National Record Store day kicked off in style at Main Street Music in Manyunk with Cabin Dogs, Creepoid, and a solo set by Slumberland’s Brown Recluse singer Tim Meskers.
Despite being in the last throes of writing a graduate thesis, I braved the crappy weather and made it out to Manyunk’s Main Street Music to celebrate Record Store Day. I arrived just in time to check out a few songs from bluegrass/Americana band Cabin Dogs (Woodstock Records), led by twin brothers Rich and Rob Kwatt. The normally four-piece band occasionally had a fifth member that day and played a short half hour set with songs from their latest album Midnight Trail, and couple of older tunes from their 2006 EP Electric Cabin.
Following Cabin Dogs were much-buzzed-about psychedelic grunge-folk outfit Creepoid. The band had recently returned home to Philadelphia from a tour and hectic schedule at SXSW, where on the way back their van broke down in Alabama. The van was still under warrantee, but none of the dealerships in the “roll tide” state would honor it. So rather than wasting cash that the band didn’t have and losing their warrantee by having someone else fix it, Creepoid did what I think few would think of. The band rented a U-Haul truck, loaded their busted van in the back, and drove it home to the dealership from where they bought it in Philly. Needless to say, the dealership was very shocked when Creepoid dropped it off to be fixed, but the warrantee was honored by an impressed crew of mechanics. Kudos to the band for some really outside-of-the-box thinking! (And yes, they did take turns sitting in the back of the U-Haul in the van.) Meeting the group between sets, I had a chance to have an entertaining chat with Creepoid’s drummer Pat Troxell, discussing everything from lighting his equipment on fire to the bands early roots in hardcore and thrash music genres. I was secretly hoping that they would set fire to their equipment on this dreary day, but the band kept it pretty kosher. After all, lead male vocalist/guitarist Sean Miller just got a new guitar after shockingly freaking out and smashing both his guitars to close out their stellar set at Pilam’s Human BBQ. They performed favorites predominantly from Horse Heaven like set opener "Wishing Well", "Hollow Doubt", "Grave Blanket" and "Spirit Bird". And closed out their set with a new one called Old Tree.
Following Creepoid, was a lovely solo set from Brown Recluse’s lead singer Tim Meskers. He played a ten song set that included the darker, diminished versions of opener “Monday Moon” from Evening Tapestry, “Notorious” from Panoptic Mirror Maze, and my personal favorite of the afternoon was Slayer’s Raining Blood (!). Although I was hoping to see the full band, Tim Meskers’ mellow and melodic solo engagement was rather fitting given the vibe of this sleepy rainy afternoon spent in the Manayunk record store. On a side note, congratulations to Tim and his fiance for their recent engagement!
Now, unfortunately, back to my graduate thesis, but you can check out the rest of my photos HERE. – David Turcotte