Sexton Blake have been waiting

So I may be a bit Josh Hodges obsessed. Just maybe.
I was sitting in the lobby at Best Western after Sasquatch sending over zip files of my photos to Pitchfork when a guy came over and asked if he could use my laptop to check myspace really quick.
"Uhhh. . .yeah - okay," I replied.
He then said he was only kidding. Introductions ensued and when I found out he was from Portland, pretty much the first thing out of my mouth was "Have you heard of Starfucker?"
He hadn't, so I filled him in on the details and mentioned it was Josh Hodges of Sexton Blake's new project.
"I know Josh Hodges/Sexton Blake - they have a covers album coming out."
That was the first I had heard of it.
This Saturday, while waiting in line to buy a ticket for the Sexton Blake show at the Hawthorne Theatre, Nate - from Best Western's lobby - was saying "well, maybe he doesn't want to be big," as I went on about how I couldn't understand why he hadn't broken through nationally yet. My response was "Well, it's not about what he wants, it's about what I want," only half kidding haha :) Josh happened to be standing right next to us adding someone to the guest list, but I don't think he overheard.
When I made it into the venue, my first reaction was "where is the merch!?!" Sexton Blake was the only band unrepresented on the merch table. Even plain cdrs would have been something, let alone the last album. I'm standing there thinking about how their T-shirt sales can be pumped into application fees for CMJ and SXSW, but there were none available - shirts selling out in October is no excuse tsk tsk :)

In the next few minutes they took to the stage, old transistor radios on and growling of static and odd airwaves, as they jumped back and forth between affect pedals, guitar, and drum-kit. They opened with 'Wasting Away'.
There seemed to be uncertainty on part of the audience of when songs ended and when a new song began.
The duo of Josh and Ryan really hit their stride when they moved onto the covers portion of the set. During those three songs the music was much louder and there was obvious confidence abound. Two of the covers they played were 'Bette Davis Eyes' and Rod Stewart's 'Young Turks' - a song which I saw Au Revoir Simone cover live at Holocene in March. Can there PLEASE be a split 7" of that!!???!!! That song so suits each artist and their covers sound completely different and would just perfectly compliment each other's coolness if released together.
Sexton Blake closed much in the same way that they opened which reminded me of Starfucker's set. They left the stage with a loop running and the radios on. Someone had to actually run to jump onstage to turn off the sound when a speaker from Amnesty International got up on stage to say a few words, but couldn't compete with Sexton Blake's continuing musical message.

'Maria' Sexton Blake MP3 (which they didn't play live)

Sexton Blake Myspace

Last night Arya came over to spread some Sexton Blake goodness around. Here is a pic of us fighting over the new album.

Our Amnesty International greeters at the show. They hadn't practiced that pose at all:

Comments

[casey]

since you have a big crush on josh, i figured i should link you to THIS: ( http://localcut.wweek.com/2007/06/14/leak-sexton-blake-hungry-heart-plays-the-hits-expunged-records/ ) you can post a link if you want. it's a LEAK!!! thanks!