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Okay, first things first: the HOSS. When I heard that this place was the basement of a house in Brighton, I wondered, "What exactly does that mean?" Somehow, it didn't seem likely to me that it means, exactly, the basement of a house in Brighton. Shows what I know. I mean, exactly. Like, the-merch-table-is-opposite-the-water-heater exactly. Huh.
Unfortunately, there's no way I can get out of work in a timely fashion to see most of the bands, so I show up a few songs into Night Rally's set. They're doing their hauntingly beautiful song with the weirdly catchy falsetto chorus, so I'm glad I wasn't any later. Devin has already broken a string, and Mike from Clickers provides him with a spare guitar. (I'm told it's been a night for equipment issues, and it doesn't let up. Devin breaks a string on that guitar too, and is provided with another loaner--what is he, Sonic Youth?--and you can click here for a really pathetic inadequate-light shot of Farhad from Night Rally literally holding Clickers' drum kit together during their set.) Despite the equipment trauma and the, let us say, less than concert-hall-quality sound, they actually put on a really tight, melodic set. All three members sing tonight, in an almost straightforward fashion, but with enough vocal quirks thrown in to keep it interesting. And there is a cover song, which they manage to make sound exactly like a Night Rally song. I approve of this.
Clickers take the stage to close out the night, after making sure that his microphone will not electrocute one of the singer/guitarists. (Did I mention that there are some technical difficulties tonight?) They, too, sound a little more melodic tonight than I'm used to hearing them, although in their case that pretty much means that their pieces are recognizably songs. I like the stop-on-a-dime dynamics in these compositions, which can shift suddenly from fast and punky to gentle and almost ambient, then back again. Alas, they have to cut their set a little short, as the drummer gets sick of having to reassemble his kick drum and pedal two or three times per song.
