Bear Mountain Picnic @ Mac's Bar

So I've seen Bear Mountain Picnic before, and I'll say this about that show: I was the only one on the floor at Mac's for their set, I was drunk, wearing a Mr Spock t-shirt, and the only one who laughed at a Stillsuit joke made by one of the other bands (JHaJ favorites Great Lakes Myth Society, actually). It was kind of nerdy and sad. I'll also say this: it was awesome.

Unfortunately, this show wasn't quite as good. Not that it was bad, but there seemed to be some guitar problems throughout, and you couldn't hear the vocals very well. This seems to be a problem that has plagued Mac's for years. It was better for a while when they beefed up the PA, but they've since stripped it down a bit more again, and its getting hard to hear anyone singing in there again. Which it too bad, since these are some damn fine lyrics.


To top it off, Sexual Pantalones played next. They're pretty bad - it seems like complicated music for the sake of complexity, and not really listenable. It was enough to make me leave. Again, too bad, since I was looking forward to seeing Don Caballero. Oh well.

However, looking past the problems, Bear Mountain Picnic was still pretty good. They played my favorites like Silent Trade, Your Cousin's Neck (up for download on their MySpace), and they closed with Core which is available on their website.

They actually make a lot of music available for free. On their website they have no less than seven songs available for download. Even better, though, they sell t-shirts at their shows (and for only $5), but the CDs they just give away. Sure, they're burned copies of a 5 song EP, but hey, free music, right? They did that with their first EP The Demo as well.

And since I've gotten home I've listened to Happiness in the Dybosphere like, five times. Its that good.

Now, here's hoping the t-shirt fits. All they had left were smalls.




Bear Mountain Picnic's website
Bear Mountain Picnic on MySpace