Don’t worry, we won’t dare suggest you attend an outdoor concert in the chilled June night air, what rubbish. This week’s featured show takes place at one of our Finest City’s finest establishments for listening pleasure, Casbah of course.
Chances are you know and love Scarlet Symphony. They are what you can call locally famous, and touring all over Cali and Nevada, hot off the 2009 release of their full-length album Foundation (Cat 9 Records). If you haven’t had the opportunity to see them live, then Friday’s show is perfectly tailored for your local music education needs. However this piece is not about SS…
Come see come other local imminent risers- Apes of Wrath, whose musical stylings romps around punk-inspired, alternative pop and indie-rock laced with impulsive rock guitar riffs (those of Andrew Geldmeier).
First things first, their name is a terribly clever derivative of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, right? The wit doesn’t end there. The title Apes of Wrath was a classic Bugs Bunny cartoon apparently having something to do with a drunken stork, a guerrilla and a misinterpreted Bugs Bunny… so either way, classic novel or classic cartoon they win honorable mention (at least) in the modestly brilliant band name game.
Apes of Wrath’s delivers hammer-hard bass lines (Jake Bankhead), teasingly edgy lyrics (Robert Kent) and riving drum rhythms (Dustin Elliott). This description might raise a red flag of affected predictability for some critics. However it seems to be the consensus that Apes possess an erratic fun factor quality to their music that saves it from blending into background chatter of the club. Not to mention that endearing quality that shines though so you know they aren’t taking themselves so damn seriously.
In the past year the foursome has gained local notoriety, coming heavy into the local scene as staples to the Anti-Monday League at the Casbah, receiving SDMA nominations in 2008 and playing with Louis XIV for Casbah’s 20th Anniversary show. They received excellent public response at April’s SXSW spurring a rapidly multiplying fan base. Apes released Plastic, Fake, and Frozen (self –released) in 2007; they now are preparing to release an EP in fall of this year on indie-label Obscure Magpie Records.
Scarlet Symphony, Apes of Wrath and PAPA, at the Casbah Friday June 12. Doors open at 8:30 p. m., $10, 21+.
