Vegan Coke celebrates
St Patricks Day at the Drunken Unicorn on Thursday, March 17th, 2011
Vegan Coke is an instrumental now wave punk band from Atlanta, GA that likes to write, record and tour.
Vegan Coke on Facebook
Des Ark are performing third.
During the last decade, Aimée Argote has had more bands called Des Ark than she has albums under that name. She's howled and jerked in sweaty houses and rock clubs, backed by a drummer, another drummer, yet another drummer and a second guitarist, and a small symphony. She's brought big crowds to a whisper with nothing but her voice and a banjo or a tiny guitar that kept slipping out of tune. But, a stack of radio sessions aside, Des Ark only has one LP, 2005's Loose Lips Sink Ships, and a collaborative split, 2007's Battle of the Beards, to call its own.
Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker—the band's brilliant second LP, due this summer on Lovitt Records—makes up for the time lag and the lost members.
"On the record, I wanted to put on tape whatever it was that I heard in my head, which I can never do live. And that doesn't matter," says Argote, walking to her job making crepes in Philadelphia, where she's lived for the past several months. "It's my project, and I wanted it to be what comes out of me when I do it how I imagine. It was a fun experiment."
The experiment took its time. Sink is a record of extremes—heavy and roiling during "Ashley's Song," twinkling and tender during "Howard's Hour." As such, Argote couldn't do everything in one place or one room. She began recording the quiet tunes in Richmond, Va., in 2007, finishing just last year. The more aggressive numbers were recorded last May in trio form with guitarist Noah Howard and drummer Ashley Arnwine in Salem, Mass., by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou. The multiple sessions afforded Argote the chance to think through the material more than ever before.
"Usually, you get stuck on a part, and you just have to keep going," she says. "Here, I had a lot of time to sit with it and wait to see how it would be fixed. So a year later when I'd go back to finish this song, I knew how it was supposed to sound." —Grayson Currin
Des Ark on Facebook
Thy Mighty Contract are the second performer.
In 2007, longtime musical acquaintances Thomas Barnwell, Max McDonough, Chris Ware and Ian Deaton met to start something new. They had only a couple of ground rules: #1, it was to be significantly less poppy than Barnwell and McDonough’s other project, the Orphins, and #2, it was to be substantially more poppy than Ware and Deaton’s previous band, Blame Game.
The quartet wrote a few songs while searching for the perfect voice to handle both pop melodies and blazing speed picking. They found that voice in ex-I Would Set Myself On Fire For You member Lindsey Harbour.
The band quickly had enough material for a full length, but shortly thereafter, Deaton abruptly left the band. Determined to march on, the group continued writing and started searching for a replacement that could bring fresh ideas while maintaining their signature sound. Erin Carmichael, formerly of the group SIDS, fit the bill wonderfully. Once again a five piece, the band took no time to gel and has been feverishly writing new material and playing live.
Their self-titled debut is equal parts art rock, pop, metal and punk. Angular guitars dart in and out of danceable rhythms. Soaring vocals turn on a dime into shouts. Dark melodies shift to a blur of triumphant guitars. And through it all the sound is uniquely Thy Mighty Contract.
Thy Mighty Contract on Facebook
Pygmy Lush are opening the show.
"Because we're in the spirit world asshole. They can't see us."
Pygmy Lush on Facebook
$5, 21+
Doors @ 9 pm
