Now that some of the dust, figurative and otherwise, has settled around the local institution that was Secret Headquarters, thus begins the venue's legacy and its potential influence on future spaces, musicians turned venue owners, show bookers, sound people, and those who could probably be considered several of those things at once. The musician in such dual roles is not specific to SHQ, of course, but everything regarding the venue is unique due to the group of people that ran the place and their unusually welcoming attitude to noise, melody, beauty, ugliness, sincerity, plasticity, the most grandiose, the meekest, the well-meaning, the mean-spirited, everybody, everywhere, anywhere, locally, globally and beyond if they could reach. And therein lies the simultaneous tragedy and triumph of a place that will be one of the most warmly regarded memories for anyone who set foot there, even years from now. A place that tries the impossible of pleasing all of the people all of the time will ultimately always fall short in someone's eyes-- in this instance, the cliched specter of an uncompromising landlord looking for a reason to pull the plug. No surprise there, but what is surprising is the aforementioned pleasing of the people all of the time bit: They came closer than anyone.
SHQ began on the opposite side of the building facing Hickory Street, replacing the Dallas bound Art Prostitute. Opening day was a surefire lineup of local favorites and all the usual faces of Denton's storied music community showed up, as expected. Many were skeptical that anything significant could fill such a void as that of the justifiably loved Art Prostitute. Secret Headquarters did the unexpected to ultimately silence any skeptics or detractors. The venue actually improved by living up to its name and shrinking, flipping its front entrance to the back of the building, and shunning any sort of actual sign or marquee. The physical transformation of the venue acts as a metaphor to the gentle way it guided rather than forced everyone to try a little harder to seek things out and give uncharted territory a chance. All the while it took some very challenging booking demands head on, and managed what was easily the most bafflingly diverse schedule week after week for sixteen months.
Secret Headquarters didn't just book their friends, they didn't pander to local legends, nor did they shun them. This was an environment free of pretense, everyone on equal footing, where drunk frat types might be slam dancing with introverted library ladies, both of them enjoying it, and everyone being generally more accepting than they would out in their daily lives. Far fewer arms were crossed or dirty looks given under that roof in comparison to the average rock show, dance club or elsewhere in the area. It was what you wished a speakeasy was like if they still existed, with everyone putting aside all of their bullshit for a common desire. And though you could bring your own, the real draw was the privilege of seeing a performance in such a relaxed, noncompetitive, and friendly atmosphere. To put it simply, Secret Headquarters was a fun fucking place to hang out, even if you weren't into the bands on a given night. People would gravitate towards it from the square and surrounding venues, seemingly drawn by the attitude and the kindness as much as the music. There was often food around. Cupcakes, cookies, vegetable trays, alcohol and barbecue. People were always celebrating. The last time I was there, a just married couple was in the audience catching a show, hours after being wed. It was that kind of place.
Not to look too much into my own prophetic prowess, but I recently lamented the fact that my long soured attitude towards local music had improved exponentially over the past couple of years, and how this unnamed "golden period" might be showing signs of waning, at least as we know it. In Denton especially, since 2005 or so, there has been a wealth of quality venues, bands, and shows. Bands move on, break up, people go to college, graduate, get married and on and on. That's a necessary part of the cycle. Secret Headquarters' departure from local music will be a little harder of a blow to absorb. When We Shot JR put on its second ever show back in January, the experience with SHQ from all angles couldn't have gone more smoothly. Over the rest of the year, SHQ started putting in overtime and actually hosting shows that had been shutdown at other DIY places, sometimes well into the extreme late hours that other venues legally can't touch. When our most recent show at The Fra House was somewhat expectedly shut down, they were there to pick up where it left off, staying open until three in the morning and still finishing its obligation to an Indiewriter.net benefit. This altruistic type of phantom booking probably put an unfair strain on the staff at times, but has solidified the reputations of venue and staff alike indefinitely.
SHQ through sheer unconventionality was straight-ahead rock venue, punk rock hangout, late night jazz club, singer songwriter opry, drag show catwalk, art gallery, psyche happening, grindcore pit, and even once hosted a toy show. I saw just about every type of show I enjoy going to there, and if a band I liked was playing there, I knew it would be the ideal setting. Recently, Secret Headquarters had really started to hit a stride by becoming a necessary ally in local hardcore, punk and garage shows of the type that 715 Panhandle throws, and by hosting more and more national touring acts and international acts as well. I consider myself very lucky to have been at the first show, the last show, and so many unforgettable moments in between. I loved Secret Headquarters as much as is humanly possible or healthy for someone to love a beat up old building with an alley full of drunks behind it. There are many fans, bands, artists and musicians alike that walked out of that place spoiled by the joy of being there, and I would just like to counter the understandable pain and bitterness that accompanied its hastened demise last week and feel free to leave a comment doing the same: Thank you, SHQ.
There's not going much going on tonight except for Bad Azz Jazz at The Amsterdam. Or if you're into live shows heavy on crowd interaction, "human bowling", and Japanese punk, there's Peelander-Z at The Double Wide, with opening act Cygnus of Laptop Deathmatch. Or if you into watered down Florida based Emo rock with an unhealthy Springsteen fetish, the remaining members of Hot Water Music have a new project called The Draft headlining at Rubber Gloves. Opening acts include Dead To Me, The Gaslight Anthem, and A Death In The Family. By those names alone, I would expect similar territory to be mined here. Matt Pond PA is also playing in The Cambridge Room at House Of Blues. So if you're into groups that would build an entire EP around a cover of "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis, it's your lucky night.
WED: Dr. Dog/Apollo Sunshine/Delta Spirit (Hailey's) THU: The Cult/Action Action (Palladium Ballroom)
FRI: Life Death Continuum/Magic Fly/Jeremy Jackson (The Cavern) FRI: ...And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead (Rubber Gloves) SAT: Halloween Party with DJ Nature (Hailey's)
Modern Till Midnight with St. Vincent | Peter and the Wolf | Sleeping States | Doug Burr | Tame...Tame and Quiet | Mom | Sober (Fort Worth Modern) Wow, what an impressive line up at the Modern this evening. I usually assume that people involved in "the arts" are a day late and a dollar short when it comes to music, but I think this looks to be quite an event, with a solid local line up that seems perfectly crafted to cater to the vast cross section of people who will probably be at the Modern this evening. I should point out that the English band Sleeping States, the only non locals on the bill, are a pretty nice little pop band that kind of reminds me of sleepy early 90's indie rock and brit pop, maybe something like Belle and Sebastian doing Silver Jews covers remixed by Sea and Cake. Anyway, this event is also a good opportunity to get one final look at the Ron Mueck exhibit, which closes down October 21st. It's fifteen bucks to get in, and you can get more info, including set times, right here.
Man Man | The Extraordinaires (Palladium Loft) Man Man put on one of the highest energy live shows I've ever seen a few months ago at the Cavern, and I'm hoping the excitement they were able to bring to that small venue can be found in the considerably larger surroundings of the Palladium Loft. I bet it can. If you have any interest in their music and you have yet to see them live, I promise you want to. From the Philadelphia art spazz scene that produced the love em or hate em Need New Body, Man Man comes off live like one of the easiest bands in the world to like-- all clapping, yelling, and banging on drums. Worth it. The Extraordinaires will be playing a Good Records in store today at 6pm.
Great Tyrant | Life Death Continuum | Trifle Tower | Aphonic Curtainz (Red Blood Club) This is an impressive lineup featuring some of the top talent in local music, regardless of categorization. Great Tyrant and Life Death Continuum both exhibit the rhythmic complexity and grandiose bombast of every great moment in prog from Magma to King Crimson, but with more anger than 70's cheese. Life Death Continuum has a more direct style of attack than the ominous gloom of Great Tyrant's music. Trifle Tower is frantically tumbling and screaming hardcore. Aphonic Curtains is the new project of Aaron Gonzalez, Rob Buttrum of House Of Tinnitus, and Mike M. of SDS. I caught their first brief impromptu performance at Tinnitus, and was impressed by the trio's ability to manipulate the intensity by their keen sense of dynamics. Buttrum has classic drum chops, which is apparent even as he beats away on scrap metal. Mike M. adds electronic buzz and static over everything and it comes as no surprise that Aaron Gonzalez is a great bass player, even if he uses a butterknife in lieu of a plectrum. We're not sure about the line up for this one, so maybe someone in the know can give it to us in the comments. (This is a rerun of the write up we did last week. We thought the show was last week and added it to the previous weekender because we're dumb. But this time, we're quite sure that the aforementioned show is actually happening THIS weekend. Promise. Sorry for the confusion.)
Thomas Function | Chronic Seizure | Party Garbage | Teenage Cool Kids | Wax Museums (715 Panhandle) Looks like another rad show at Panhandle. Alabama's Thomas Function has been compared to Television, and though I can hear it more in the vocals than anything else, fans of solid poppy jangle rock shouldn't shy away from the punk atmosphere of 715 tonight. Teenage Cool Kids is also very pop-oriented but they tend to be more 90's indie rock and pop punk than late 70's New York. Party Garbage features members of The Snobs and Ben Snakepit of Snakepit fame. Wax Museums will probably be the highlight of this show for me.
Violent Squid | Mad Scientists | Silk Stocking (Dallas Scaregrounds) The Dallas Scaregrounds is an obviously bizarre place to see a show, but this lineup is better suited to the setting and should alleviate the usual overhanging cloud of awkwardness. Mad Scientists return with a new drummer from more of a punk rock background, so expect more force and drive from this quirky, charming guitar solo factory. It's pretty much impossible to predict what Violent Squid will try to do on a given night, but that's more than I can say for most local bands and the results usually hit rather than miss. Silk Stocking playing a haunted house pretty much explains itself.
Strawberry Fields presents Terrorvision (Corner of Oak and Bonnie Brae in Denton) Tonight Strawberry Fields will be showing two "80's schlock" horror films, From Beyond and Brain Damage. Last night was the first time I've caught a show at Strawberry Fields and it was fucking terrific. A packed store, enthusiastic audience, and friendly staff made for the perfect night. And where else can you browse an "Encyclopedia Of Cop Killers" between bands? Woah. I don't know how often Strawberry Fields plans on doing this, but I wouldn't miss their next show.
SATURDAY
Caribou | Born Ruffians (Palladium Loft) Have you ever seen Caribou live? I saw them over a year and a half ago with Junior Boys and Russian Futurists at a sparsely populated Hailey's (imagine the kind of crowd that show would draw these days) and it was a pretty incredible experience-- Dan Snaith's live drumming is worth the price of admission alone, and the fact that he has released an incredible new album this year just adds to the excitement of this show. With a seemingly perfect blend of Kraut rock, psychedelic pop and minimal ELM/IDM style electronica, Caribou has become one of my favorite bands to emerge this decade. And even though their albums have all been fantastic, the two live performances I've caught from the band have put their studio material to shame.
House of Dang One Year Anniversary Party and And/Or Gallery Show with Treewave performance: A big party for these two neighbors, featuring food and drinks and art and music and fun. Does that description sound dumb to you? Well it's my fault, because I don't have time to write much at this point. Anyway, this starts at 6 (at House of Dang), Tree Wave goes on at 830pm, and here is some info from And/Or on the art show, which will also feature the music of Travis Hallenbeck.
Figurines | Dappled Cities | Lifters (The Cavern) I haven't heard the most recent Figurines record, but I really enjoyed the Danish band's full length debut last year-- an exhilirating and well done dose of pop punk that pulls off the amazing feat of actually sounding original. Imagine that?
House On Swiss Halloween Show with Tah Dahs | Sydney Confirm | Laura Palmer | New Science Projects | The Freekout | Sticky Buns (3114 Swiss Avenue in Dallas) The latest edition in a series of house shows to take place in what essentially appears to be a storefront (although it does seem to double as someone's home). This indie pop/folk focused line up will be easy to swallow with two kegs and what is usually a large and pleasant crowd. $5 cover.
Burning Hotels | The Cut*Off | PPT | Black Tie Dynasty (Ridglea Theater) Before you get all confused about why we might be listing this show, I want to let you know that we're willing to mention things when they're for a good cause. The quality of sex education in America is laughably oxymoronic and nearly non-existent, especially in the South. This show benefits The SPEAK Project, which raises STD awareness with the 15-24 crowd. More info here.
SUNDAY
Qui | Record Hop | Red Monroe | (Hailey's) Despite releasing a fairly disappointing full-length debut, I hear that seeing Qui live is the best evidence that David Yow is still the one of the great all-time frontmen. And for the record, Iggy Pop hasn't released a good album in decades. Record Hop continues to impress with the live previews of their anticipated second release and they will pair up beautifully with Qui. Red Monroe is somewhat of a departure from the rest of this lineup, and we'll have their review up soon.
The Melvins | Big Business (Granada) Big Business has a member of Karp, and I've wanted to catch them live ever since I heard about this duo's formation. They even exhibit some of the gorgeous simplicity of Karp's concise and minimal heaviness, but with a dash of Hair Metal vocalizing. The Melvins need no introduction or explanation other than along with Nirvana, they are pretty much the only two groups to gain notoriety when they did whose music has suffered the least from the effects of time.
Christian! Teenage Runaways | Lars Larsen/Douche (Strawberry Fields) C!TR disbanded over the summer when one of its founding members moved out of state. Sashenka Lopez is visiting her hometown this week and the group is having an impromptu reunion show to celebrate. Douche was great as usual at the last SHQ show the other night. It's nice to see that Strawberry Fields will step up and host a show like this in the wake of that beloved space. Not sure what Larsen has in store for his act.
Hentai Lacerator | Yatagarasu | Voyant | XathaX | Church Of The Apocalypse | Animal Forces/Lichen Sie (House of Tinnitus) I hate to mention it, but The Observer attempted to toss this Hentai Lacerator show in with their event previews and just ran a reprint of what their Houston New Times Counterpart, Houston Press said. The problem with that is that they incorrectly list the groups playing that night's show in Houston. Way to go. Do they not trust that their current staff could tackle the preview for this show? That's okay, neither do I. They also did a show preview for next week's Dr. Dog show and mention how their new album, "We All Belong" came out last month when it was actually released in February. The reason for this mishap is that they just reran a piece from Seattle weekly, The Stranger that is seven months old. I understand a corporate paper is going to reprint from their national talent pool, but can someone at least edit a reprint or throw it out if it isn't regionally accurate? I should lay off, they did finally notice that 1919 Hemphill exists...as it has for the last five years, but I guess someone can only mention it when a national act like Kimya Dawson plays there.
Anyways, this violently explosive Cincinnati headliner mixes various strains of extreme styles and they reminded me of the noise-infused work of Japanese group The Gerogerigegege or even a sloppier and more manic Charles Bronson. This show's openers will only add to the panicked fun of Hentai Lacerator, and I can personally vouch for that since I've seen most of them in one capacity or another. Huntsville's Yatagarasu is a frighteningly convincing one man setup with intricate bass playing, 8-bit electronics and screaming that impressed everyone at his show here last March. Voyant is the harsh/power electronics project that includes Electronik Warfare's Andrew Michael and ultimate multi-tasker Shane English. Church of The Apocalypse are a gear-heavy act with a twelve string bass and a method that revolves around repetition and doom riffs. Lichen Sie combines the talents of two known noise makers from Aunt's Analog and Dromez, and this will be an interesting duo since they are both so punishing just by themselves. XathaX uses a theremin, which you think would pop up more at noise shows, but I don't see them very often and I'm looking forward to it.
Lost Generation with Wanz And Ineka featuring Farah (Fallout Lounge) Tonight's set will feature a performance by Farah, who is celebrating the 12-inch vinyl release of her track, "Law Of Life."
Vegan Soul Food Pot Luck with Kimya Dawson | Angelo Spencer | Jesse Gage | Sparlin, Jessels | Daniel Bass (715 Panhandle) K Records singer/songwriter and founding member of Moldy Peaches Kimya Dawson comes to Denton tonight with her husband Angelo Spencer as part of a small Texas tour. This thing gets started at 6pm with a vegan soul food pot luck and an early start time for the first set. If WSJR was runnin this folk shit, we'd serve ONLY meat at OUR pot luck. But thats probably one of the many reasons why we aren't runnin this folk shit.
Taxi Fare (Zubar) Nature keeps runnin this dancehall shit, and I'm hoping he'll play the Switch remix you can find on this Myspace page. Fucking addictive.
Film School | Red Monroe | Eulogies (The Cavern) Film School's sound seems to fall somewhere between Snow Patrol and Coldplay on one side and Catherine Wheel and Ride on the other. Lots of layers of reverb and nice melodies, etc., and all of it is pretty pleasant and well done, if more than a bit predictable at times. Openers Eulogies play that kind of music thats like, you know, that "indie rock" stuff? Yeah, I don't really know what to say about it either. It's not bad I suppose, but it's not very good either. Get it? And we WILL have that Red Monroe review very soon. Leave us alone, we're busy.
Peter and the Wolf | Matthew and the Arrogant Sea | Violent Squid (Rubber Gloves) Peter and the Wolf makes its 15th appearance in Denton in the past month. Violent Squid plays for what seems like the 15th time this month too, but guess what? Their shows are different every time, so it's always worth checking out. Dig?
BOTH OF THESE SHOWS WERE CANCELED, SO INSTEAD OF GOING TO THESE PLACES, WATCH THIS.
Dillinger Escape Plan | Genghis Tron | Behold The Arctopus (Curtain Club) Genghis Tron mixes electronics with hardcore and I remember them being pretty decent, but I definitely wouldn't want to have to go to this venue with this lineup to catch them. Dillinger Escape Plan has a solid live rep, but the vocals kind of ruin it for me. I thought they'd be playing Nokia by now. Just want to mention that those Relapse bands sure love their hoodies.
