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Pretty Girls Make Graves and the Fuse! The weekend kicked off with Veronica and i heading to the Café Du Nord in the city for Seattle indie punk outfit Pretty Girls Make Graves. We first stopped by Thailand Restaurant in the Castro for a few vegetarian curry puffs. Then it was a ten minute walk down Market to the venue. V's friend Hakeem was working the door, and graciously pulled us out of line and into the club. Despite our best efforts, we only missed one of the two opening bands. At our arrival, a best of Johnny Cash compilation was playing on the PA to commemorate his passing earlier that day, and one or two members of the next band, the Fuse!, were setting up. Veronica and i found a place to stand about ten feet back from the stage, and were thus treated to the mesmerising epic preparation of the band. For some unknown reason, each of the three musicians set up their instruments in succession rather than all at once, meaning it took them a good forty minutes to get a guitar, bass, and drums ready. The singer/guitarist was this deranged hispanic hipster wearing a swanky mod suit with a red shirt and skinny tie. The bass player looked more ordinary, but also had a nifty suit. If the preparations were any indication, they looked totally incompetent. I had a bad feeling we were in for a really horrible power pop set. After an intolerable wait, the drummer finally appeared (also in mod gear) and put together the drum kit, and the show began. The singer/guitarist sauntered up to his mic and said something incoherent about Johnny Cash. Then the music began. Lo and behold, they weren't retro at all, but launched into an emo punk set reminiscent of the Nation of Ulysses. All three completely rawked out, and left the stage and a good portion of their equipment a shattered wreck. During the set the guitarist made frequent trips into the audience, scaring the crap out of several indie kids who probably thought this nut was going to clobber them. The drummer wrapped things up by admitting he'd finished a bottle of rum on the way to the show, then picked up his cymbal stand and came within a cufflink of braining a fan in the front row. The best summary i can offer is that halfway through their set, Veronica told me "This might be the worst band i've ever seen", to which i replied, "These guys are f*#@ing awesome!". Pretty Girls Make Graves were great too. I liked their set a lot, despite the fact that the first song, "Something Bigger, Something Brighter" from their new Matador record The New Romance, sounded god damn awful. But when i remember the show, i can't get past the insane brilliance of the Fuse!.
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