The Pink Spiders
October 1, 2008
The Record Bar
Better than: Watching baseball on TV.
By CRYSTAL K. WIEBE
Click bloody-finger photo for slide show.
“Why is nobody here???”
That’s the final thing I scrawled in my notebook last night. I wrote it, beer dripping down my head and chest at the end of the Pink Spiders’ set last night at the Record Bar.
It's a question I ask myself a lot during sweet rock and roll moments in nearly empty clubs. This show was full of them – singer Matt Friction bleeding from a finger and dressing the wound with the set list; a random cover of the kids song “Baby Beluga”; and finally, guitarist and keyboard player Raf shooting a stream of beerspit right at me.
I guess it’s true that some of these moments, particularly the last, wouldn’t have happened if more people had shown up. In fact, had the bar been packed, my friend and I probably wouldn’t have gotten in. We almost missed the show as it was – somehow the band had failed to put this broke reporter on the guest list. We were about to head home when Raf heard what happened and took my word that I was legit. “Oh well. We don’t know anyone here, anyway,” he told the doorman, who gave us wristbands. Then Raf turned to us: “Let’s drink.”
And so we did – with Raf and every Pink Spider except for the temporary bass player, Denver, who seemed to be on the phone or parked at the merch booth all night. Full disclosure: No alcoholic favors were traded, just stories. (Although the band spoke highly of American Honey whiskey.) The scraggly-haired Friction showed off pictures of his nephew, born just hours earlier (and to whom he’d dedicate “Baby Beluga” on stage later). He also showed pictures of girls he thought my friend, Sarah, and I resembled. Over the course of the two opening bands, we also learned that, save for Friction, the entire Pink Spiders lineup has changed since I discovered the band back in 2006. Now it’s “exponentially better,” according to Raf.
I can’t vouche for that – last night was the first time I managed to catch the Pink Spiders live. (A gig at Record Bar was canceled last year when Friction lost his voice in Texas the night before.) But I can say that I earned some new respect for a band I once considered a guilty pleasure.
Tipsy but not trashed, the band took the stage around 12:30 a.m. Friction, who I’ll admit looks a lot better in the limelight and without his glasses, announced his band and bounced off the bass drum.
“We’re the Pink Spiders,” he yelled, “and we make rock and roll that sounds like this!”
And so it began.
The Pink Spiders once toured with Good Charlotte, and it’s clear why – these sassy hooks that stick in your head for days are totally kid-sister songs, like punk in pink legwarmers. (In fact, I’m sure that a lot of people’s kid sisters would have been at the Record Bar if it hadn’t been a 21-and-over show.)
And yet, there’s something grittier to Pink Spiders songs. It’s in Friction’s songwriting, sometimes so mean and nihilistic but usually honest. Example from “Gimme Chemicals”: She blew my nose and then she curled my toes/And then she made me breakfast, laid out my clothes/Went back to sleep and never called her back/The only plans I make are to the block and back.
Here's hoping the Spiders plan to come back to KC someday soon.
Set List
Soft Smoke
Sleeping on the Floor
Next Best Option (?)
Modern Swinger
Little Razorblade
Hollywood Fix
American Girl (Tom Petty cover)
Busy Signals
Baby Beluga
Seventeen Candles
Adalae
Teenage Graffiti
Gimme Chemicals
Easy Way Out
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: Teenage Graffiti was a special album for myself and a certain ex-boyfriend. Because of that, listening to these songs could be considered a form of self-flagellation.
By the way: Wearing pink is kind of expected at a Pink Spiders show.
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Anytime you ask a "why" question there is always more than one answer. "Why is nobody here?" Certainly late on a weeknight is poor planning for a band with a young fan base -- they're principally known for Warped and TRL, right? But, I think the real problem is poor marketing. This band is incredible. The writing is well-crafted, owing to the fact that MF is well-read and maturing. The music really sticks in your head. The look is distinctive. So, what's wrong? No one knows about them. What the?!
I'll be at the Portland show Oct 19th, wearing a white shirt with black spots. I'll be the only woman there who looks like she lost her virginity the year MF was born. Find me to have a "quality conversation" about how to make this real.
Steve,
I'm sorry I didn't realize it was an 18+ show. I wonder if the fact that it was later kept some kiddies away.
I say live music isn't dead. But this is a bad time for it, that's for sure.
Thanks for bringing the rock in KC night after night.
It was an 18+ show. So you know. You can always email me if you need passes. That said though, we lost a shit ton of money on a band that I thought was proven. Thanks for the review.
Is LIVE music DEAD?
Cheers,
Steve
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