“our band could be your life” tribute show, philly f/m festival, skybox, philadelphia, pa 9/23/11

this was a philly f/m festival showcase celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the book our band could be your life. the festival invited a bunch of philly bands to chose a band that had been written about in the book and cover three of their songs. we were the first band to respond and chose mission of burma. when it came time for our set the show was running ahead of schedule so we took the opportunity to play two extra songs by two of our favorite bands also featured in the book:

academy fight song (mission of burma)
that’s how i escaped my certain fate (mission of burma)
that’s when i reach for my revolver (mission of burma)
back from somewhere (husker du)
left of the dial (replacements)

the other bands on the bill were:

house bat as sonic youth
metroplex as fugazi
ghosts in the valley as the minutemen
faux slang as husker du
howling fantods as mudhoney
yeah clementines as the replacements
the successful failures as beat happening
the silence kit as minor threat
golden bloom as dinosaur jr.

our band could be your life: “provides a chapter-style, documentary-like, behind-the-scenes history of a dozen or so bands that truly defined what it meant to be an indie or punk band during the 1980′s, with stories and facts that shed such a new light on each of the featured bands that I feel like a dope for thinking I knew anything about them before reading the book.” baby got books

art for the cash poor 12, crane arts building, philadelphia, pa, 6/11/11

we started the whole two-day festival off at 1:00 saturday afternoon, by far the earliest in the day we’d ever played. there were some technical difficulties in the middle of the set so to pass the time while they were being fixed becker and ward played “14 cheerleader coldfront”.

good intentions
butterfly
infinite space
afternoon is better
slow down
14 cheerleader coldfront (guided by voices)
deferent
don’t cry no tears (neil young & crazy horse)
humpty
subbacultcha (pixies)
stock

this song does not rock: the ballads of guided by voices – tritone, philadelphia, pa, friday, 5/27/11

this was a benefit show for the leukemia lymphoma society put on by the successful failures. we couldn’t all make it so becker and ward played as a duo, both of them singing and playing guitar. they learned 18 guided by voices songs which they tried to cram into a half hour set. they almost made it. also on the bill were alexander yakerreal defenders of the acropolis, the successful failures, howling fantods, victor traps & kitten disaster. a few of the song titles below contain links to camera-phone-quality videos of those songs. all songs are by guided by voices.

14 cheerleader coldfront
awful bliss
key losers
the goldheart mountaintop queen directory
bright paper werewolves
tropical robots
indian fables
now to war
kicker of elves
when she turns 50
how loft am i?

i am produced
hey aardvark
ester’s day
drinker’s peace
a good flying bird

abbaye 8th anniversary party 1/22/11

here it is (at least as much of it as we can remember), another year of rock karaoke for the abbaye’s anniversary. this year was a five and a half hour marathon with one ten minute break between two sets. we opened up with three of our songs, towards the end of the festivities ward and becker performed gbv’s “14 cheerleader coldfront”, and we ended the night with ward belting out “highway to hell”. other than those five songs everything else was sung by the party attendees who signed up to perform specific selections chosen from our list of 210 songs: including a very after-hours eight minute rendition of the who’s “a quick one (while he’s away)” which wasn’t even on the list but was performed perfectly by one late-night reveler without the aid of a lyric sheet. it was another great year and everyone who came up and sang did a fantastic job. below are the lists for both sets. as always the song titles performed for karaoke have the original band name after them in parenthesis.

humpty
afternoon is better
starting now
last caress (misfits)
dreaming (blondie)
psycho killer (talking heads)
here comes your man (pixies)
web in front (archers of loaf)
rocking in the free world (neil young)
academy fight song (mission of burma)
o valencia (decemberists)
game of pricks (guided by voices)
i am a scientist (guided by voices)
we gotta get outta this place (animals)
creep (radiohead)
my name is jonas (weezer)
anarchy in the uk (sex pistols)
queen bitch (david bowie)
drain you (nirvana)
twist and shout (beatles)
basket case (green day)
hyper enough (superchunk)
(what’s so funny about) peace, love and understanding (elvis costello)
can’t hardly wait (replacements)

gigantic (pixies)
all day and all of the night (kinks)
helter skelter (beatles)
left of the dial (replacements)
wrong (archers of loaf)
last caress (misfits)
just like heaven (cure)
sabotage (beastie boys)
i’m allowed (buffalo tom)
glad girls (guided by voices)
echos myron (guided by voices)
debaser (pixies)
(you gotta) fight for your right (to party!) (beastie boys)
14 cheerleader coldfront (guided by voices)
eight days a week (beatles)
motor away (guided by voices)
gouge away (pixies)
my name is jonas (weezer)
fake plastic trees (radiohead)
bikeage (descendants)
twist and shout (beatles)
surf wax america (weezer)
baba o’riley (who)
unfair (pavement)
father christmas (kinks)
should i stay or should i go (clash)
head on (pixies)
seed toss (superchunk)
fishing (superchunk)
academy fight song (mission of burma)
girlfriend in a coma (smiths)
have you ever seen the rain? (creedence clearwater revival)
basket case (green day)
listen to her heart (tom petty)
driveway to driveway (superchunk)
tractor rape chain (guided by voices)
a quick one (while he’s away) (who)
aneurysm (nirvana)
highway to hell (ac/dc)

philadelphia f/m festival, 9/25/10

we headlined one of the free outdoor stages for the philadlephia f/m festival. girard avenue was closed for four blocks and was a sea of people,  vendors and three music stages. we had a great set until it was cut a little short when a  building across the street caught fire. they had to open up girard and everyone had to move out of the way to let the fire trucks come down. we played our last song to fire trucks driving right in front of the stage with their sirens and lights blaring.

humpty
you never seem to mind
starting now
butterfly
stock
(an evening in) pamplona
finders
afternoon is better
shattered leaves

m-room, philadelphia, pa 5/27/10

gasoline heart opened and were awesome. since it was only two bands we came prepared with a 13 song set list which we expanded by taking a bunch of requests at the end.

aneurysm (nirvana) (only the first minute)
butterfly
geometric mean
humpty
afternoon is better
finders
everything pales
stock
slow down
starting now
shattered leaves
lemonade
gouge away (pixies)
(an evening in) pamplona
the evil powers of rock and roll (supersuckers)
unfair (pavement)
detroit has a skyline (superchunk)
aneurysm (nirvana)