[Our fearless team, Nicci Boots and Ian McNeil spent three days listening to an obscene amount of fantastic music above the stunning Columbia River Gorge in George, Washington. Check out all our coverage here, over 30 sets from a who's who list of indie music.]
I’ve got a love/hate thing going on with the idea of some of my favorite bands being featured in commercials. For example, when I first heard The Heavy’s "How You Like Me Now?" playing while a stuffed monkey got a tattoo on that infamous Kia commercial, I got a gigantic kick out of it. I’m a huge fan of the band, and to see them getting some mainstream exposure was kind of exciting. Their music is so royally bad-ass, and I feel they deserve as much money as can be given to them. But after seeing the commercial 15 or 20 times, the novelty began to wear off. Especially because I do not want my appreciation of that raucously awesome song to ever go away.
But that’s beside the point – when I first heard The Heavy were going to be opening Day 3 of Sasquatch!, I just about lost my mind. Their ballsy, Blaxpoitation brand of blues rock is so very delicious to me, and it was pretty exciting to imagine how their stage show was going to end up playing out. And, true to the festival’s incredible selection for their three day-opening bands, The Heavy put on a hell of a show. Lead vocalist Kelvin Swaby is one sexy mofo, and a legendary kind of showman. During "Sixteen," Swaby thrust himself to the very front of the stage and sneered “I saw her dancin’ with the Devil” in the kind of way that felt absolutely legit. And the rest of the band played their very best, particularly guitarist Dan Taylor, who had his instrument amped to the tilt, shredding it fiercely throughout the set.
After the show I made my way to the media tent for the first time since I’d gotten to Sasquatch!, and who should happen to walk in at the exact same time but the band I had been most excited to see that weekend. I got a chance to chat with them for a few minutes, and all my overwhelmed brain could do was mumble idiotic things about how much I love their music. Thankfully, I may have secured an interview for their upcoming show in Portland, so stay tuned. Mmm. Such good music from this set of Brits.