Shows at The Replay always start too late, it's a fact. I'm pretty sure it's even been written down in a book of official things, so there. I called the club to verify the start time and they told me 10:30. 10:30 seemed reasonable for a Monday night so I believed them and left Kansas City for k10 a little after 9:30 with Pink Floyd's The Final Cut playing at full volume in the CD player. I've been looking for a name for my band and every three word phrase that Roger would sing seemed to be a candidate. Of course they only make since in the Roger's voice and in the context of The Final Cut, so I'm still on the hunt.

It had been warmer that day at The Replay had their deck area open so I milled around looking for people I knew for a while before sitting down at a table close to the cranked heat lamps and started to dose off. John from The Believe It Or Nots popped by with an empty pitcher (I don't think it was his first and it wasn't his last) and we talked about grades and internships and careers and the like before Matt from Proudentall stopped in and chatted about their new record deal with Sun, Sea & Sky (Shawn from no KARMA's new label) and other bandy type things before we heard Sweep the Leg Johnny starting to check levels.

The Pellum Project (I think that is there name) had cancelled after their drummer broke her hand so it would just be Sweep the Leg Johnny and Proudentall. Good thing since the first band didn't start until after 11:30.

Sweep the Leg Johnny had added John from Spanakorzo on bass since the last time I saw them and it has really taken them to the next level. Steve's vocals were so very strong and the sax parts were much more integrated and pervasive. I never realized that Steve was a good player before. I kinda always thought, you know, squack and noise and gimmick and stuff but turns out he is actually good. Because of this new shift, I was happy to hear songs from the new album make up their set..

Their set was great and the band were so together through all their stops and starts. They have been on the road for the last like 6 weeks and all those performances have made them an irresistible force of complicated, noisy and syncopated Chicago rock.

After a long set up time, Proudentall began their set with Steve standing behind a four track instead of his guitar. The sound up front was horrible and with no monitors, the vocals really suffered. Matt's guitar went out of tune all through the set (and eventually broke a string) so the set didn't flow well and the quick bursts of emotional rock that usually make up their shows were lost. When Steve got back to his guitar for the end of the set things picked up and his Sonic Youth-esque guitar weaseling make the songs so much more interesting. Again they were joined by a friend on trombone but seems like he may have been playing more notes which didn't work as well as the last time I saw him joining the band. Maybe it was just the poor sound of the club though. They played a number of new songs, including a couple from an upcoming 7" that were well crafted, but they just didn't come across well that night.

After the show I talked to Steve for a while and we mapped out a time when they will record "Night Moves" for the Bob Segar tribute CD I'm doing. I also picked up a copy of their new CD and their split 7" with The Cowpers. It was a little after 2am so I headed back to Kansas City listening to the acoustic Farside tracks from their last EP.