Ah Monday. I did nothing over the weekend. Absolutely nothing. And it was good. I spent a majority of Saturday and Sunday lounging by the pool, reading my new copies of Q and MOJO and trying not to get too sunburned. So much awesome, especially after the hectic July I had.

I did, however, get my shit together long enough to go see the Silversun Pickups last night and I am glad I did. They were pretty amazing, especially given the venue. The Black Cat's backstage really isn't designed or configured to deal with a band like that. And that's not neccesarily a knock on the room as much as an observation wondering what a band as accomplished as this was doing in such a small room with its junior PA system. I knew we were in for a good show when the SSPU's wheeled their amps onstage. They were as big as the stage was.

Let me go on record now saying this band is going to be huge huge huge in a very short amount of time. They have a big sound made for large venues. They'll be blowing away the bands they're opening for soon enough. The set they played last nigth could have easily gone over like gangbusters at the 9:30 Club. The songs are fast, LOUD and tight, propelled by their drummer, a dead ringer stylistically for Dave Grohl. He was just punishing his snare drums. The band has tons of hits; "Kissing Families," "Lazy Eye," "Dream At Tempo 119," "Well Thought Out Twinkles," etc. I was most impressed with the lead singer's voice. On record it sounds uber-processed, but he has the live pipes to back it up. Bottom line: go see this band when they come through your town. And get ready for a big rock show, even if it's on a small scale. I still stand by my Smashing Pumpkins comparison, but I mean it in a good way. Gish-era Pumpkins, before Billy disappeared up his own ass. Sorry for the craptastic pictures, the light in that room is pretty much nonexistant.

Crackers United has better pictures and a smiliar review from their recent NYC show. Check Myspace for some SSPU sounds.

"I'd rather poo in my mum's Sunday roast than have Danger Mouse produce a Portishead record." I second that emotion.

Only 105 people at the Norva last night. While that's a bad thing for the band's checkbook, it's a good thing for L Boogie and myself. I got right up front and took 158 photos. The band changed the set up a bit, dropping "Hello Sunshine", "Frequency" and "Something 4 the Weekend" but added "Golden Retriever" and played it early, which worked much better. The small crowd last night was actually much more into it than the DC crowd was on Tuesday, so the place didn't feel as empty as it actually was. The Norva was probably the nicest midsize venue I've ever been to. Think the Bowery Ballroom is it was a tad bigger and had three levels. The backstage area was twice the size of my apartment. It had five huge rooms and included a hot tub and sauna. It was easily the nicest accommodations I've ever seen at a venue.
I got some amazing pictures last night. Take a look at my pictures of the Super Furry Animals at Norva in Flickr.

Chapel Hill tonight. We'll be rolling deep with Mike Grass and Johnny English in tow. Full report (and hopefully the much talked about interview) to come.