THE CHEAT

I love it when you go to see one band and get blown away by the supporting band that you've never heard of before. Tonight, that was the case. I went down to Studio Z, a questionable venue in SOMA (horrible sound guy), only to find out that the whole night was running late and that the band I was there to see, was higher in the bill than expected. I forgot my earplugs and had to suffer through the first band while my ears bled.

Then came THE CHEAT from Berkeley. Holy shit! This kid's voice is like Ian McCulloch from Echo & The Bunnymen and the band was like Television, with almost a surf guitar kinda sound. I found out they are seniors at Cal Berkeley, about to graduate and move down to LA to live in one of their parent's house and make a go of it. I bought their 6 song CD and it sounds even better (remember, bad sound guy). Here is their Myspace page - http://www.myspace.com/thecheatband

Then for the band of the night, SCISSORS FOR LEFTY (FS19). I was really hoping that the funky band I had imagined wasn't going to come out sounding like garbage, and to my relief, they didn't at all. In fact, I like them more than before and it makes the whole thing make even more sense. Oddballs, unpredictable grooves, and a giant drummer, plus dancers. Now that may be normal in most towns, but in SF where everyone is too cool to dance, this just doesn't happen often. In case you didn't get your Future Sounds 19, download Ghetto Ways, or sample many of their other tracks HERE.