On the same two nights that OBN IIIs tore up the Mission District venue The Chapel for their Live in San Francisco album, the tape was rolling on the openers as well, The Blind Shake. John Dwyer and the rest of his Castle Face recording crew (Chris Woodhouse, Eric Bauer, and Bob Marshall) knew what they had when they captured those two sets of ballistic fury, and have now compiled a unified LP from the recordings to be the seventh entry in the live series (previous installments have included White Fence, Ty Segall Band, Fuzz, and Destruction Unit).
Jumping around the more recent section of the band’s discography, the set opens with a seething version of “I’m Not An Animal” from the 2011 album Seriousness (which you can listen to via CMJ), and now we have the second live track to share, “Out Of Work.”
The performance kicks off like a match into a pile of firecrackers, taking the original version of the song, and twisting it with a pair of pliers. It does justice to both Dwyer’s Coachwhips as well as The Blind Shake’s fellow Minnesotans Hüsker Dü. In fact, if you listen closely, you might be able to spot the (increasingly rare) effective pick slide in the wild—something Hüsker Dü knew a thing or two about as well.
The Blind Shake’s Live in San Francisco track list
1. I’m Not An Animal
2. Garbage On Glue
3. Out Of Work
4. Young Carnival Waste
5. Go Go 78
6. Porto Alegre
7. Fly Right
8. Hurracan
9. Seriousness
10. Wexford Scramble
The Blind Shake’s Live in San Francisco is out August 10 via Castle Face.
