Seattle Subsonic

Witchburn at El Corazon, The Pleasures of the Damned, Goodbye Snowball

July 6th, 2010

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I’d just run over a cat, a little white cat, Snowball I imagine. Really. It was rather depressing and to top it off I got a ticket for expired tags. I did the only thing I could do then. I drove home, opened a Blue Moon, and plugged in the bass. I played a lament for the cat, a Black Sabbath song, Hand of Doom. The bass line is most excellent and I needed something of the sort to take my mind off the cat as I was supposed to go out later to see Witchburn at El Corazon. Witchburn is a very Sabbathy band, heavy riffs, some plodding, some driving, all worthy of a good head bang or two. Thinking about little Snowball, I cranked the Trace Elliot up to 5 and it boomed a warm beautiful tone, Hand of Doom. That morphed into Basically and then Into the Void. There was Heaven and Hell, Die Young, Time Machine, and lastly one called Air Dance. Geezer knew a thing or two. I finished my beer and headed off, expired tags and all, to El Corazon.
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When I arrived, I went into the MTV-like bar. No alcohol allowed in the music room so there were TVs in the bar. You can drink and watch the band up there on the screen and feel right at home. I always feel odd going there but duty calls, the riffs call, as does the word. I brought a notebook of course for my observations, scribblings, and ramblings, but I’d also brought some Bukowski, The Pleasures of the Damned. It seemed a fitting title to read in the odd moments before a Witchburn show, and well I’d killed little Snowball so I must myself be one of the damned. I ordered a beer and saw the singer, Jamie Nova, sitting at the bar talking to someone. I went over and introduced myself and thanked her for putting me on the list at the last moment. On stage, Nova has an unexpected power in her small frame, but sitting at the bar one never would have guessed, just another babe out to catch the gig. I asked her if she could give me a copy of the set list after the show, she agreed.
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“No problem. Find me later.”
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“I will.”
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“Enjoy your night.”

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“I will.” We shook hands, and I walked off with my Blue Moon to write a few things down and read a poem or two as the last of the opening bands was whiling there time away there up on the TVs. They weren’t even that loud. People conversed easily. They smiled and joked and occassionally looked up at the TV. I read a few poems and occasionally looked up at the TV. I noticed one of the guitar players, Mischa Kianne, walk up to the bar and order a drink. She was wearing a black tank top, the eternal blank tank top. I’ve never seen her in anything else, though admitedly, I’d only seen the band once before and only met Kianne once at a KISW function a year ago. I asked her then what instrument she played, “Guitar and violin,” she replied. A rock band with violin. It made me think of The Dambuilders. I like the Dambuilders. And sure enough, the one song Witchburn played last time that had violin was my favorite. It was supposed to be in a movie but as Nova pointed out in a pre-gig email, the movie thing turned out to be “just an LA guy blowing a LOT of smoke up our skirt.” Too bad for the movie, but the song was most excellent. I hoped they’d play it again.
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When it finally came time for Witchburn to start, memories of the dead cat came flooding back with songs that had titles like Bleed the Stone, Blood Soaked Banner, The Hunted. It was good stuff though, especially The Hunted. Looking now through my notes there are two places noted where I thought The Hunted had ended but just wasn’t quite sure. The song changed, morphed, and went on at length. It wasn’t afraid to do some unexpected things. I liked it. They played a few from their EP, my favorite being Call to Arms with it’s heavy bluesy riff. Mischa played a Les Paul through a Marshall while the other guitar player, Jacy Peckham, ran an SG through a Mesa half stack. The blend was heavy and good, but Snowball remained.

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My favorite song of the evening was the last number, a tune called Rain. Peckham tuned his SG and I laughed a bit to think it looked like a toy guitar on him. He’s a big guy who exudes a big presence on the stage. He looks like the embodiment of a heavy power chord. One is not surprised to see him strap on a guitar and crank it up to eleven. He started Rain after he tuned with a very cool heavy riff. The rest of the band came in and that was it. Witchburn, heavy goodness.
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But still the cat remained. Snowball was still there limping, crying, clawing for one last breath.
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I spoke to Jamie after the show, “Very cool.” She handed me a set list without me having to remind her, “Here you go.” We talked for a bit. I inquired about getting an advance copy of the upcoming CD for review before the official CD Release Listening party at the Feedback Lounge on July 29th. Jamie said it was a definite possibility. She was quite approachable, a little soft even from what she is on stage. It made me curious to check out her solo acoustic stuff sometime.
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When I went home, Snowball was still there so again what could I do but strap the bass back on, but I went for Witchburn this time, for a purge, Be Purified. I said to the cat, “Be Purified, little buddy.” I started the song, paused, stopped, started, played a few notes, paused, started again and finally got the riff. I cranked it and jammed along and after a while the cat was indeed quiet. I remembered the violin then and hoped to hear that song once more on the upcoming CD.
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Dave
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