Ice Cream Man

Free Yr Radio Seattle with Mudhoney and No Age

Words by Dustin Guy
Photos by Randal Hutchinson

Another Free Yr Radio extravaganza kicked off in Seattle last week with Mudhoney and No Age playing a benefit show for local/global independent radio station KEXP. After rallying crew members Randal, Ben, and Tyler we set off to pick up the ice cream at the Blue Bunny shop and get Bessita ready for the show. I’ve must say it’s pretty fun driving a zippy little car with an Ice Cream Man sticker wrap, it definitely turns some heads. As a bonus you can park it just about anywhere.

The show was set to take place in KEXP’s rather spacious parking lot in downtown Seattle. We showed up 3 hours early and I could already tell it was gonna get a little bit crazy, there were already people lining up along the fence waiting to get in and more were on the way. We set up shop next to the Good Magazine Yaris and prepared for the madness. Tyler was in charge of dishing most of the ice cream while the rest of us would be doing photo/video duties. By the time they opened the gates the 200 or so odd people waiting outside came in and instantly formed a huge line behind Bessita. It was officially on! The line stretched almost all the way across the parking lot and was probably about 50-100 people deep for about an hour. Seconds and even thirds were served.

LA duo No Age rocked the opening slot to a little over 500 of their newest friends. If you haven’t check out these guys you should do so now. Their music is kind of a lo-fi experimental punk hybrid with tons of energy and an occasional hook thrown in. They had the crowd into it and sounded great with the exception of some nagging feedback that wouldn’t seem to go away. At one point they stopped the show and introduced the feedback as their new third member. You’ve gotta love outdoor shows. All in all it was a cool set and it was nice to see the crowd responding well.

Mudhoney was up next and the crowd was definitely ready. I had the chance to see both No Age and Mudhoney at the Sub Pop Festival two weeks ago and found the crowd watching to be just about as interesting as the music. It’s pretty cool to see a whole bunch of teenagers moshing and singing (every lyric) along to a band that started out before most of them were born. Mudhoney came out like gangbusters and the kids started jumping around just like they’re supposed to. I can’t confirm it but rumor has it that crowd surfing did occur. Unfortunately after about 4 or 5 songs the PA started cutting in and out and eventually brought the show to a halt. When you are standing in the back and you can smell the burning electronics it’s usually a bad sign. It was official, Mudhoney had blown up the PA. Bass player Guy Maddison shouted to the crowd at one point “Does anybody know what the fuck is going on with the PA?” and got a steady chorus of “No” mixed with laughter in return. The band broke into an instrumental set before the PA came back online and they could finish their set. In the end it was pretty funny and the band took it all in stride. You could tell these guys were vets watching them deal with the PA problems; they turned something that could have ruined the show into a funny little interlude.

All in all it was a great show, we handed out almost 500 ice creams and lived to tell the tale. We packed up the car and headed home with the kind of smile that can only occur after four or five orange dream bars and some quality rock and roll.