Fresh off their explosive performance with DJ Manny at Ice Cream Man’s SXSW 10-minute Dance Party, Think About Life brought their Canadian-born high energy indie-pop to a small but eager crowd at SF’s Bottom of The Hill. Kill Moi (I missed the set) and The Heavenly States kicked off the show. Particularly exciting for me, was the fact that this show was walking/stumbling distance from my new SF apartment. Since January, we have been living at the top of Potrero Hill and enjoying a proximity to great live music that has become almost a burden because there just isn’t enough time to see it all. In fact this night I found myself wandering back and forth between Bottom Of The Hill and Connecticut Yankee, one block down, to catch the afrobeat of the Lagos Roots (members of Fela Kuti’s Afrika 70 ) .
Bottom of the Hill’s line-up for the past few weeks has been a veritable who’s who of SXSW notables, with the likes of Think About Life, Efterklang, Surfer Blood, Acid Mothers Temple, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Bear in Heaven, and more. Now with the post-Coachella wave of bands spilling up the west coast, its all become a bit overwhelming, and I may have to pace myself.
I managed to chat briefly with Caila and Greg (vocals/bass and drums respectively) before their set and was pleased to find that they had as much fun at the 10-minute dance party as the rest of us. They lit up when I mentioned it. Caila and Greg are new adds to the Think About Life line-up. They joined original members Graham Van Pelt (keyboards) and Martin Cesar (Vocals) and the band has been touring in their current form since the release of their second album, “Family”, last year. Caila and Martins on-stage energy and sometimes dead-pan theatrics complimented TAL’s quirky upbeat music, and made for an intense live show that drew the small audience in completely. They are off to Europe in a couple weeks so if you haven’t caught them live on this tour, you may have to wait a bit.
In the meantime, if you are in the SF area, keep an eye on venues like Bottom of the Hill, Café Du Nord, Slim’s, Great American Music Hall, Connecticut Yankee, and countless others for great live acts over the summer.
