Faraquet - Black Cat - 9/19/2008
Wow. Just wow. I picked up on Faraquet a while back (2004ish?), and instantly fell in love with the intricate guitar work. Sadly they had broken up in 2001, though two main members went on to form another good (but not Faraquet) band, Medications.
So the story is, the two members of Faraquet were putting together a singles compilation album, and they remember how much fun and how incredible it was to perform the music. They decided to start practicing the ol' songs and get a gig together, somehow ending up with two gigs in Brazil. Faraquet is a DC based band, never really toured that much outside of the area, so I'm not really sure how Brazil came about. But, almost a year after the Brazil gig, they scheduled a DC show at the Black Cat club. I'm so happy I stumbled across the Black Cat site on Monday while trying to get tickets for Ratatat (which is showing early october), because I just happened to see that Faraquet was playing Thursday! I immediately nabbed a ticket.
The night of the show, I got home at about 7ish. Messed around a while, and biked up to Twinbrook Metro, arriving at about 7:45. Made it to the club at about 8:30, drank a beer or two (of which their selection was pretty meh), and generally felt way out of place. But, whatever, I perused for a while, waiting for the show to start. Eventually the first band makes it out on stage. I was really hoping that Faraquet would play first, but alas, they played the last of 3 sets. Anywho; as I was saying, the first group makes it out on stage, and they're interesting. Red Tag Rummage Sale out of Buffalo, NY, consisting of a Cello and Electric Guitar player. While the songs were a bit odd (mostly the vocals), the music was really pretty nice. The guitar player was really... unique, almost seemed like he had some mental ailment while playing, shaking his head and making all kinds of odd motions while seated/playing. Oh, and he also played the guitar via the tap method, which is odd but neat.
After Red Tag Rummage Sale finished up, a local band, Statehood was up. They took a loooong time to set up, mostly because the rhythm/background guitar player also had a keyboard/laptop/midi setup to do. Ultimately, they sounded pretty generic, not bad but not noticeable. Heavy heavy use of pedals and gimicks, combined with an unreasonably loud set (so much so that it drowned out the vocals), made for a very "meh" set. And they kept on doing songs, way longer than the first band's set, which added to the "meh"-ity. I felt a bit sorry for them, since they had a decent amount of stage presence, they probably would've done a lot better in a larger venue.
Finally, the band of the hour makes it on at about 11:15pm. No stage banter, quick setup (maybe 4 pedals between the guitar and bassist), and they got right into the music. WOW. Absolutely incredible performance. The lead guitarist has incredible stage presence, not doing anything flashy but just... perfectly "in tune with the music" motions. Hard to describe. They played a few songs I wasn't familiar with (which were singles I believe), and a good portion of their one full album as Faraquet. The crowd was loving it (singing along, yelling out at the perfect times), the place was packed, there were a few guys up front doing headbanging/flailing/etc. It was SO much fun, and since there was someone there from Dime a Dozen doing video/audio recording, I'll be able to get the show online shortly!
The show finally lets out after 2 or 3 encore songs at about 12:30. Oh right, I took the metro. Oh right, the metro closes at midnight. FUCK! A $30 cab ride later, I was back at the Twinbrook metro, and rode my bike home. Absolutely incredible evening, but I'll be sure to drive to the next performance I go to.
So the story is, the two members of Faraquet were putting together a singles compilation album, and they remember how much fun and how incredible it was to perform the music. They decided to start practicing the ol' songs and get a gig together, somehow ending up with two gigs in Brazil. Faraquet is a DC based band, never really toured that much outside of the area, so I'm not really sure how Brazil came about. But, almost a year after the Brazil gig, they scheduled a DC show at the Black Cat club. I'm so happy I stumbled across the Black Cat site on Monday while trying to get tickets for Ratatat (which is showing early october), because I just happened to see that Faraquet was playing Thursday! I immediately nabbed a ticket.
The night of the show, I got home at about 7ish. Messed around a while, and biked up to Twinbrook Metro, arriving at about 7:45. Made it to the club at about 8:30, drank a beer or two (of which their selection was pretty meh), and generally felt way out of place. But, whatever, I perused for a while, waiting for the show to start. Eventually the first band makes it out on stage. I was really hoping that Faraquet would play first, but alas, they played the last of 3 sets. Anywho; as I was saying, the first group makes it out on stage, and they're interesting. Red Tag Rummage Sale out of Buffalo, NY, consisting of a Cello and Electric Guitar player. While the songs were a bit odd (mostly the vocals), the music was really pretty nice. The guitar player was really... unique, almost seemed like he had some mental ailment while playing, shaking his head and making all kinds of odd motions while seated/playing. Oh, and he also played the guitar via the tap method, which is odd but neat.
After Red Tag Rummage Sale finished up, a local band, Statehood was up. They took a loooong time to set up, mostly because the rhythm/background guitar player also had a keyboard/laptop/midi setup to do. Ultimately, they sounded pretty generic, not bad but not noticeable. Heavy heavy use of pedals and gimicks, combined with an unreasonably loud set (so much so that it drowned out the vocals), made for a very "meh" set. And they kept on doing songs, way longer than the first band's set, which added to the "meh"-ity. I felt a bit sorry for them, since they had a decent amount of stage presence, they probably would've done a lot better in a larger venue.
Finally, the band of the hour makes it on at about 11:15pm. No stage banter, quick setup (maybe 4 pedals between the guitar and bassist), and they got right into the music. WOW. Absolutely incredible performance. The lead guitarist has incredible stage presence, not doing anything flashy but just... perfectly "in tune with the music" motions. Hard to describe. They played a few songs I wasn't familiar with (which were singles I believe), and a good portion of their one full album as Faraquet. The crowd was loving it (singing along, yelling out at the perfect times), the place was packed, there were a few guys up front doing headbanging/flailing/etc. It was SO much fun, and since there was someone there from Dime a Dozen doing video/audio recording, I'll be able to get the show online shortly!
The show finally lets out after 2 or 3 encore songs at about 12:30. Oh right, I took the metro. Oh right, the metro closes at midnight. FUCK! A $30 cab ride later, I was back at the Twinbrook metro, and rode my bike home. Absolutely incredible evening, but I'll be sure to drive to the next performance I go to.