the Date: Friday August 8, 2003
the Venue: Black Cat (DC)
(Photo credit to David Loomer and his Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/people/kidneybingos/)
Rockmaster General was the opening act. They are a local DC band. I completely missed their set.
French Kicks were next. They were great. The French Kicks are Nick Stumpf (vocal/drums), Lawrence Stumpf (bass), Matthew Stinchcomb (vocal/guitar), and Josh Wise (vocal/ guitar). All but Josh grew up in DC … so even though the band got together in New York, they are kind of a DC band. I really liked their tune Wrong Side and picked up a couple of their CDs at the merch table.
The Walkmen were the main attraction. The band, made up of Hamilton Leithauser (vocals/guitar),Walter Martin (organ/bass), Paul Maroon (guitar), Matt Barrick (drums), and Peter Bauer (orga/ bass), are all natives of the DC area and have known one another and made music together since childhood (Walter and Hamilton are cousins). Walter, Paul and Matt were in a New York band called Jonathan Fire*Eater while Hamilton and Peter were in a DC band called the Recoys. Each band had a relatively short existence before the boys formed the Walkmen. So long story short, these guys are hometown boys too!
I was really looking forward to seeing these guys. I love their album Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone
. This was a great show. My favorite tunes of the evening were Blizzard of ‘96, Wake Up, and We’ve Been Had (used extensively in a Saturn commercial - still love the song though).Sometimes I’m just happy I’m older …
