Nathan Williams of Wavves and Bethany Cosetino of Best Coast are in love, and they don’t care who knows it. In fact even if you are only peripherally aware of Wavves or Best Coast, you probably know that their lead singers are dating, and they are both obsessed with beaches, weed, and cats. This is because, in the indie rock sphere, they have become ubiquitous. Their 2010 albums titled respectively King of the Beach and Crazy for You, rocketed them to the status of indie rock darlings. You can’t peruse music blogs without seeing their names everywhere or check your twitter feed without seeing them flirt and exchange LOLcats links (a problem wholly exclusive to white people living in the first world in the last two years). This, combined with the fact that they are a happy couple, makes them inevitably almost pitiably ripe for some good old fashioned backlash.
I have always objected to the backlash that is inherent whenever an indie band breaks through and becomes successful. I think music is meant to be shared and when I hear people decrying bands they once raved about on their blogs for “selling out”, all I hear is contrarianism and the greed of intellectual property hoarding. I have always considered myself above this kind of negative pissing-contest mentality; I make an effort to remain open minded and unjaded, which I guess has resulted in a kind of pride of piety. My “piety” was put to the test, however, when I watched Wavves play an all-ages show at the Rickshaw Theatre last night.
Before I explain further, it bears mentioning that, curmudgeonry aside, it was a pretty great show. I’d never been to the Rickshaw before, and I was pretty taken with it. Old movie theatres tend to make pretty excellent venues, and the fact that the Rickshaw was built by the Shaw Brothers as a martial arts cinema automatically makes it about fifty times more awesome. I didn’t know it was an all ages show, but figured it out as soon as I walked in. My friends and I got there as soon as doors opened so we could get tickets at the door, and were surprised at how quickly it was filling up. “Why is everyone here so early? Oh wait, because they’re all kids who’ve yet to learn the valuable life lesson that there is never any reason to get to a show before at least two or three hours after doors.”
Openers No Joy head-banged their way through a fairly impressive set of feedback drenched, moody shoegaze numbers. Unfortunately, lead singer Laura Lloyd’s vocals were almost indistinguishable, which definitely detracted from the experience. They were still pretty fun to watch, though; their noisy, Sonic Youthesque sound really meshed well with the trippy lights, smoke machine and the projections of what looked like stock footage from old 90s grunge music videos on the giant screen behind them. The crowd, like most opening band crowds, seemed politely underwhelmed.
They were, after all, there to see Wavves and Best Coast. Actually, judging by the amount of kids who walked out after Wavves set, about 30% were there just to see Wavves. It’s not hard to see why, either, they do put on a hell of a show. They stumbled on stage, Nathan Williams remarked how drunk he was, then the band blitzed through an enegetic set to a hysterical mosh pit while roadies threw beach balls and inflatable aliens at everybody. Aside from a few false starts that can probably be chalked up to inebriation, the band sounded pretty tight and on point, and everyone seemed to be having fun.
Well except me. Getting back to the whole not-being-a-hater, piety idea, Wavves has tested me in this way before. I really liked their earlier lo-fi albums, but when I first heard Post Acid, the first single off their new properly produced album King of the Beach, I wasn’t sold. Rub the lo-fi grime off Wavves and they might as well be Sum41, I thought. It didn’t help that it was released with a big ugly Mountain Dew endorsement stamp. I refused to jump on the inevitable backlash wagon though, and I listened to King of the Beach and ended up really liking it. It doesn’t sound like Sum41, it’s more like The Buzzcocks with a tan. There’s an element of Wavves music that kind of romanticizes being a bored, apathetic teenager with a snotty attitude, which is part of its charm. It’s one thing, however to wax nostalgic about it and another thing when you’re actually surrounded by a bunch of obnoxious teenagers. Maybe it was the weird little dwarfy Garfunkel kid standing right in front of me who kept backwards head-butting me and giving his girlfriend a sensual massage two inches from my face. Maybe it was Nathan Williams monosyllabic, dick-joke laden stage banter, or maybe I just wasn’t drunk enough, but the whole time I felt like I was in a nightmarish teen surf comedy directed by David Lynch. And not in a cool way.
I have always found Best Coasts music more palatable and Bethony Cosetino more likeable as a person, so I was relieved when Best Coast finally took the stage just a little before midnight and played a solid, straightforward set that encompassed most if not all of their material. I was impressed with how Cosetino’s girl group croon and Bobb Bruno’s adroit, jangly guitar playing were enough to make the stripped down versions of the songs they played shine in spite of the lack of a bass player and all the backing vocal harmonies that are all over Crazy For You. Best Coast’s music is a lot less frantic than that of Wavves and this was reflected by the slightly thinned out crowd who, while still enthusiastic, seemed much less incensed. They seemed more tired, happy and stoned; their welcome reception of Sun Was High (So Was I) being a pretty clear indicator of the latter. Cosetino really got to showcase her singing talents during her encore performance of Each & Everyday, which ends with an adorably lovesick vocal solo. This was made all the more impressive by her introducing the song with “Hey guys. I just threw up! Here we go…”
Overall it was a good show. I learned that I’m not entirely above the indie rock backlash syndrome, because I definitely like Wavves less after seeing the crowd they draw. Which might be unfair, but I can’t help the fact that I will now forever associate the song “So Bored” with the image of some fifteen year old hipster wearing beach shorts in February, dripping sweat as he crowdsurfs over me. That said though, it reflects well on Wavves if the worst thing I can say about their show is that a bunch of kids had fun. I guess if there’s a lesson to be had in all this, it would have to be: if you don’t want to be a hater, don’t go to an all ages show stone sober.
SCENE IN THE DARK EXCLUSIVE SHOW CONTENT
CHECK OUT OUR WAVVES CONCERT PHOTO GALLERY HERE
CHECK OUT OUR BEST COAST CONCERT PHOTO GALLERY HERE
