Yes it’s almost a month late but I gotta get a review up from our Ice Cream Man Holiday Party. It’s been one really long hangover, that’s my excuse.
A few years back my friend Josh (AKA Gosh Money) from The Woods would always rock Mazarin‘s Watch it Happen everywhere he went. It didn’t take long til I got my own copy and when I moved to Austin, Texas to reopen the
Hole in the Wall I brought it along with a newly rebuilt set of high-end AR speakers. The speakers needed to be broken in so I set up ’em up on the stage and nearly every day I would BLAST Mazarin. This was a few years ago and not much had happened with the band until a few months ago when I heard they had new album coming out on I and Ear Records. I instantly fell for the three tracks they had on their site previewing the album and contacted Morgan at the label to see what I could do to help spread the word.
Flash forward a few months and BAM, Mazarin is playing my favorite watering hole in Long Beach, The Prospector for our unofficial ICM Holiday Party. Due to Fingerprints music, and their employees who frequently all latch onto the same bands, Maz has a rather large fan base in Long Beach. As they toured their way to the west coast i kept telling them them this via email and cell phone chats. The day of the show I got a call from Oakland and found out that their van had broke down the night prior. I didn’t stress too much til they called again at six o’clock to say they were finally leaving. Since the show was on a Monday night I had been pressuring Josh into having The Woods go on early so the show wouldn’t end at 2 in the morn. Now it was reversed and everyone was encouraged to drag their feet and drink up. Good thing John was kicking down bottomless free drinks for the bands.
Sometime after 10 The Woods took to the stage and I took to the soundboard. Yup, ICM can do it all…or at least control the volume on the vocals coming through the PA. They tore through their rockin’ 20+ minute set and the crowd couldn’t get enough. I was amazed later when Josh said he wrote all their songs before he heard the Hot Snakes. Timonium took their time setting up and then slowly worked their way through their Bedhead style tunes that mellowed the place out a bit. Since Mazarin songs range from mellow to electronic bleeps, to full on rockers, I wanted to be sure to prepare the crowd for a potentially kick back set. Timonium was perfect relaxing break while everyone wondered aloud if Mazarin was actually going to make it.
Rumors were abound and eventually the Maz Van rolled up and out they jumped with gear in hand. The small stage was filled and after and the lubricated crowd was ready to rock. Outside of “Green Lane”, all the tracks were off We’re Already There. The small area in front of the stage was packed and everyone was singing along. One person was headbangin some but i have no idea who that might have been. There’s a certain beauty of shows in tiny, drunken, dive bars. Maybe the sounds not perfect but, with confines so close, everyone has no choice but to move with the music. Right before 2 they finished up and it was obvious there were going to be a large number of hangovers on Tuesday. I handed over a chunk of cash, which happened to be just enough to cover the van repairs, told them I’d see them tomorrow at the Troub show, then headed over to Gosh Money’s for a brief after/sober up party before making it home on my bike (or was it a skateboard?). The amazing part was that the few pieces of ice cream that got left in my truck we’re still frozen when i went to pick it up the next day. Nothing better than a strawberry fruit-a-freeze for a hangover.
Mazarin with Rogue Wave at the Troubadour
Check some Maz, Timonium, and The Woods tracks on Myspace too.
