Glorious Noise Presents...
Riviera CD Release with Quasar Wut-Wut and Paper Airplane Pilots
Schubas, Chicago, April 2, 2005
The release party for the second album on Glorious Noise Records was a fantastic success. We're so happy that so many of the GLONO faithful were able to attend, and it was great to meet a bunch of new people! We truly appreciate everyone who came out to celebrate with us.
It was a really fun night with three awesome performances by the bands. Paper Airplane Pilots kicked things off and made those of us who had money on Michigan State forget about our losses for a while. The Pilots' brand of power pop is no tired Big Star wanna-be bullshit (although they rocked a great cover of "Back of a Car"), but a unique slow-burn, moody groove. Great stuff, and they definitely won over the crowd.
Quasar Wut-Wut was up next, and they put on one of the most blistering sets of their careers. They completely ruled the stage, and once again made us proud to have them heading up the GLONO roster. Taro Sound is an amazing album, and when you hear those songs live they just go to a whole new level. Several people who had never seen them live before told me afterwards that they were absolutely floored by how great they were. Their mind-altering cover of the Stones' "Heartbreaker" was a highlight of the set, as was their very special surprise.
Near the end of the Quasars' set they asked Riviera's Derek Phillips to come up and help them out with something. You could almost hear the jaws hitting the floor when Jordan Frank started picking out the bassline to the Smiths' "Death of a Disco Dancer." With Phillips on lead vocals, lead ass-shaking, and full-contact tambourine, they proved once and for all that the Smiths were most definitely not pussies.
And then came the moment we were there to celebrate. Riviera took the stage and performed most of their new Glorious Noise release, At the End of the American Century..., along with some of their earlier material and a few choice covers. It was great to hear "Walking with Jesus" return to their set after a couple years' absence; if you needed any proof that Riviera is not your cookie-cutter alt-count band, then the Spacemen 3 influence should be a little more apparent now!
All three of Riviera's songwriters showcased their stuff, and the packed crowd went wild for it. By the time the clocks struck two, and then were immediately forced up to three because of daylight savings, Riviera had worn out the voices of the entire crowd of Schubas from hollering their approval. Some brave, tireless souls may have been able to conjure up the energy for a nightcap at Carol's, but not me. I was thoroughly exhausted. It takes a lot out of guy to stand around screaming and clapping and heckling and drinking.
Riviera's At the End of the American Century... is available now from Miles of Music, CD Baby, and Amazon. It'll be at Insound and iTunes very soon. Quasar Wut-Wut's Taro Sound is available now from CD Baby, Amazon, and iTunes. Both Glorious Noise releases are being distributed to cool, independent record stores via CTD, so ask for it! MP3s, of course, are available, and hopefully we'll post this whole show for you to download.
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It's "Back of A Car", not "Back of My Car". If I recall, that second sng title is a really lame Wings song. And I sincerely apologize; the pic I mentioned that I took of Derek playing electric piano and conjuring up (in my mind, at least) images of Tom Waits turned out to be too pixel-y to tell what it is; so boys and girls at home who couldn't see, trust me when I tell you that Tom Waits was in da howse dat night playing at Schubas.
It was a great night, guys!!! And no, the Smiths are not pussies. They just seem to have those tendencies, sometimes...
Good catch, Murph. Fixed! By the way, "Back of My Car" is a pre-Wings song off Ram, and it's fucking great.
Glad you had a good time though!
I should chime in here and say that I had a fantastic time too and that everything you said about the bands, Jake, was as they say spot-on. AND! I am getting WAY better at holding my liquor. I love you kids.