You Should’ve Been There: Los Campesinos! and Parenthetical Girls [WOW Hall; 6/3/2008]

Criminal.
It’s just criminal that the WOW Hall wasn’t packed to capacity last night for two up-and-coming (and soon to be super-famous) bands, Parenthetical Girls and Los Campesinos!

With Infamy Comes Responsibility.
But those who did their indie-patriot duty and showed up last night were the die-hards, anyway, and knew how to act like one of Eugene’s infamous crowds. That is: Plenty of hand-clapping, hoots, hollers, moshing, dancing, moving. We were few, but we were mighty. And the bands responded accordingly.

In Which A New Favorite Band Is Made.
I walked in on the last three songs of Parenthetical Girls, a Baroque-pop quartet from Everett, Wash., and was quite impressed. At one point lead singer Zac Pennington leapt into the crowd (well, the shoegazing under-21’s at least) with drumsticks and did the percussion part on the WOW Hall’s wood floor. The closing set had the band gathered around the drumkit, each hitting a different part. It was Baroque as indie pop can get. And it was grand.

The Author Meets Lead Singer In The John.
I first met Los Campesinos! lead (male) singer Gareth in the bathroom. He was chatting up people while taking a shit. I joined the conversation, then the other people left, and Gareth walks out and we chew the fat. I’m a bit nervous at the low turnout, but then remembered the same situation at the Handsome Furs show. I told him that Eugene was famous for its moshpit. (Then I secretly hoped the moshpit crowd would show up.)

The Author Is Name-Checked, Nearly Shits Pants.
Later, three songs into LC’s explosive set, I have to run to the bathroom again. On my way out, I hear my name. Apparently Gareth is saying, “I met this guy named Chuck who said the moshers in Eugene are the rowdiest. But you guys look like pussies.” I run to the bathroom to escape humiliation. Then I tell some dude in the bathroom that the band is calling for a true moshpit. I ask if he wants to help me out. We return to the crowd, see that a small pit has been started, and dive right in.

This Is Why They Call Them "Supporting Acts."
Parenthetical Girls are probably the best opening act to have on tour. The band members will stand near the front of the stage and rock out, dance, antagonize LC! members, crowd-surf (tho it was more like Superman, where we just carried a guy around in circles, since there was a lack of hands in the audience).

Eugene Inspires Stripping.
Handsome Furs, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks … and now Los Campesinos! frontman Gareth has decreed from the WOW Hall stage that the Eugene middle-of-the-week showgoing crowd has been one of their “best yet.” Then they launched into “You! Me! Dancing!” and all hell broke loose. Gareth was asked to take off his shirt, and so he did. Apparently he never does this (even tho it was cold and raining outside, it was real hot inside the WOW). And the drummer, who had his shirt off already, put his back on (special rule: no more than one band member with his/her shirt off at a time … unless you’re Red Hot Chili Peppers).

Distorted End To A Twisted Set.
The band came back out for an encore which amounted to one long, fuzzy take on “Sweet Cheeks, Sweet Dreams” (I think … again, it was fuzzy). And LC saw how much distortion they could muster (quite a lot, actually). My only critique of the show was that the female vocals needed to be a bit higher. Aleksandra (lead female vox) looked a tad under the weather, and most of her vocals were lost.

The Band Members Who Smoke Are Easiest To Track Down.
After the show, a friend and I caught three LC members outside the WOW taking a smoke break. I think it was Harriet, Ellen and Tom Campesinos! I wanted to take them on a late-night walk up Skinner Butte, but it was cold, raining and apparently the band partied it up in Portland the night before.

Does The WOW Hall Bounce?
Question: If enough people are in the WOW Hall, does the floor “bounce”? The band members remarked to me, “It’d be awesome to have a full crowd; we heard the floor bounces” (or something along those lines). I thought maybe they were confusing the WOW for the Crystal Ballroom, where you really can “dance on air.”

Corrections and Appendages.
Oh, and apologies to Gareth for not raising my hand when he asked the crowd if anyone was going to post a blog on their show.