since 05/15/99
04/21/99 Ché Cafe, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA: Jejune, Uphollow, Pinback, Slowride
While in California, I got the opportunity to see Jejune! I was surprised to get to this show. I was at the San Diego Zoo and had made plans to see Old Time Relijun at the same club later that night. I called to confirm that the show was still on, and it turned out that Old Time Relijun was playing on Thursday the 22nd. The following night, however, Jejune was playing!
They played at a small cafe, known as the Ché Café, named after Cuban revolutionist Ché Guevara. This cafe is similar to The Space in Worcester only a little smaller. They have free vegetarian food and a literature rack, featuring flyers, zines, brochures relating to politics and music, as well as whatever anybody else wanted to put there. It's a really great place.
I felt slightly out of place, seeing that I was a good two years younger than most people there and that they were all from UCSD and knew each other. Oh well...
Slowride, from Dallas, Texas didn't really seem to fit the bill. They had an extremely heavy blink-182 (from Cheshire Cat days) influence, and at times sounded like MxPx. For those who are familiar with the Merrimack Valley pop-punk scene, they were similar to Spiff45, circa "Everybody Loves Kung-Fu Fighting". If you told me they were from New Jersey, it wouldn't have surprised me. They have a six song EP out, which I bought, and it's definitely worth the $5. The bassist, who's really talented, came up to Boston last year as the merchandise guy for Hagfish, when they were on tour with Save Ferris. He loved the Middle East and was disappointed to hear about what happened at the Ducky Boys/Anti-Heros show last year, that brought about the change from All Ages to 18+. They're hoping to play in the east, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and/or Connecticut sometime over the summer or fall.
The next band, called Pinback, hailed from the San Diego area and were extremely unique. They had a fair audience reaction. They played indie-rock, in the vein of Braid, meeting James Brown at a Phish concert with a keyboardist and occasional hip-hop beats…all in a good way. I was impressed enough by them, but I did fall asleep in the middle of their set.
Uphollow, from Denver, Colorado, played next and I have a lot of trouble describing their sound. They had a fill in bassist from Los Angeles and she seemed to have fun "fighting" with one of the two vocalists throughout their set. They played poppy, spazzy, faster paced indie rock. Spazz-pop? Guitar-spazz? It was their last show of their west coast spring tour.
Now, when Jejune took the stage, it was 12:35 AM, which I may point out is 3:35 AM Boston time. So, I was a little tired and my dad had been waiting for me in the car for over an hour. But, I had to see Jejune, so I stayed awake. They opened with "One Transmission" which may have been extra good because of how sleepy I was, but it was probably the best song I have ever seen any band perform ever. A mesmerizing blend of male and female vocals. Mmmmm. After that, I stuck around for a few more songs, and was able to hear "Demonica". If you are ever going to see a band live, make sure it's Jejune.
I'm glad that I made it to this show. I was hoping to see Ignite on Friday the 23rd, but I couldn't find the club's location