So, I saw these guys at SXSW and bailed on them after 1.5 songs because they were 15 minutes late, and then did a 15 minute sound check, and I had places to be -- you do not pull that shit at a festival like that. Anyway, several people said they had a great live show, which I did not even remotely experience in that song and a half, so I gave them another shot, but I didn't experience it again tonight. Now let me be clear -- it sounded great, and I love their recorded material, and you should buy their album, but they have no show. People who think they have a show must be comparing them to DJs instead of to bands. It's true that the vocalist did occasional fills over the canned drum track, but when the drum-heavy song starts, and the person with sticks in her hands is just standing there bobbing her head... that's a fuckin' problem for me.

If this sounds like the band that you are in, please, for the love of all that is rock and roll: befriend a bass player and/or a drummer. Don't let your mere enthusiasm be the Maginot Line between you and karaoke. You won't sound that different, and people who have actually seen a show will think they are seeing one again.

Also, here's our Fuck You Apple moment for the evening:

Let's say the show has just ended, and you're leaning against the bar looking at the photos on your phone, select the two you like, hit "Share", and pound out a bitchy blog post like the one above... and then you decide, "I'd better pop over to Safari and make sure I spelled 'Maginot' correctly..." then you go back to the Photos app, and your post is gone. So you check the Drafts folder in the Mail app, and, no, it's gone.

So you have to re-type it from memory. Fuck You Apple.