Flock of Seagulls!

Sunday night, I was exhausted, because I'd been working all weekend on Barcelona time. But I caugh three hours of sleep, and was back on my feet by 8:00 pm. Why? Because Flock of Seagulls was in town, bay-bee!

It's not that I'm a huge Flock of Seagulls fan, of course. Although I like the New Wave, and "I Ran" was a pretty good song back in the day. But the thing is, "the day" was in 1982, and it's not 1982 anymore. You knew that, of course. Anyway, my point is, Flock of Seagulls! What, like I'm not gonna go?

And the great part is that one of the opening bands was Boy Next Door, a local band that I really dig. The first time I saw them, years ago, they ended their set with a rockin' cover of "Rainbow Connection". You know, from the Muppet Movie. I, er, haven't actually attended any of their shows since then, which is a shame, because they're great. But I've kept up with the band news (and lineup changes) well enough that I knew they were opening for Flock of Seagulls. And again, how do I not go to that show?

So, you know, I went. Damn right I did.

First, Boy Next Door. They rock. Even though I have a suspicion that they only exist because frontman Dane likes looking like a rock star. They did a cover of the Donnas' "Get Rid of That Girl", which they turned into "Get Rid of that Boy". It rocked very hard indeed. In flagrant disregard for copyright laws, I captured some of it as an MPEG, which I encourage you to watch if you don't mind one-megabyte video files with non-existent production quality. Personally, I like the low video quality, since it makes the show look even more crude.

I believe that all bands should have sloppy video of the days before they were huge, to emphasize the squalor from which they arose. Not that Boy Next Door are actually squalorous right now, or even that I guarantee they'll make it big; I just think it's good. Some of the crappy clubs in Seattle seem designed to emphasize just how small and crappy they are. It's weird.

Boy Next door's front man is Dane Ballard (He's up there with the "I'm a slut" shirt, looking like a front man), and in the early days of Boy Next Door, he was the one in charge. He wrote the funny stuff, like "You've never been in love 'til you've loved a bitch" and "Goth Girl in a Box". Those are some fine songs. In recent years, he's been able to make it more of a "band", which I guess is a good thing. Lead guitarist Corey Feist (right, next to the properly respectful Ramones shrine) rocks, and wrote one of the songs on the Boy Next Door single.

You should get the single. I'm not insisting that you go see them live, because A) I've been slack in seeing them, and B) you might not live in Seattle; but you should get the single. It's good, dammit.

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Okay, now about Flock of Seagulls. I was really hoping they'd still have the haircuts from the old days, but it was not to be. In fact, the only member of Flock of Seagulls now that was in the band back then is lead singer Mike Score. And he's gone from have a big swooshy wave of hair to being one of those guys who wears a baseball cap and ponytail to convince you that he's not going bald. Someone should tell these guys that the cap-and-ponytail is exactly as convincing as a combover. Someone should also tell them they look silly. But I guess he doesn't look any sillier than he did in 1982, because that's not physically possible.

But were they good? As a matter of fact, they were. They did a new version of "I Ran 2001", which flat-out rocked. If it had been done by anyone else, it would be my favorite new cover song, but since it's by the original artists (well, sort of), I guess it's not. I'm still considering getting their new cd when it comes out, since they promise it'll have this new version on it. Which is a good idea; if I were in Flock of Seagulls, I'd make sure that every album had at least one version of "I Ran" on it.

They also did the old version, of course, and I respect that. They were careful to mix in enough '80s stuff to keep the audience patient through the new stuff. And the new stuff wasn't terrible. I mean, just because something is played by three session musicians and the lead singer for Flock of Seagulls doesn't make it bad.

The guitarist was pretty good, although I couldn't stop staring at his Nine Inch Nails shirt. I'm guesssing he's a little conflicted about being in Flock of Seagulls, which is, after all, a lot like selling out. So he's wearing a shirt that tells us he's still cool. Hey, man. You're the lead guitarist in Flock of Seagulls. In my Junior High, you would have been a hero to millions. So cheer up. I say you should embrace your new role. Since (unlike Mike Score) you seem to have plenty of hair, maybe you could invest in some hairspray and try working the silly New Wave hair. I'm just saying.

It was a fine evening of rock and roll, with just enough ironic silliness. Right on. Anyway, I stayed out really late, and that's why I didn't have a post on Monday.

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And now it's my birthday. Happy birthday to me. Yay.