Do Ya Hear We: Shell Shag @ The Low Down, 6.20,2009
Normally two pieces don’t do it for me. They tend to be too simple … and hip. While I’m not sure Shell Shag will be making it to my daily play list, they will be a must see live. Not sure how they flew under my radar so long.
Their set was probably the best of the fest. Think about that: there were 40-plus other bands including long-waited reunions. By playing for what seemed like an hour, Shell Shag even made up for Jack Palance Band’s no show which was suppose to highlight the night.
Trading in keyboards for a guitar, I got a Matt and Kim vide. Are they the next punk favorite to get big? Meaning will they soon be heard in a Bacardi commercial like their fellow Brooklyn rockers?
June 25, 2009 at 3:10 pm
They’re a great band. Too fuzzy for a Bacardi commercial, I think.
Unfortunately I was laying in the grass outside during this set… quite a night.
June 25, 2009 at 11:32 pm
It wasn’t the ravine was it? Not even that fall could top Jim’s down the hill later that night.
June 26, 2009 at 2:13 am
this might have been the best set of the weekend. even though shell shag is not the best band to have played, my vote goes to horrible odds, they really brought it all together in a way no one else did saturday night. before heading down heather of what if had dropped off a bunch of the programs in columbus. in the intro it talked about their scene losing people through tragedy. it was vague and jim and i speculated what this meant. when i was down there i found out that two of their friends from their city had passed away including one of the members of AK77. shell shag covered this band’s most popular song whose lyrics go “fuck society, fuck sobreity, fuck everybody, we are the skum fux” in homage to those who never knew that saying goodbye really meant saying goodbye to paraphrase the words of jack palence band’s song “how can i”. i thought it was a touching memorial to those who we will miss. the feelings in the air were palpable as the heat and humidity of the unseasonably warm weekend, even by chattanoogs standards. it felt like the songs we sing really do matter for something more than just what they are. i wish i felt this about punk more often than what i do these days.
i defintly see shell shag becoming the next moldy peaches or magnetic fields. especially since they are touring many shows soon with the new blow ups the screaming females and recently played sxsw. their drummer shell went to osu in the early 90s and told me some funny stories about it at the picnic. real oddballs just like their music, which i think i will pay closer attention to now.