If someone invites me along to see a band and I trust their taste I just go along and hope for the best. Last weekend it was Californian band The Mountain Goats. How these guys, well John Darnielle at least, haven’t made it big beats me. This is some of the cleverest music I have heard for a long, long time. Have a listen to Up The Wolves and drummers have a listen to New Monster Avenue for a truly great minimalist drum kit mix.
The guys came out during their encores to say that they had never played to an audience as big. They were nearly in tears thanking the audience before they ran out of songs to play, because the crowd wouldn’t leave.
Catch them if you can…terrific stuff.
While they haven’t “made it big,” TMG aren’t exactly unknown - they have a rabid following and always sell out whenever they come through town, which is a few times a year. Really great band - John Darnielle is one of the better and more interesting songwriters out there right now.
That’s nice to know. I have all their stuff since the 90s including the cassettes and vinyl. I was amazed when Darnielle said that the Metro crowd was their biggest ever audience, ther were only a thousand plus.
Last time they were here they played at a pub with a few hundred of us there. Darnielle mentioned it though. He said that every time he has beer he uses a beer cooler that says, “Fuck this, I’m going to the Annandale!”