December 2, 2009

Photos: Shellac at The 930 Listening Room

Shellac in Louisville

Seeing Shellac live was something I never really thought I’d get to experience. While the auspices of the night could have been a little less somber — the show was a benefit to help fund Jason Noble’s medical costs for his fight with cancer — it was nice to see people from every facet of Louisville’s scene come together to support a good cause.

The show itself, which was accompanied by raffles and a silent auction, was pretty insane. Albini, Weston and Trainer went out of their way to make the night memorable, with more than just some intense songs (although there were plenty of those, obviously). Whether it was little comedy routines (fans of SCTV and the McKenzie brothers take note) or making eight minutes worth of three people beating on drums interesting, they knew how to keep folks engaged.

I think my favorite part of the show, however, may have been when Albini was drawing winners of the individual items being raffled. One of those was a $5 gift card for Starbucks. After reading the card describing the prize, Albini deadpanned something along the lines of, “Starbucks? Fuck that shit! Nobody gets the fucking Starbucks!” and promptly threw the box of entries to the floor.

Plus I greeted him afterward with “Hi Mr. Albino, I’m a big fan!” We shook hands and talked music for a bit. My wife didn’t think it was funny when I told her, though. But Steve was a sweetheart. I love that guy.

You can keep up to date on Jason Noble’s battle with cancer at his CaringBridge page.

Photos by Chris Higdon.

8 Responses to “Photos: Shellac at The 930 Listening Room”

  1. On 03/30/11 10:37 AM, JOE F said:

    YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU’D GET TO SEE SHELLAC?
    YOU NEED TO GET OUT MORE. PLUS, SINCE ABOUT 1998, YOU REALLY HAVEN’T BEEN MISSING MUCH. THERE WAS A TIME, PRE-TERRAFORM, WHEN SHELLAC SHOWS WERE NOT BESIEGED BY SLEEPY HIPSTERS. HELL, WE EVEN USED TO DANCE UP FRONT AND FUCK SHIT UP.

  3. On 03/30/11 12:29 PM, sammy said:

    You can tell he used to “fuck shit up” by his use of all caps.

  5. On 03/30/11 1:08 PM, Sean Cannon said:

    i also wonder if by “fuck shit up,” he means “timidly watch the show, then feel the compulsion to exaggerate the truth so as to juxtapose my concert-going philosophy with that of people who have less aggressive tastes in music because of my own artistic xenophobia.” yeah, that might be it.

  7. On 04/1/11 12:33 PM, floyd said:

    “Fuck shit up” generally means to engage in controlled violence while dancing. Indeed, there was a time that the more edgier indie rock bands could be enjoyed by more working class youth looking to vent their frustration and have fun while slamming a bit to music that wasn’t run of the mill hardcore. but sadly, he is correct, by 1998 or so, all the pussy hipsters and lo-fi wimps kinda killed the scene surrounding all the cool touch and go bands. Sean, you are the kind of guy i would karate kick during the last few bars of “the guy who invented fire.” As there were no blogs in 1995 to give voice to your elitist musings on “artistic xenophobia ruining the live concert experience for unemotional snobs” you would have simply been left with two options: join the melee or hop an early train to Williamsberg and sulk.

  9. On 04/1/11 2:15 PM, Sean Cannon said:

    i’m not debating whether or not shit used to get rowdy. and i’m still pissed off that i’m not old enough to have been a part of that firsthand and seen shellac back in the day. those things you talked about were some of the reasons i was drawn to that kind of music, even though i knew that scene itself wasn’t the same as it was during its zeitgeist.

    but damn, there’s no reason to be a dick about it. those people didn’t ruin it for you. you allowed them to ruin it for you. there’s a difference. so don’t blame them for it. blame them for being idiots, sure, whatever. but not for ruining something you had control over.

  11. On 04/1/11 4:31 PM, sammy said:

    I think all those other people got tired of the dickheads that were karate kicking them like dumb assholes and pushed them out so that concerts can actually be enjoyed now. I don’t mind David Yow’s sweaty body landing on top of me, but I don’t want some dumb fat kid next to me punching me in the face on accident because he’s “raging”.

  13. On 04/1/11 4:32 PM, sammy said:

    Sorry, but some 400 pound Mexican kid did punch me in the face once. I kicked him in the shin and “sulked” to the back.

  15. On 04/1/11 5:56 PM, Sean Cannon said:

    Good points, Sammy. Preach!

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