The Devil Whale @ Subterranean

The Devil Whale
07.08.10
Subterranean at Slowtrain
with Matt Honus, David Williams

Sunday night was a lot of things. Ostensibly, it was The Devil Whale’s pre-release show. $20 got you a ticket to the show in Slowtrain’s newly de-renovated Subterranean basement space beneath the record store, a limited edition vinyl LP when it is released this fall, a free copy of the band’s latest EP, and the general feeling of goodwill that comes with supporting local music. But Sunday night had layers—layers that cut a broad swathe through the musical landscape of Salt Lake City and spoke to the interconnectivity between bands, fans, and a forward thinking record store at the center of this close-knit community. Sunday night was as much about Slowtrain as it was about The Devil Whale.

Rolling out the red shower curtains to the newly minted Subterranean, storeowners Chris and Anna Brozek played MC to a packed venue on a Sunday night. Slowtrain, which celebrated it’s fourth birthday that night, is also the genesis behind The Devil Whale’s latest album to be released on wax later this year. The Devil Whale is the first band signed to Chris and Anna’s recently launched Slowtrain Records. In many ways this was a celebration of the one-for-one relationship that Slowtrain has with its clientele, a relationship that has spurred Slowtrain into a position to go beyond being an outlet to buy local music and into the realm of offering their meager resources and well-established connections to the most success-worthy band in Salt Lake City.

Matt Honus, A.K.A Albino Father, A.K.A the new guy who works at Slowtrain, opened the show with a restrained blend of tuneful acoustic strummers. David Williams, a well-recognized and well-regarded voice in Salt Lake took the stage after Honus. It never ceases to amaze me how musicians who make a living playing music can still wring every ounce of emotion out of a song they have played hundreds of times. David Williams certainly did not hold back, filling every crevice of his structurally sparse songs with throat-tightening yelps and a steady, unadorned voice.

Photos:

Page:  [1]  2  Next >>

Comments on this article

Be the first to comment!

Add a comment

Please keep your comments on the subject of the article.
We will delete your comment if it is racist, misogynistic, sexist, bigoted or just plain lame.
No HTML allowed!