Sure, Austin Texas is a musical mecca with a vibrant night life but let's face it, everything slows down as it gets closer to Christmas. Lucky for me and my brother Matt, we were able to catch one live music show during our Christmas visit.
After scouring the list of gigs on Austin Chronicle and visiting dozens of MySpace pages, we decided to check out a show at The Parlor. It wasn't on Sixth Street, where I'm told most night life takes place but it was in a strip of town that seemed to be dedicated to a DIY way of life. No corporate chains nearby that I could see, only a series of arty, alternative looking stores with neon signs.
The Parlor is actually a pizza joint by day. They clear some tables at night to make way for the bands. The space between the bands and the audience is a tiny walkway to allow patrons to slip past the band to the counter where they can buy pizza and beer. The live music shows are always free and all ages.
I snapped a few photos and some bits of video with my early X-mas gift, the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. Although I have 5 videos total on my YouTube channel, I want to show you this one so you can see the people walking past the band to get inside. Since the entry way is right next to the "stage", there really is no other choice. Here's a video sample of Criminal Tower playing their song Chinese Kids on Crack.
A couple of notes of interest about Criminal Tower. The band is comprised of two young men ages 16 and 17 years old and this was their second live show ever. Personally, I'm impressed by their drumming skills and sense of humor. You can see more snippets of video including their songs Megatropolis in the Fourth Dimension and The Pregnant Cowboy over at YouTube.
Gayle Gold is the other band we saw. What a pleasant surprise that was. At the time of writing this article Gayle Gold doesn't have a MySpace page so we really had no idea what we were in for. I asked the singer, Deena Odelle if she was influenced by the Yeah Yeah Yeah's perfomance style because she reminded me a bit of Karen O. She admitted that she likes the music but had never seen a live performance.
I don't mean to pigeon hole the sound as Yeah Yeah Yeah's because it's not. In fact, I'm not sure I can pigeon hole it as anything. I did manage to shoot a couple of short videos of their performance. Here's a sample:
Though you can't see it here on these videos, the singer did from time to time writhe and crawl on the floor, hence the Yeah Yeah Yeah's reference.
The name Gayle Gold was inspired by a band member's ex-girlfriend. Most every song had a food tie-in and band members wore special 1/2 and 1/2 shirts made just for the evening.
The Parlor is located at 100-B E. North Loop, Austin TX 78751. You can find out more about their upcoming shows by visiting their MySpace page.
P.S. I didn't have any pizza because I had just come from a family gathering where I pretty much chowed down. The pizza looked great and at least some of the choices on the menu were vegan-friendly. Subscribe to the I am Galvanized blog today
Tags: austin, criminal tower, experimental music, Live Music, Music Notes, Punk Rock, the parlor, You Tube
[...] lighter on vinyl now and it is a visceral treat. Which reminds me of my week in Austin and seeing Gayle Gold and Criminal Tower live. I got excited, blogged about it, then shot e-mails and MySpace messages to musicians and [...]