Mel Washington, Hello Tomorrow, The Devil and The Lion

The Watershed 6/28/2008

The first time I saw Hello Tomorrow was at New Brookland Tavern a couple of years ago on new music night and they played “You Gave Your Love to Me Sotfly” by Weezer. I was instantly a fan.

They didn’t play it Saturday night at Watershed Books in Lexington, but they still had the same infectious melodies that made me a fan a couple of years ago.

I was internally skeptical while they were setting up because I usually think a 3 guitar arsenal is unnecessary (especially with all Humbuckers). I wouldn’t say they pulled it off better than Lynyrd Skynyrd, but it definitely made the show more dynamic. Well done fellas.

Overall I really enjoyed their performance. They aren’t the most polished band yet and that isn’t always a bad thing. This band is full of potential. They know what they are doing with their melodies, melodic guitar solos, interesting breakdowns and they have got the soft to loud dynamic down.

I’m looking forward to seeing these guys in a place where people have to stand up to watch them and everyone can get into the show a little bit more.

MEL WASHINGTON

I’ve never seen Mel by himself only with All Get Out and he is a great solo artist. He played about a 30 minute acoustic set sometimes accompanied by a backing drum and keyboard tracks. I know I’m not the only one, but whenever I hear this I automatically think Postal Service.

I’ve seen two people pull this off really well recently and that was Mel Washington Saturday night and Mike Mewborne about a month ago at New Brookland. With technology the way it is now it is a lot easier for people to record backing tracks than it was even just a two or three years ago. With that being said that means more and more people are doing it. So if you are going to do it, do it well.

I feel the need to Flashback to a Pedro the Lion show at New Brookland in 03 (not positive on the year, but you get the point). Two important things happened that night.

A) It was the night that I found out my friends in Emery got signed to Tooth and Nail. I believe they were just in negotiations then.

B) It was the first time I had ever seen a Mac on stage.

David Bazan played in all three bands that played that night. He moved from lead guitar, to drums and then to Pedro.

One of the opening bands used the Mac during the show and I remember having no idea how he was using it. By the way this was a mac you saw in elementary school not that new wafer thin Macbook crap you see today. At that time I hated digital drums in any sort, but to see him using them I guess I started to stop being so uptight about it.

Connection – Seattle- David Bazan – Ben Gibbard – Postal Service – One of the Greatest Albums of my Generation.

Mel Washington- Great job, looking forward to All Get Out July 16th at New Brookland. Love the Sufjan cover.

THE DEVIL AND THE LION

I was first introduced to them at Headliners at the Manchester Orchestra show. Ya’ll got the 3 guitars down too.

There are a lot of reasons why I love Brand New and TDATL has a lot of that in their music. It is in the lyrics, the way lyrics are strung together and in the way the vocals are pushed to the limit, but don’t break.

The Devil and The Lion seems to draw from a pool of good music, pull out the best parts and deliver it with an emotional live performance.

The singer might have cut his hair since I last saw them, but from what I could tell they didn’t lose any strength in their live performance.