Some quick newsy and observational items culled from a weekend out on the town: Friday night, dbiddle turned in another beautifully shambolic performance at the hi-dive. Even minus the Dia de los Muertos-esque face paint the group sported a few weeks back on the same stage (see clip above filmed by Vincent Comparetto), Duncan Barlow and company were equally riveting -- and creepy. There's almost nothing as mind-freakingly incongruous as watching Barlow take on his intensely dark persona on stage and then talking to the soft-spoken frontman afterwards. No doubt, catching dbiddle so soon again, with the Wheel and Littles Paia both in tow, was quite a treat.
In a related item, I caught up with dbiddle guitarist Jeff Davenport before the show, and he's reportedly also playing bass in Meese now, as well. Taking a smoke break outside in between acts, I also ran into Eric Halborg and Andrew Vastola. Halborg and his mates have been working feverishly on the Swayback's next platter, which Vastola is overseeing at Rocky Mountain Recorders. The disc, which contains eleven tracks, is reportedly close to being finished and slated to be shipped off to Airshow for mastering in the first week of December. From the tracks I've heard thus far, it should be pretty kick ass.
Speaking of Vastola, dude's been quite a busy character himself lately. In addition to tracking the Swayback and preparing to record the next Nathan & Stephen album, he spent much of his free time last week learning an entire set's worth of Born in the Flood material in case he had to fill in for that act's drummer Mike Hall, who's pretty beat up after being accosted last week on the job.
But despite suffering from banged up ribs, Hall played an outstanding set on Saturday night at the hi-dive and didn't look too much worse for the wear.
-- Dave Herrera
