Yesterday I finished up Fluid Druid’s band rehearsal at 9pm - we spent some extra time getting our shit together for our first show in a long time (since the spring) which also features our new bassist, Matt. I was fucking beat and there was nothing more my 40 year old ass wanted to do than maybe play some more Red Dead Redemption 2 and pass out on my couch with Buster 🐶 but Lollipop Shoppe was hosting a free Lose Yr Mind fest opener (our old bassist Ian’s band Of Wires was playing), and O.R.B. was playing across the street at Swan Dive so your boi showered up quick and drove down to hang with Grant and check things out.

Glad I did. Of Wires put on a good high-energy show as usual and O.R.B. was - so good. None of my DSLR shots turned out well unfortunately - still learning how to do indoor live shots of bands. The opening band Buddy Wynkoop (from PDX) put on a very high energy show that got people fucking moving - reminded me of IDLES, and some stuff my bandmate Nico likes.

Anyways, O.R.B. Stands for “Organic Rock Band” which they had on their drums, which as of this morning I’m now putting together. Glad I caught them as they are from Australia and their last stateside appearance was 5-6 years ago. Our old bandmate Patrick (a founder of Fluid Druid) and his wife were there and it was super lovely to see them. He introduced me to O.R.B. actually.

Three things I learned while enjoying this band:

• it’s worth it to get out and see bands from other parts of the world, if only to hear something completely different. I feel like my local scene has been a lot of high-energy riffs and manic bouncing around stage - nothing wrong with that - but it’s so cool to see a band take the stage that has a completely different kind of presence and can still captivate the audience and get them bouncing.
• the drummer looked awkward as fuck to me with his tiny ass drumsticks and small jazz-inspired setup, but if I closed my eyes and got past my visual prejudices, you can’t deny how good that shit sounded.
• The tempos were all over the place, but it wasn’t a problem because they all played together and were prioritizing listening to each other. They pushed and pulled together, and it totally worked.

Also Australian dudes continue be chill as fuck with their sandals and tanned skin. Goddamn people hogging all the vitamin D and cool vibes. Stop it.