love like fire, paleo, rademacher post art hop show

i wasn't sure if i was going to the post art show @ tokyo, but i'm really glad i did. what i'm sad is that i didn't take my camera or anyone else along.

before the show, i had tried to find some of the other bands playing online, at least to try and get a feel for tonight's show. i really enjoyed paleo's songs on myspace, so i messaged rademacher to try and find out the order of the bands. i'll be honest, i didn't want to miss the set, but i wasn't leaving my place until lost was finished.

i got over to tokyo just a few minutes after ten, and somebody was finishing up. i was worried that i had missed paleo since rademacher had told me that he was going on first. but, there was actually another band that was unbilled that i guess started @ 9:30 or 9:45. so, i was alright. the place was packed, and it seemed already like it would be an interesting night because one of the bands had an actual tour bus/winnebago thing. that's big time, in my thoughts. you're not just rolling in a rented van. it was also a good night because i saw several people that i hadn't seen in quite some time, got to hand out some flyers, talk art, tattoos and etc. i even saw my latest tat artist and showed how everything was healing nicely.

paleo went on, and i wish i had moved closer to the stage. i was standing about midway @ the bar, and a lot of the sound was getting lost in conversations around me. paleo was a nice, somewhat quiet set that reminded me a bit of bob dylan. he did a good job of capturing the crowd all by himself. and, he captured me enough to buy one of his cd's. he even played an encore number! the crowd was that into him. first billed band of the night did an encore. i'm curious to hear more of his stuff because he seems like a really adventurous and productive songwriters. seriously, he was selling a cd/dvd combo for $20 that was his project of 2007. he wrote a song a day. 365 songs! but, it was $20 and i was also picking up love like fire's cd so i went with a cheaper one of his. for $5 i got what is essentially a sampler for that effort. and, apparently he's played here in fresno before, or the date on that cd is wrong because the liner notes were written in fresno on feb 17, 2007. you can find his music here.

second on the stage was love like fire, who has two myspace pages, one that hasn't been updated since april of last year and one that is current. but, they do have a website that has been updated more recently. anyway, enough on websites. their music rocked. honestly, i don't think i stopped tapping my foot the whole time. i know there are lots of rock bands out there with female singers, but i don't think i get to see them all that often. definitely don't get to hear them on the radio much. this band should be seen live, and heard on the radio. (currently i'm going nuts because i'm listening to the cd, it reminds me of another band and i can't remember who it is to properly make a comparison.) the band played with a ton of energy, and plenty of volume so it didn't matter where i was in the place, it still rocked. i saw mike from rademacher while i was exiting the restroom and told him, "holy cow, these guys rock." too much info? so, like two songs into the set i knew i was buying an album. i went with the newer of their two albums for $7. totally worth it. i considered buying both, but only went with one because i was also wanting to pick up a paleo one. justin, if you're reading this, they will be playing in seattle on march 29. put it on your calendar and go. they make really well constructed music. tight vocal harmonies with words that stick in your head, throbbing bass, shredding guitar. this cd is totally going to be stuck on my ipod list of recently played for some time.

so, during love like fire, i wondered if they were going to steal the show. and maybe they did. but, would rademacher step up? they delivered. i think i said this last time i blogged about them, but they are getting musically tighter and better each time i see them. i missed the first song because the door into tokyo got stuck and we had to wait for someone from inside push it open. rademacher played a short set, partially to allow the dj's they brought in for the night to spin more, and partially for whatever reasons. but this short set kicked tail. rademacher is sort of like my local spinal tap. the drummers don't die, but they sure seem to have had a lot. i know i've seen them play with 5 different drummers. their current one, eli, plays in some other fresno bands. from what i've seen of him before, i knew that he was loud and fast. and good. these things are true, and he really fits in well with the eclectic rademacher sound. his drumming gives so much life to rademacher. not like they're dead or sad music, but it's just there is so much snap to his drumming, and he's banging his head back there like animal from the muppets. i'll stop gushing over eli for a minute and tell you that the rest of the band was good, too. they're ready to take it to the next level. if you don't have their full length album, get it. sadly, it's not being carried @ rasputin's yet, which apparently doesn't have a local section yet and rademacher may not have a big distribution deal.

so rademacher finished and the dj's started spinning indie dance tracks. which was cool, too, but i was ready to go home. it's sort of odd, i used to love to go dancing, and now i haven't done it in years.