Friday, July 16, 2010

Deerhoof /The Donkeys @ Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, 8 July 2010

The Donkeys are having a good time. They have a hot guitarist and the rest of the band share the vocal duties around. Yes, this means they have a singing drummer: he is pretty good but he has to stop that trick of raising one drumstick to the sky. The band has a soft rock, 70s sound and they reminded me of 10CC. As I was brought up on The Original Soundtrack this is a good thing.
Obligatory complaining about photographers: the annoying person was a young woman who was standing on the stage to take photos. I think she thought she was invisible because she was wearing black.
Deerhoof, Le Trabendo, Paris

I have heard several Deerhoof records, and liked them, but that didn't prepare me for how good they are live. They were formed by drummer Greg Saunier. He has has minimal drum kit set up and the front, and he pounds it. He also provides several long winded but mildly humourous speeches to the crowd. There are two guitarists who play like James "Blood" Ulmer crossed with Bob Mould. Finally Vocalist/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki provides cute and mellow vocals. I don't think this combination should work but it does. This was a fantastic gig. I proclaim Deerhoof to be the best ever band from San Francisco. I look forward to seeing them again.

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