Steady Tonic

Enroute to the Mohawk, we somehow spotted the smallest setlist in Austin listing Nada Surf at the Beauty Bar at 4pm. Nada Surf was one of our targets for that evening, but given conflicts with other great bands we decided to catch them now and snuck in to the back patio at a good vantage point.

But there was a problem — it sounded like the band and its fans directly next door at Red 7 were taking down the walls, or maybe even the Berlin Wall. It was the worst sound bleed we’d experienced — and it was clear Nada Surf had their work cut out for them to compete.

After a few energetic opening songs, frontman Matthew Caws asked the crowd if we want to continue to hear louder selections or wanted to take a chance on some quieter numbers. We chose loud, and I think we chose right. I don’t have their new album Lucky, but I plan to pick it up.

Distracting Band Member Feature: bassist Daniel Lorca’s truly impressive ability to play his instrument, sing, and smoke a cigarette all at once — through several songs.

Later that evening, on the shuttle, we met a Norwegian photographer working for MTV, who was showing us his pictures from earlier that day at Red 7. We found the noise-riot culprit — a Norwegian black metal band that wears nothing but bloody goat pelts during their performance.