Don and Dave performing at Toad. Photo courtesy Anand Jagannath

Having just played in Cambridge back in December with Caitlin Canty, to much the same crowd, this gig afforded us a particularly good opportunity to mark our progress over the last month, both with regards to the direction our music has taken and our general ability to perform it. In both respects it felt like we were a different band than we’d been back at Lilypad, and the audience seemed to agree. To be fair, we also had the advantage of playing to a more energetic, less sober crowd than was at the Lilypad show, which definitely didn’t not help. I even found out later that one front-row table of our friends was playing their own Darlingside drinking game, with rules like: Drink when two bandmates share a loving look; Drink when Auyon leans too far back, or when Harris’ leg starts to go crazy; Drink when Don says something particularly awkward, or when Dave makes a joke that nobody understands; Drink when Sam says anything at all. Sam, you recluse you.

Thanks a lot to Auyon’s friend Anand for snapping some great photos from the show, which you can see here.

After our set, we had a fantastic time hanging out with our Cambridge/Boston friends while the David Wax Museum performed their final show as Toad’s resident band. Their set was both fun and emotional, and at times powerfully charged; sometimes they quite literally took over the room such that it was impossible not to listen. It was great sharing the stage with them, and we’re hoping to bring them up to Northampton for another joint show in the near future.

We can’t help but enjoy the fact that our two Cambridge gigs thus far have been at “Lilypad” and “Toad,” which of course practically requires us to make stupid puns about how the second gig really “jumped off” of the first one, or about how “toads are technically terrestrial, so this would never happen in real life.” (Some of us were biology majors.) In keeping with that level of sophistication, we’re pleased to announce that the fable has a new twist: The Lucky Dog in Worcester, MA, where we played on Wednesday. What I’m thinking, maybe counter-intuitively, is that the dog is actually lucky because it DIDN’T eat the toad (maybe because the toad, having jumped off the lilypad just in time, is now safely underwater?). Many species of toad are actually quite poisonous, and dogs have been known to die from eating them. Please feel free to post your alternative theories below.

Oh, you actually wanted to hear about how the gig went…

Well, we had been warned, a few nights prior to the gig, that the Lucky Dog was a “metal biker bar” and that we shouldn’t expect a “good reception.” When we mentioned Worcester to The David Wax Museum, the response was something like pity. It was also the venue’s “free night” — essentially a brief audition to see if we were good enough to come back and play a paid gig. Our expectations adjusted accordingly, we were relieved when a lone female singer-songwriter kicked off the night, and with a great set at that. It was Misty Boyce, from NYC, and her sound ranged from edgy pop to gritty indie rock, and she was cute and funny to boot. She was followed by the hard-rock band Theoryshift, five really nice guys based out of Boston who fully utilized the catwalk-esque thrust part of the stage, as well as the upper range of their volume knobs. We followed Theoryshift with as much energy as we could bring, and were very well received by the crowd and the owner, who’s looking to have us back to open for his own band, which apparently always packs the place. Will Gattis was next, a wonderfully entertaining singer-songwriter down from Portland, ME, who is too easy to compare to Ben Folds, but really has his own quirky thing going on that I thought was great. Following Will was The Mile Run, two very friendly dudes rocking as hard as possible on acoustic guitars with raw, intense vocals that reminded me of Manchester Orchestra’s harder stuff (in a good way). The vibe throughout the night was one of friendship and mutual triumph, with some metal-biker-bar vibes mixed in, and a fair amount of vintage pornography vibes in the men’s room.

So, the Dog turned out to be very Lucky indeed, and we all had a great night and got to hear some really cool acts; hopefully we’ll find a way to hook back up with some of them for future shows. Meanwhile, Caitlin will be back in Hadley tomorrow to continue working on her upcoming EP, and we’ll be getting ready for the Haiti relief show in Rutland, VT this Friday. No animal-related venue names in the foreseeable future, so whatever happened between the Toad and the Dog — and really, it’s none of our business — the next chapter is a ways off.

Until next time,
Dave