The Damn Fanatics, The Street Hearts and WhaleSoundz: A “Performance Review” for 7/18 @ Neck of the Woods

This Friday, in particular, was a show I’ve been looking forward to. When a man claims his show has the late great Dr.Hunter S. Thompson as in inspiration (in the good Dr’s city mind you) you’ve grabbed my attention…

… The Damn Fanatics, The Street Hearts, and WhaleSoundz
@ Neck of the Woods (Richmond District, SF, CA)

WhaleSoundz are a sound a whale makes. (Hey, that’s straight from the horses… er…. whales…mouth Hey-o!…more like Hay-O! boomboomboom common lettme hearYaSay hay-o, hay-oooooo… Yes!)

WhalSoundz added a new bassist the week before the show and you could see the freshness of this lineup. The band DID have all the pieces of the puzzle in front of them. They know the right words to say to and the right tricks to get the crowd into the performance…

(stopping the music for a measure before going back into the song… usually the chorus… and hitting it hard when coming back in…works every time! Except when you come in late…or early…or anytime that’s not “on time” UNLESS you own the shit out of missing the timing you were supposed to come in for…that works too)

…but being fresh lends itself for some misfires, and that freshness mustn’t distract the audience from the tricks being used. I believe WhaleSoundz has great potential, and I’ll am excited to see what happens when the bolts have been tightened a bit more!

Whereas WhaleSoundz were bold enough to take chances with their performance and set, the next band went the opposite direction…

The Street Hearts were a band that if I’d seen them while on vacation in a hotel I’d be happy to see. The performance seemed very SAFE. Seeing this act in a bar on a Friday that wasn’t on pier 39 was a head-scratcher to me, and I guess I just didn’t get it or wasn’t in the mood for that act… but that’s ok… as other peeps were enjoying it… so there’s that. It got people into a good mood for what was to come next…

…the HIGHLIGHT act of the show (and proper headliner…)

The Damn Fanatics

And Strong gets “it”. Whats “it”, you might ask? That “it” of knowing when people are going out to see a show, people are doing so hoping to be entertained and have fun. If you can somehow have an act that creates a sense of community within the crowd itself to realize that they were A PART of something makes for a better time had by all. (hello HOODSLAM)

The Damn Fanatics get this and every member puts on a good show. Equal parts showmanship from guitarist/ringleader Andy Strong and musicality from Cameron and Matt, The Damn Fanatics picked the best name possible in order to get across how to describe their act…

“they performed like a bunch of Damn Fanatics”.

This is what kept replaying in my head while watching Andy Strong command the attention of the audience (and help lead the band) to put on a hell of a SHOW. Their set was my highlight in musical performance this week. (However, the show I’ll talk about next at the Honey Hive from The Dirty Nil gave them a good run for their money)

I’m happy to say that I can’t wait to see another Damn Fanatics set because when you describe what you do on stage and mention the late Dr. Hunter S. Thompson as an inspiration (in his city mind you) you’ve set yourself up for a high bar to jump for…The Damn Fanatics know how to set the bar at the correct height and properly jump over that bar. Not in a smug way…just a “yeah we’re a SHOW to be SEEN” type of way.

…and speaking of SHOWS in that type of way…(prepare yourself for a Mick Foley cheap pop) my project Friends W/O Benefits is performing at Brick & Mortar tomorrow evening RIGHT HERE in SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA…(thank you)

For $5 you get 3 bands including WAG (it’s their cassette release show) Sun Valley Gun Club and of course FWOB band…feel free to check it out. Still not convinced by my shilling of a show (whose event page you can find RIGHT HERE) …how about this attempt…