Seattle Subsonic

Mad Rad & Man Party @ Sunset Tavern 12-30

January 5th, 2009

So about two months ago I’m hunting around for shows to play on New Years Eve,  and for some reason every band in Seattle thinks they have to play on New Years. Mainly because its one of the few nights of the year your pretty much guaranteed a built in crowd even if you’ve never had one. Only bad part is every asshole who never drinks comes out, acts like a dick, and stumbles (or drives) home and doesn’t remember who the fuck your band is… Oh well, I’m no exception to the rule so I’m hunting with no real idea of where to play when I get an email from one of the guys in Man Party about playing with them and Mad Rad at the Sunset Tavern on the 30th of December, a Tuesday, and the night BEFORE New Years. A-Bro and I have had a tendency to follow this particular pattern of being “one day off” the mark (like playing at 3pm at REVERBfest, or 2am for Zombie Prom), but the line-up seemed solid since I heard great things about Mad Rad, and Man Party’s ep on their Myspace page is actually really good (if you haven’t heard it) so I confirmed and the show was booked without any real expectation of how it would turn out. So let me just say this now… I rang out 08 on the muther fuckin 30th ya’ll, and that shit was live!
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We started playing at 9pm, which is early and the place was already refreshingly full. By the time Man Party took the stage the Sunset was pretty much packed with obviously veteran drinkers and partiers because who the fuck goes out on a Tuesday night at 10pm the night before New Years Eve! Ill tell you who! The people who are down with the get down and that includes the devoted following of both Man Party and definitely Mad Rad.
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Man Party’s sound is vocoder filled vocals with big guitar riffs and solid backbeats. Danceable, groove-oriented and smartly written songs the band commands the stage and peels back ass-bouncing beats throughout the set. The sound guy had some difficulty keeping the feedback off but that didn’t deter the band, and I think I actually heard a Britney Spears cover in there somewhere. I said it before, I’m saying it again, if you haven’t heard their ep go to their myspace page and check it out, its refreshing good in this slow onslaught of electro-derived bands emanating from Seattle.
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Next comes Mad Rad, and if you haven’t seen these guys or know who they are you best ax somebody cuz they poured on their own style of ass-shaking goodness I can only describe as electro-indie Beastie Boys of the new scene. Not your typical white-boy rap at all so get over the image you’ve in your head, they mix styles back and forth between the three MC’s to keep the joint live and lyrics flowin. All in all a must see live show fo sho! They have a killer line-up of shows coming but you can catch them at Lofi next on the 16th.
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I never found a place to play for New Years, and I guess I don’t care that I didn’t. The Tuesday before New Years reaffirmed my faith in Seattle’s music scene and rang out 08 better than I could have rang in 09 without a doubt. The fact that people came out to fill a house on an “off night” attests to Seattle’s love of good music as much as there is good music to listen to. So here’s to 2009!
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And to the fuckin douche that took my boy Koz’s jacket and A-bro’s gig bag out of the green room while we were on stage, into the womans bathroom stall and stole his girls wallet… Man or woman if I ever catch your ass trying to fucking steal from us again I’ll drag you on stage and we’ll publicly fucking humiliate or beat your ass, whichever comes first… no shit LOL.