All photos courtesy of Jonathan Dadds
Last Thursday saw Steve Albini and his Shellac roadshow come to town with one of the most impressive concerts I've seen in years. Highlights? 'Prayer To God' and 'Squirrel Song' from 1000 Hurts were greeted with cheers (well, as many cheers as the audience, the majority being mostly male music geeks like myself, could muster). New tracks 'The End Of Radio' and 'Steady As She Goes' were also received like old favourites, possibly because they'd been floating around the highways and byways of the web for almost two years, the only evidence of new material from the band.
A hilarious five minute diatribe by drummer Todd Trainer was another memorable moment, especially as he started by talking about AC/DC and ended with a shout out to the Costa coffee shop across from the venue, where the fuel which gave power to his bizarre rant originated.
Bassist Bob Weston was also on fine form, leading the now traditional 'Q and A' sessions with the audience between songs. Subject matter included his beloved Chicago baseball team ('How's the Cubs doing? The Cubs? They lost 6 and 5 to the Mets last night') to rejecting song requests (Audience member: 'Play Crow!', to which Weston responded 'If you shout it out, I guarantee we won't play it').
Most importantly though, the one question which everybody wanted an answer to ensured that the long seven year wait between Shellac albums would soon be over.
'When's the album coming out? June 5'
So to celebrate, head over to the very fine Something I Learned Today for a taster from Excellent Italian Greyhound (the post might be eighteen months old, but that's how long these tracks have been around for).
And here's my highlight of the night.
Shellac - Squirrel Song
* Do you care about the future of internet radio? Don't let the US House of representatives assist Clear Channel and other corporate behemoths water down the choice of music on the airwaves. Sign the petition at Save Net Radio and help keep internet radio alive.
* The new Nine Inch Nails album is certainly a vast improvement on With Teeth, and it looks like Trent has continued his knack for finding the right folks to re-work his vignettes on machines, modern life & 'merica. Come on down Dave 'Switch' Taylor - your leather pants await!
Grab the Switch remix at I Heart Comix.
Here's the fine Bush-baiting original.
Nine Inch Nails - Capital G
