Archive for the ‘David Bazan’ tag

David Bazan and his handsome bearded band

I moseyed on down to Tucson on Monday evening to see David Bazan. My last trip to Tucson was to see him, at the same venue, for a solo tour. However this time Bazan would be bringing a full band and I couldn’t have been more excited.
The opener was Say Hi, or Say Hi to Your Mom as they use to be called, I’m not a huge fan but they put on a great show. A lot of their music is backed by electronic synths and beats, which they didn’t use. It was all bass, guitar and drums, and sounded great. There were a couple slower songs that had the crowd singing along but the majority of their set was, by indie rock standards, pretty hard. I would have liked to see more synthesizers in their live show, but I did get to hear a lot of material from earlier albums I didn’t have.
Near the end of their set the frontman Eric Elbogen thanked the crowd and said to get ready for Bazan and his bearded band. He then looked over at Bazan, who was near the front listening with everyone else, and remarked on how handsome the band was and to be prepared for it.

Say Hi finished their set, Bazan and another guitarist took the stage… and then no one left the stage. The joke became obvious; Bazan’s band was basically Elbogen’s band. Sometimes you don’t realize how small a tour is until you see something like this. It really does makes sense to just use the same players for both acts. In the end Pedro the Lion was always Bazan and Say Hi has always really just been Elbogen, so why hire two sets of backing players? That’s just more people to have to fit in the van. The Solar Culture Club is not a large place, and its stage isn’t exactly huge, so five people on stage is a feat in of itself. Bazan’s guitarist was hilariously jeered for looking exactly like Jerry Garcia and the band played the new and old Bazan tunes very well. It was just a little funny to realize how frugal and indie the tour was.

Bazan played almost all of his new record, a few off of his solo EP and a couple Pedro tunes. There were no Headphones songs, which was a bummer. However the way the crowd erupted to the first new notes of “Magazine” off of Control made the whole evening worth it. I never got to see Pedro The Lion, and hopefully I’ll have more than a few more chances to see Bazan solo, but hearing a song like that with a full band was amazing.

I’d have grainy and mostly terrible cell phone video of the show but my damn iPhone wouldn’t jailbreak. I really had to use some will power to resist going out and buying a Flip Mino HD or similar camera for the show. The video that comes off my older iPhone isn’t great, that’s why you can’t officially shoot video with it, but it’s better than nothing.

Built to Spill has a new disc out, this post’s soundtrack is off of it. Go pick it up, it’s a fantastic release.

Curse your branches.

It’s been a good week. I headed out to San Diego on Monday morning, did a few hours of work and then had the evening to myself. Besides San Diego being a reasonable temperature during the summer, it’s just a great place to be left with some free time. I spent a few hours just hanging out on the beach and found an awesome brew pub to get some dinner. Tuesday I woke up and had a leisurely drive back to Phoenix… it was a pretty good way to start the work week. I don’t mind traveling for work, but it’s great that I only have to do it about once a month. I’m just not cut out for business travel.
On Wednesday I rolled into the office to hear that my project’s release date had once again been pushed back. This time it’s been postponed to next spring. Once again it’s not my fault, which is good, but the delays are only keeping my from renegotiating my contract. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good that I can even use those terms to describe this job. They have been very happy with my work and every indication I get is that I’m there, and on salary, for as long as I’d like to be. It’s a blessing, I just wish my personal budget included health insurance and more savings.

Speaking of health insurance, check out this clip from the Rachel Maddow show over on MSNBC. If you’re reading this via RSS or on Facebook you’ll need to follow the link below to the original post.

In my opinion there is currently no debate between the right and left on healthcare. One side wants to act like everything is perfect and the other wants to actually fix the problem. If you oppose the current healthcare plan (which is still very fluid) please educate yourself about the way other countries handle this and please don’t just accept our current norm as a solution.

David Bazan is releasing a new album next month and it’s absolutely amazing. The lyrics are thoughtful and at time heartbreaking, the music is inspired and well produced. It is at times a bit over produced, this is definitely the Achilles’ Heel sort of sound. After hearing nothing but acoustic Bazan, for what seems like years, it’s a welcome change to my ears. You can stream the whole album with a pre-order, I can’t recommend it more.

I got to see (500) Days of Summer recently. I’m too pretentious (yeah, do the math on that) to call it the best movie I’ve seen all year… but I did really, really enjoy the shit out of it. Go see it.

House Show

The David Bazan house show was great! A friend and I were the second to last guests to arrive at the house but David was running late so it wasn’t any big deal. He walked in a little while later and quickly took out a guitar and started playing. Just like that, someone’s living room became a venue.
There were 40 tickets sold and during conversation it seemed like a good many of the people were really from Tucson. Not very surprising, there is definitely a crowd there that is into indie music. I saw Bazan in Tucson last year even. He played just about every track from his upcoming album, a few Pedro the Lion tunes and one Headphones song. All in all it was a fun way to see a great singer song writer. A very cozy setting, it just felt like something that doesn’t happen everyday.
Between songs there were a lot of questions, ranging from why he was doing a house tour to if he still reads the bible. He said he was doing the house tour because his label didn’t want him to tour so close to the release of an album. He didn’t even hesitate to tell us that this was a way to keep up with rent and health insurance. No one minded, at $20 a ticket people still felt that this tour was something special. He also brought some of his recent DVDs to sell, it was all completely on the honor system. The proceeds from other shows still in the bag to make change with. When one person asked if he’d even take PayPal, totally on the person’s honor, David didn’t have any problem with it.
As for how often he reads the bible, he said that he has been reading it to his four year old daughter lately. He admitted that while some stories are easy, others are harder because he wants to somehow get across his doubts. Explaining to a child that a certain story to her mom is nothing but truth, and to him just a good story, is difficult. So he tries to stick to parables and such.
David Bazan lost his faith some time ago, if you listen to his music that isn’t so hard to realize. It’s amazing to me to see someone like that. For Bazan it’s undeniable that there is truth to Christianity, but he just can’t wrap his head around it. The songs were he expresses his doubts and highlights the troubling parts of spirituality have always been good for me when I have my doubts. Not because they make me doubt more, but because they remind me it’s healthy to doubt. Even if I were to lose my faith it’s obvious that it wouldn’t completely leave me. It definitely still lingers for Bazan.

Here’s a video from the show. (Facebook and RSS readers will have to follow the “original post” link below)

The release date for my project at work got pushed back. I’m not really so sure if that is a good or bad thing, but I do have more time to work on it. Things have been going well on it for the last couple weeks now, I’m excited to get it done.

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