We Are Hex at Abbey Pub

Ever since seeing We Are Hex earlier this year at Empty Bottle I've been devouring Hail The Goer. But one can say it's devouring me. And I'm still riding the effects of seeing them live that first time and now I got to see them again. Jilly is a crazy energetic performer on stage, and way cool of stage. The energy is spent after the show and so she's cool. The music is such that it's kind of required for you to go ape-shit. And Jilly does. She bounces around the stage, at Empty Bottle she went into the crowd. This time at the Abby there were not enough people. It's really not on them, the band. People are lazy with the music they listen to. So in a way, I'm elitist by default. So this second time I saw them coming and now I have all these songs that I now want to hear and see live. Scary Lady Sarah DJ'd that night and so it was nice to see her and William there. She always knows of bands ahead of time....always. A lot of music I listen to is filtered through her. SLS knows my taste well before I even enter the room. The show begins to a modest crowd. I believe this time they played from Gloom Bloom the CD before. Wait....I do believe Jilly said they are playing new music. I just love how Jilly moves, it fits right into the chaotic mess her band creates. She bounces, throws herself around and sticks her tongue out the side. All this just comes out instinctively. It's like Jilly learned to dance by feeling the music and reacting to it from the gut. It amazes me how often they gig.

You can't half-ass it, and they've been performing a lot. We Are Hex are workhorses. So whenever you see them live, know that the performance you saw is something they pulled out of themselves the day before and will do again the next day. The first time there was no sense of anticipation to urge me to go see them. I was just saving myself from a boring Monday night. So my expectations were modest at best. Rabble Rabble was the headliner and they always pack the place. I stayed for them. But my curiosity compelled me to see WAH. I believe they played a lot from Hail. It's impressive how separate the songs are from each other. By the time I reach "Cutter/Giver" I'm not thinking about how similar it sounds to like two three other songs. My attention is firmly and entirely on each song as they play and that's because that is how compelling each song is on it's own. Don't let the dirt in here" has this part that Jilly starts in mid-song from a languish to a shriek chasing you and the rest of the Ghost Adventures crew out of that abandoned hospital. "There's gotta be something more!!" is the battle cry that repeats until exhausted....it's probably the only time I think I know what Jilly says. They don't tread on the same paths. Garage rock becomes just one side this band has. They got that pre-harnessed primal energy of garage rock. But they got multiple speeds, they can slow down in mid-song. You catch your breath, and enjoy the wonder. The way you do when you see a string of abandoned homes and wonder at how they got that way. It's not airy/fairy stuff. The scary fascinates. And then you don't know what to call them. Garage rock becomes the most eye catching thing to call it, but not the only thing.