St. Louis Blues

On the way to St. Louis we had an experience similar to the one we had last year while driving from KC to Omaha: we got caught in a massive downpour and had to pull off the road for a while to sit the worst of it out. Luckily, it finally started to abate and we were able to continue merrily on our way.

Our show in St. Louis last summer was a bit weird, but this one was unspeakably so. Somehow we ended up on a bill with two very offensive, testosterone-bleeding bands. One featured a twisted and creepy lead singer whose lyrics were frighteningly violent and misogynistic. The other was ostensibly a "joke" band, but that didn't make their use of a blow-up doll for part of their show any less reprehensible.

We were appalled to share the stage with bands who devalue, objectify and -- worst of all -- seem to promote aggression toward women, but on the other hand we knew it made our set all the more important. All we could do was let loose on stage and hope to open a few minds. The crowd actually seemed quite taken with our performance, and we received many compliments following -- including quite a few from members of the two aforementioned bands. Of course, one guy made it a point to say he was "really surprised" by how good we were, seeming to imply he didn't expect to be impressed by an all-girl trio (although, to be fair, maybe he was just surprised to be impressed by an experimental indie rock group from Brooklyn -- who knows?).

Obviously it was hard not to have extremely mixed feelings about the entire evening and the response we got -- but it did feel necessary on some level to be there and to do what we always come to do: blow people away.

We also bonded with the one band on the bill that was made up of a bunch of very decent guys making very solid music: My New Knife.

Guitarist Matt actually put us up at his place that night, and drummer Phil took some fantastic photos of us during our set.

Matt's place was about 25 minutes out of the city, but was worth the drive. He's in a quiet neighborhood and has a great shower! The only complication was his sweet but overly rambunctious dog, Roscoe. Only a year old, Roscoe has way too much energy and not enough training. He was bouncing off the walls all evening and made it difficult to relax.

Still, it was great to hang with Matt and his girl Ani, who is a musician in her own right and also an active participant in the underground noise rock and experimental scene in St. Louis. We were glad to find out there IS such a scene in STL, and hope next time to be playing on a much better bill with a much better crowd!

Next up: Kansas City!