Barclay House 3/10/09 & The Model Home 3/11/09

So, as many of you probably already know, Swedish hardcore giants (relatively speaking, as much of a giant as you can be in DIY-world) Suis La Lune are touring the U.S. with Baltimore based emo-violence band Army of Kashyyyk and all-around-the-place based emo band Osceola. When my friends and I found out, we were stoked. So when we found out their first date was at the Barclay House in Baltimore, we headed out.

When we got there, we hung out down in the basement for a while, and when Suis La Lune came (which was totally obvious, it was kind of hard to miss four super European looking dudes, three of which were blonde) we headed over to their merch table to make small talk (and also buy everything they had for sale of course). This was their first time touring the U.S., and I think only Carl (guitarist) has ever been in the country before. They told us they were excited to be in the country and were looking forward to playing all the shows, and seemed a bit confused that we were so excited to see them, a fact which I think they quickly got used to after their first few shows. These dudes are extremely nice, and they are touring from Sweden! If you go see them, go up and introduce yourself! They are not going to belittle you or act elitist at all.

Two other bands played the show, but they seemed a rather odd match for Suis La Lune. Come to think of it, I can't really remember their names at the moment. It was more run of the mill punk type stuff that I couldn't really get behind. While the show ran through, we saw some friends we knew and made small talk and caught up. We spotted Kate from Frisby House (they throw awesome shows, check it out sometime!), who asked if we wouldn't mind letting her tag along to Philadelphia when she found out we were traveling up for the Model Home show the following night. We had already made plans to crash at our friend Eric's house, but agreed to meet her the next morning for breakfast and then hit the road.

When Suis La Lune went on, the basement began to get really packed. People seemed to crawl out of the woodwork, and by the time the set started almost the entire basement was completely full. I had been expecting a sort of quiet start to the U.S. tour considering the bill that night, but I had underestimated Suis La Lune's pull.

The set opened with "With Wings of Feather and Glue" and everyone instantly started smiling and bobbing their heads. Cameras flashed, and when the lights went off a night vision light from a video camera flicked on (check out the videos below). The energy was great, there was a really positive vibe and everyone was just enjoying the music. The set list included "Utter Silence Is Fragile", "This Heart Easily Tears", "Eris Flies Tonight", and I think the entire Heir 10", as well as two brand new songs. When they announced they were done playing (which happened about three times), the crowd began chanting "ONE MORE!". They ended up playing "Let the Bastards Come", from their 7".

That night we all headed to our friend Eric's house and crashed out. We got the next morning and headed over for some delicious vegan pancakes and breakfast potatoes ala Kate. The drive to Philly was pretty uneventful, and when we got into the city we went record shopping. For a loooooong time. The first few shops were pretty dissapointing, but we each found a few small records. We caught lunch at a veg-friendly pizza shop (started with a G...I can't remember...anyone?) where the pop-punk band Fireworks who had just played Charm City Art Space the night before just so happened to pop in for lunch. Kind of a funny coincidence. After lunch we went to the best record shop of the trip, Beautiful World Syndicate. We check out both locations. If you're ever in Philly, I advise checking out these shops, their used bins are awesome, and super cheap.

By this time it was almost 7:30 or so, so we headed to The Model Home. Surrounded mostly by abandoned shells of buildings, this second floor apartment is in a pretty awesome location for shows. About the only people there were our friends from Baltimore Age Sixteen, Straight, No Chaser, Matt from Storm the Bastille, who was sort of watching the apartment until the residents got home/running the show, and our awesome bud Raphael from We Were Skeletons, (who are releasing a new album soon check it the fuck out).

The line-up for the night was as follows:

Age Sixteen
Straight, No Chaser
Osceola
Suis La Lune
Storm The Bastille

Age Sixteen opened up with their usual zeal, absolutely destroying. In fact, they rocked too hard and Kris took John's amp straight to the head during a collision. They played a slew of songs off their new album Open Up Finders, Please which you can read a review of here and should BUY!!! (the link to their myspace is above). These guys always play a fucking awesome show and I encourage you to check out their demo by looking for Age Sixteen in the tags.

Straight, No Chaser played next. They play straight-up thrash really, really fucking fast and it is impressive. I had seen them play once before at Barclay, but to way less people. They put on a great show. Osceola played next and played a really solid set. They opened with "Smile", which is my favorite song of theirs, but the structure of the songs had changed a bunch since they lost a guitarist and I missed the final breakdown at the end. Awesome band either way.

Suis La Lune came on next, and they played a similar set list from the night before. I'm not complaining though, it was fucking awesome. During their set the cops came and tried to find out what exactly was going on (rather rudely, but what do you expect), but they were assured the window would be closed and we'd all clear out soon.

Storm the Bastille played last (with the window closed) and churned out the heavy jams. I had seen them at Barclay with Straight, No Chaser as well but I think this time topped that show. I picked up one of the two copies of Dismantled on 10" they had, and it sounds great.

After the show we hung out and smoked in the kitchen with Suis La Lune. By this time I was super drunk and I think I probably embarassed myself talking to Henning (guitar/vocals) but I was so happy to be hanging out with those guys I really didn't care. We headed back to Baltimore and crashed at Kate's house. All in all, it was an awesome time.

Be on the lookout for a Storm The Bastille post in the next few days.

Three videos of Suis La Lune playing at Barclay House can be viewed here, at Stoking the Roots, a blog you should check out.

Check out the rest of Suis La Lune's U.S. dates with Osceola and Army of Kashyyyk.

See a whole set of photos from The Model Home of all the bands here.