Walking Bicycles at Emporium

  Walking Bicycles at Emporium....I wanted this post to include seeing Beat Drun Juel...anyway I was fucking late.... this time I was hearing new music from them and I was really into them.  Most of the pictures here are of all the other times I saw them. There is always that chance that you may not like a band's new work, and indeed with the Bicycles there is an album I mostly do not listen to. I have it, I'm glad I do because I believe that eventually it will sink into regular rotation, but I don't push it and the Bicycles don't really play from it. So there is always that chance of that absent spark being just dormant. I was beginning to visit that stage when you give a second look to tracks you skipped before when Bicycles began to play from their next.
  To Him That Wills The Way had me locked firmly as a fan over again, and now so have these new songs that I cannot name or identify. I just know that I was into what I was hearing and looked forward to hearing it more and more. These new songs they played at Emporium. It was not that long ago when To Him was just as intangible and now I have the physical LP and the download on my itunes. I cannot get enough of that LP. I can explore listening to it now but there was a time when this was still something to see when they played it live. And I am happy that I did not miss it. So they played Emporium and I did not miss that. I missed Beat Drun Juel who played before them, but I was at least happy to know they played on the same stage. They just fit very well together and they are all so very nice people. It was nice to talk to them. I so rarely see Julius, and so I hung around him and Jocelyn. I find myself at ease talking to these people I find fascinating.  And on top of all that....they think I'm cool. And the vicious cycle blows me the fuck away. So I'm cool with these little conversations I get from them. They got me into Shameless after a conversation about the south side. I don't really recall asking shit about songs like an intrusive Star Trek fan. I try not to be that kind of fan boy with the Vulcan ears....and there would be no reason to dress Star Trek for a Bicycles show. There is always something hilarious and fascinating to observe with Jocelyn and Julius.
  And nobody owns this fucking word exclusively. I find the color right for both BDJ and Walking Bicycles. They both are aggressive, and they both define that word very differently. Donna's guitar playing is sharp and cuts and punctures while Walking Bicycles attack you with blunt instruments leaving you with internal damage. Its still a novelty to see Walking Bicycles play a stage that is not Empty Bottle. So I fucking go for it. These new crop of tracks have me following them like the first time when I heard  Welcome To The Future. Its that rounded blunt and bass heavy post punk aggression. Their engine is clear in that I can really hear how each component functions and calls and answers to the other, a real ensemble effort. Anyway, so I really like what's coming from Walking Bicycles and my only reference to it is To Him. I can say that I hung out with them or I can say I followed around Julius or Jocelyn in seeing the bands that followed them. Fuck! Hmm. I just thought it was cool to see them in a venue that isn't the fucking Bottle. The actually performance is so brief and fleeting. And they are friends.
Zig.