Although I'd never been to Rainbow Connection, it turned out I'd passed it a hundred times, usually on my way to and from another venue only a block west.
Hyped on stories of a New Years Eve show at the nearby Alf House, I was ready to rip it up at the artist-run Rainbow Connection. But true to the venue's name, the night's vibes were totally chill. The place was well-kept too, despite what I'd assumed based on its art-punk clientele and organizers. Maybe everyone has cleaned up their acts in light of last year's rampant closures of DIY spaces.
My expectations for Woolworm were pretty damned high, given that my friend had gushed about them to me since we saw the similarly melodic punk band Swearin'. Even though Woolworm were at their "worst" that my friend had seen, he clarified that they were still awesome. I had to agree. When they started sounding too much like dweeby 90s rock, they veered away from predictable chord progressions towards less structured guitar spasms and crashing drums. One of the most exhilarating sounds all night was a teeth-clenched grunt from singer/guitarist Giles Roy. "RRR!", his muzzled primitive cry went, stuck in his throat. Woolworm closed with a lung-blowingly abrupt end to the final song, "Kill Yourself", which more familiar fans clearly anticipated with their on-cue headbang.
So Pitted, so amazing. First show of the year down, and I can already tell they will be difficult to top. Like Woolworm, Seattle's futuristic grunge trio So Pitted were a band I'd never heard outside of Bandcamp. But I heard some out-of-this-world sounds at Rainbow Connection - not just amazing music but amazing sounds. So Pitted were the clatter of broken robots, the last of a long-obsolete line, fighting to regain dominance. They'll sling mud and kamikaze - these rusted, post-civilization marauders hold nothing back in their sonic raids.
Singer Nathan Rodriguez's noise-bogged guitar blended with Jeannine Koewler's radioactive bass to create a volatile mix, heavy and toxic like industrial waste. It's difficult to be that adventurous behind a drum set as minimal as Liam Downey's; by comparison, he beat away on his drums rather unassumingly. Yet it was when Downey tagged in for guitar and vocals, and Rodriguez tagged out for drums, that So Pitted got freakiest. Whereas vocal mods warped Nathan's snarling into belly-of-the-beast grandeur, the "unassuming" Downey kept calm - creepy, but calm, his voice Animorphed into insectivorous chirps; he even put on a pair X-Ray Spex-like goggles, giving him a cricket-like appearance to match. Meanwhile, Nathan looked so tamed - almost neutered - behind the drums. Downey's guitarwork sounded more calculated and peculiar than Nathan's, which relied more on tones and volume.
After So Pitted was what the whole night was about: the premier of the Courtneys' "Lost Boys" video. The projector signal cut out halfway through, and because we missed an "integral" part (said Courtneys drummer/main singer Jen Twynn Payne), they replayed their four-minute video. I certainly did not mind.
Oddly, the premier came not before the Courtneys but before yet another band, Peace, even though it was the night's main focus. Maybe it was the building's construction, but every band sounded great; even Peace were the best I'd ever heard them.
The Courtneys' set began as usual: easy going, everyone lightly bobbing their heads as the band settles into a gliding groove. Then somehow, "90210", possibly the Courtneys' chillest song (the lyrics even advise listeners to "chill out"), always manages to send bodies flyin'. The crowd topples over amps, knocks over mic stands, which swing into the band; someone always puts the mics back in place, but the ritual just repeats itself all night. It's usually the same live routine with the Courtneys, with one major exception, but I eat it up every time.
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