What Made Milwaukee Famous - 3/3/06 - Emo's

There's something about liking a band that very few people know about that makes you feel really cool. You almost feel like you're better than everyone else, because you've discovered something "that everyone else is too stupid to appreciate". It drives your superiority complex. You purposefully listen to the band's album in your car when others are in it, hoping that they'll ask who it is, so you can brag about your keen music intellect.
Then after some time said band starts to gain a little recognition and popularity. You cherish it because you get to say "I knew about those guys before everyone else". (remember Cake's 'Rock n Roll Lifestyle': "And how much did you pay for your rock'n'roll t-shirt/That proves you were there/That you heard of them first?") You enjoy the songs that are gaining them recognition, but you're hesitant to truly embrace. You still proclaim that their "early stuff" remains their best work.
But then something happens. The underground band you've been loving and singing the praises of for months/years starts getting heavy rotation on the radio. They begin touring at large venues instead of the claustrophobic dive bars you used to see them in. You see suburban teeny boppers in their Civics and Jettas cranking the band's music at full volume while singing along to every word. Panic sets in and you almost immediately begin to denounce the band. You call them "sell-outs" and claim that their "new stuff" sucks. You still go to their shows, but you only cheer when they play songs from their first album and you scoff at all the losers who go wild when the hit single is played to close the show.
Then the band releases another album and it debuts at #1 on the Billboard charts. You don't even bother to buy it. They get heavy play from most radio formats including the Mix station. You just shake your head in disgust. Anytime you hear the band's song played, you are forced to comment on how much they now suck. You can't even bring yourself to listen to their early work that you used to love so dearly. It's all over. You give your old band shirts to Goodwill, and wash your hands of the band forever. Then you discover a new band...that sounds amazingly like the old band. You even say "man, these guys are like so-and-so when they used to be good". And the cycle starts all over again.


Ummm....so I don't know what I just wrote or its purpose. This was supposed to be a recap of the What Made Milwaukee Famous show I went to last Friday, but I got off on some crazy random tangent. I'd just delete it, but I spent like 30 minutes writing, and I can't just go around throwing away 30 minutes of writing time. It's hard enough to get myself to sit down and write something for 10 minutes.
So....What Made Milwaukee Famous then....
Well, it was a great show. I missed the first band AUX, but caught the 2nd: Deathray Davies. They were alright. Had a few nice tunes, though you couldn't make out anything they were singing. The best thing about them was that they had a dude with a nice curly fro in the middle of the stage that just played the tambourine and a tiny xylephone. He'd just rock out and seemed like he was having a great time.
Then, came What Made Milwaukee Famous (or "woommf" as I like to call them...I'm cool like that). They started off with something new that they'd never played live, and then broke into 'Hellodrama', my absolute favorite song of theirs. From then on, they basically followed this pattern of intertwining tracks off their album Trying to Never Catch Up and new songs that I imagine they were practicing for SxSW. You could tell they were still trying to get their bearings on some of the new stuff, but it still mostly sounded pretty great. There was one song that the bassist sang that was just awesome. He just belted in the microphone Sparta 'Cut Your Ribbon' style and didn't let up one bit throughout the song. I'm really curious to hear how it sounds in a studio. But from their album they also played 'Idecide', 'Selling Yourself Short' (which I was surprised to learn wasn't sung by the lead singer Michael Kingcaid), 'Short on Shields', and closed with 'Building a Boat from the Boards in Your Eyes' which was a really fun to finish with. It was only about 1:35 at this point, and they could've/should've played longer, but it gave us time to run to Logan's and chug a big beer.

Their songs really held up well live, and Michael Kingcaid is one cool dude. He barely said a word on stage, but he had a lovable energy to him (I don't know what that means). So all in all a great time was had by all. I just wish they played more of their "older stuff".