ Lightfoot/ Paperhaus/ Ugly Purple Sweater @ Black Cat
- 1/30: LiveDC: Jeff Mangum @ Lincoln Theatre
- 1/30: LiveDC: Coeur de Pirate @ 930 Club
- 1/26: LiveDC: Ryan Adams @ Strathmore
- 1/25: LiveDC: GHOST @ RNR Hotel
God loves a cheerful giver.
The Steinbrenner/Hohner headless basses may look tight, but they sound dreadful.
Sorry - Steinberger
At one point Frank couldn't remember what movie they'd written a song for - at which point Violet informed him that it's "not his job to be confused." Whether or not she's a badass, anybody who can toss around Spinal Tap references at a woefully under-attended show owns a little piece of my heart.
Patrick, that seems like a bit of a generalization. Certainly most any Hohner headless bass will sound terrible, especially with stock pickups. But I'm not sure about the claim about Steinberger basses sounding dreadful too - which Steinbergers specifically do you mean? I mean, how many have you heard that sound dreadful to you? There's a pretty long history and a wide variety of them that have been made with a variety of different electronics/etc. At worst the usual complaint about Steinbergers is generally having a bit more of a sterile/cold sound (which has also been said of other all graphite basses like the Status Graphite basses made in the UK). But their clean sound can be excellent - one reason they were and continue to be quite popular in reggae, for example.
Anybody who makes a generalized statement like that about Steinberger or even Hohner headless basses clearly doesn't know jack about making music, guitars or either brand. There are a ton of kick ass, top notch bass players out there who play them and swear by them. Sounds like a case of sour grapes, to me.
By the way, Violet is playing a Steinberger, as can be clearly seen in the photo close up of her pick hand.
Sorry Patrick, but owning both a Steinberger L2 and a Hohner B2A, I can tell you that you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about in your blatantly uneducated generalization. I have yet to hear a bad sounding Steinberger (they're known for their great sound), and the Hohners -albeit a big step down from the Steinbergers- aren't "dreadful" (think along the lines of a MIM Fender). This being said, any bass can be made to sound like crap through amp or board settings. Coincidentally (per a following post) I own a graphite Status Empathy also. I can dial in a warmer jazz tone than ANY vintage Fender or other piece of wood I've ever owned. I honestly think all of the hearsay gets started by people who have never owned a graphite instrument. I have NEVER talked to another player (who actually owns one of these instruments) who doesn't love their graphite Steinberger, Status, Modulus, or Zon.
i love my 2 steinbergers - i've got 'em strung up as piccolo basses. my wife plays drums and we've no guitar player! and many of our shows are almost as crowded as a Bunny show...
I own 8 basses, 3 of them are Steinbergers, and the all graphite L2 or XL2 is an amazing sounding bass. I wasn't at the show even though I live in town and there is always a possibility that on that night she did not sound good but I doubt it was the fault of the instrument.
too many variables to state what sucked. the amp sucked? the bass sucked? the settings on the amp sucked?
the person listening sucked?
i remember going to gigs with "music industry" types and they always had screwy reasons for hating the music. basically because they didn't know what they were talking about/ were insecure about their cluelessness/had to spew an opinion out to feel like they had some sense of authority.
not that i am accusing of anybody being a "music industry" type. that would be a really sleazy and low act.
i own 734 basses, 19 of them are graphite, 13 are wood, 7 are plastic,4 are made out of water, 2 are made out of oil (light sweet crude), 2 more are made out of plasma, and the rest are made out of air.
they all sound like shit.
i don't own any basses because they all sound like shit
This band was amazing. Their drummer was one of the best I've seen in a while. He wasn't over the top, yet his playing style was very clean and powerful. Great show.
...and by "this band" I was actually referring to Bunnies and their drummer. They may not have much of a following but they were really dope.