Pump House Gang at The Troubadour

It's been over a week since I saw Pump House Gang live but I still get so excited thinking about how great they were.

First off, they're a great looking band, there is no denying that. Every band member is attractive and that's always a bonus.
But that doesn't mean that's all they have going for them. I've written before about how fantastic their music is. This was the first time I've seen them live and they are just as good live as they are recorded. That seems to be relatively rare. I've seen so many bands that are purely studio bands--sounds great through your headphones but horrible live. But these guys, they have it all.

We got invited to the show by the guitarist and decided to go since it was the first legitimate show of theirs that we could go to. The drive over was fun and traffic was good so we actually made it to The Troubadour in around 45 minutes, not bad for a trip to LA. Parking was a bitch, though. Is there easy parking for the venue or does everyone else have to drive around for twenty minutes making tons of u-turns only to end up paying ten bucks for parking? Another thing. When the show is supposed to start at 7:20 wouldn't it make sense to have the box office open at that time? Apparently not, since we had to wait for them to open up. But all's well that ends well and we managed to get in just as they were starting their first song.

Honestly, I was surprised by the amount of people there. Basically, I thought that there was gonna be people there. It is the Troubadour, it's not like it's someone's basement and yet, when we arrived there were about five girls and a whole bunch of family members. Sure, my friends and I added about another seven girls plus two boys who joined us a bit later. But really? This band is brilliant and now I feel like they're the best kept secret around.

And god damn, it was a great show. I have one requirement for a good show other than decent music: the band has to be having fun. If the band has fun, I have fun. And these guys were tons of fun. Garth, the bassist, was dancing while playing. The singer, Daniel, had tons of energy and engaged the audience (all 20 of us) between songs. They played a lot of new songs that I didn't know and I it was great hearing them but listening to the songs I already knew was absolutely fantastic. Standing front and center right on the edge of the stage, looking up at the band and singing along--it was perfect. The energy in the room was amazing and they knew just how to control it. They built it up, brought it down, played to the fans and we responded. They played for around forty minutes, I think it was around seven songs, and it ended way too soon. I'll admit, I was sad that they didn't play Detached, my favorite song, but after the show the lead singer promised to play it for me at the after party but sadly, I had to leave before that happened.

The band is brilliant. They're talented, they're good looking, they're great live. There is absolutely no reason for them not to be successful. So why doesn't anyone know who they are? It may take some time, but if they stick around, I think they'll be great.

Tweet-Twit-Twitter

I just checked the date of me joining Twitter: March 2008. That's insane, I can't even believe that I've been aware of Twitter, let alone actually a part of it for that long. Granted, I didn't start really using it until the election debates but nevertheless, I'm kinda pleased with myself for recognizing it as a good tool before CNN and the rest of the world discovered it.

I've had a lot of people ask me what the point of Twitter is, why would someone use it and why anyone would want to be constantly updated by their friends and people they didn't know. What I want to know it, Why WOULDN'T someone be on Twitter? Maybe it's because I'm the kind of person who is practically glued to my laptop but except for those times when I want to be totally shut off from everyone else, I love knowing what people are up to. I like being able to quickly publish my short thoughts and observations and I love reading the musings of others. Plus I think it's insanely cool that I have a direct connection to people like Stephen Fry and Trent Reznor. These are people who I have so much respect for and they're letting me into their life. I think that is brilliant.

And even if someone did not want Twitter for their personal enjoyment, it's a fantastic tool. For bands, musicians, artists and companies it's another way to reach out to your base and to keep people up to date with news, releases and promotion. It's all about permission marketing and having followers is exactly that. When you follow someone on Twitter (or even Facebook and other similar sites) you're saying that you want to hear what they have to say. That's why it is the perfect tool for bands. They have their fans right there. The fans are asking to be updated and told about tour dates, it's what they want.

So use it. Jonathan Coulton uses it to get requests for his shows. Trent Reznor uses it to tell his fans when to check the website. Saul Williams uses it for his wonderful, poetic musings.
There is no one thing that twitter can do. So it's up to creative people to come up with new ways to use it. And that's the best thing about it