Pick Your Poison: Friday 8-24-12

One thing that very few people know about me is that the band …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead are responsible for one of the greatest live show experiences I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing. It was at the Bowery Ballroom in New York in October of 2004. After what proved to be a fascinating bill that included indie pop from Mates of State, hip hop from Aesop Rock and blisteringly loud noise rock from SUNN O))), ..AYWKUBTTOD came out to play at 2:30AM. They were pretty drunk because they’d been forced to sit through a bunch of other acts, keeping in mind this was also in the wake of their 10.0 review for their 2002 record Source Tags and Codes. I was right up against the stage with no barricade providing one of those notorious gaps between a band and the crowd. Anyways, not only was the performance extremely visceral and thrilling on a minute-by-minute basis, but they were trashed to the point where they didn’t particularly care what happened. So they completely destroyed their instruments and everything on stage. Guitars, amps and drum kits were obliterated. Pieces of the stage were coming up because microphone stands were being slammed into them. At one point security pulled me away mere seconds before I would have been struck in the head with a microphone stand. Then the band invited everyone up on stage for one last song with whatever instruments they had left. Security tried to hold people back, but it was a gigantic rush and most of us were up there singing into the remaining microphones with the band. It was a true triumph, and one that I’ve never seen repeated in the handful of times I’ve seen the band perform since. They’ve mellowed, gotten rid of a few members, and turned in a few not-so-great albums. Their last one Tao of the Dead was actually strikingly good, even if many failed to recognize it as such. I’m pleased to announce though that Trail of Dead are back yet again with their eighth full length album, titled Lost Songs. It will be out on October 23rd. Along with that announcement comes a new single called “Up to Infinity.” The song is about the tragedy occuring in the Syrian Civil War, however the band also wants to dedicate it to Russian punk band Pussy Riot, because of the injustices they’ve suffered at the hands of the Russian government. You can stream the song here. The band will be on tour supporting the new album this November. Go see them, even though they refuse to trash stages and start riots at venues anymore. Okay, let’s get through this Friday edition of Pick Your Poison so your weekend can get started right. Great songs today coming from Bella Darling, The Men, Pet Lions, Pipers, Solos and Something Fierce. The Soundcloud section features some excellent stuff from chris e pants (aka Chrissy Murderbot), Lightning Bolt, Michna and Pinback. Have a great weekend!