my first ever encounter with the band/entity/brosephhhhhh known as wavves, was via gorillavsbear.net. there was some washed out pic of nathynath williams and a link to beach demon. I did a little diggin and found that most tracks had demon or goth added to the end, references to being/getting fucked up aplenty, and I decided, after a couple listens to vermin (which I still hate to this day) and beach goth, that wavves was shitty and nathan williams was a giant douche. then came the barca-breakdown, which was followed by a barely-there apology stitched to a story of alcohol and drug abuse (HA!), which nearly cemented his astronomically high level of douchbaggery in my mind.
then
after wavvves and after the spanish suckfest, I heard a newly released song (slash demo that might never be expanded on!) called mickey mouse.
and then
I got it. I understood nathan williams and his jamz-ingly perfect blend of ol dirty bastard and lesley gore and the smell and the marvelettes. and I loved it. the fucked up ooohs through dented mikes and torn up speakers through a million buzzing bees fucking drenched in sun and salt and the heavy smell of marijuana, dripping with pizza grease and TEENAGE NRGY! and the more I got it, the more I loved it and it was a huge cycle that lead to this past friday.
I am in college and for some reason I have yet to make any friends with the same musical tastes as I have, which is fine, it just makes concert-going an interesting experience. but I bought a ticket and I love the band, so I'm going. the night started off in a sketchy manner. I made it downtown on the train and got to the right bus stop. unfortunately, my phone told me that the bus was going to be taking a straight line from my stop to the chopin theatre stop. much to my confusion, we turned south and continued for a long while. the battery on my phone was about to die and I was not about to be stranded somewhere without a phone, so I turned it off. long story short, I ended up getting off a couple stops early, which was fine, but I ended having to walk under the kennedy expressway with all the people who lived under it and it was a little jittery there for a moment. after a couple blocks (oh yeah, in the pouring rain too) I arrived to the theatre. about 46.5 of the 50 people who were going to the show were outside smoking. It was almost magical, walking through that cloud of nicotine, inside the theatre.
it was a real theatre. with theatre seating. like chairs. for a wavves show. hmmmmm. the opening act spit on the crowd, pretended to smash the front row with a mike stand, and pretty much obliterated the equipment. all while we sat. it was odd. thennnnnnn mr. williams comes in, all 5'4" of him, and fucks shit up.
"first things first: get the fuck out of your chairs and come down here. stand here, stand there, stand on top of me, I don't give a fuck, but if you unplug something, plug it back in."
um, fuck yeah.
him and fucking zach hill (who beat that kit to death 40 times over) started with so bored, and the party fuckin started. the crowd was a bunch of hyped up teenagers ready for a fucking great, a fucking loud, a fucking WAVVES show and that is what the fuck they got. I thrashed and thrashed and thrashed and my neck is pissed at me for it still, but I swear to god I couldn't help it. the raw energy that was in that little room with all those little people was pure ecstasy. there were arms and sides and heads and HAIR and elbows and legs and we were one throbbing knot of blissed out kids, doing nathan williams' will, personifying the music. and just when it couldn't have gotten crazier, he started playing no hope kids. it was like an instant switch. all of the sudden nathan was ramming his tiny body into the crowd (my stomach) and getting people to sing the oohs for him and everyone was flipping out in the best, most thrashy was possible and my neck broke fifty times but all I could feel was the guitar in my face and the drums at my chest and the endorphins in every atom, buzzing with the bees and dripping with sweat instead of pizza grease.
and then
I got it more. because wavves is seriously everything that has to do with energy and youthful angst and youthful ignorance and youthful happiness. and it makes sense that I went to an underage show because who else is wavves really meant for? and nathan williams isn't a douchebag in any way. he is a kid and he is human and he is kinda stupid. and he is so sincere but not in a pussy way and he just wants to have a good time. and really, who doesn't?