Wesleying GChat Recap: Stepkids Haul Time Machine Into Memorial Chapel, Transport Crowd to 1967

izmasterflex: they played a show at wes at a house last semester

izmasterflex: but i had never heard of them before

izmasterflex:  and two of them are named dave

izmasterflex:  and they work at mias in new haven

Zach: Oh yeah, Adam Isaacson ’13 was telling me about that.

Zach:  It’s a sushi place?

izmasterflex: and they silk screen their own shirts from old shirts they buy from goodwill. so its their graphic over things like “fiddler on the roof” or whatever other random shirts they find

Zach:  I didn’t catch Featherwood Bee, but they’re always good for that sort of sloppy, impassioned college rock.

Zach: they have lots of guitar pedals, which I approve of.

Pmyers: mias is a really ridiculous restaurant

Zach when have you been there?

Pmyers: I went with piers and ben and manon before kendrick lamar

Zach: alright, let’s talk about Stepkids.
izmasterflex: what did you guys think?
Zach: I was convinced it was a cosmic portal to 1967.
beccahope: It was almost as trippy as this electronic organ concert I went to in the Chapel my freshman year. Almost.
izmasterflex: all the graphics were very cool
Zach: I don’t think any concert has ever been as well-suited to the acoustics of the Chapel.
izmasterflex: do you think the chapel was a good venue?
pmyers: the guitarist liked to play with his effects pedal
pmyers: some of the best concerts are in the chapel
Zach: the way it echoed off the walls was very stimulating.
Goatmilk: their outfits reminded me of pete townsend circa 1972
Zach: That Uz Jsme Doma show comes to mind.
beccahope: when was that?
Zach: September 2010
pmyers: i will never forget that show
Zach: It was the same night as Pulp Fiction, so it was a really weird crowd that went to that show instead.
Zach: My most vivid memory is Harry Ray [Ezratty ’13] yelling, “How do you say FUCK YEAH in Czech?”
Goatmilk: hmm, I didn’t go to Pulp Fiction, so I have no idea what I was doing that night, I remember very specifically deciding against it though
Pmyers: there was some really intense moshing and this really fat old guy who kept like bouncing people off his beer belly

Zach: I liked how Stepkids wore matching scientist costumes.
Goatmilk: yup or pete townsend straitjackets
izmasterflex: they were saying something about wearing asronaut helmets sometimes?
Zach: I also liked the guitar player on the left who kept randomly doing Prince falsetto things into the microphone at opportune times.
Goatmilk: http://www.polyvore.com/white_jumpsuit/set?id=58492390
Goatmilk: oh yeah the last time they came here apparently they were wearing astronaut helmets?
Zach: it was what it sounds like when doves cry, according to Prince.
Goatmilk: I never knew if he was being demonstrative when he sang that
Goatmilk: like THIS is what it sounds like when doves cry, or if he was talking about the other part of the song
Zach: there were lots of Middletown people there, but none of them went to the front and danced.
izmasterflex: oh no
izmasterflex: one breakdanced
Zach: I saw lots of students groovin;
izmasterflex: it was fun to be at a concert with not just wesleyan students
Zach: a little bit of (family-friendly) grinding.
Goatmilk: oh yeah the guy who just suddenly started breakdancing was crrrrazy
Pmyers: there were a lot of young people there who may or may not have been students
Goatmilk: yeah I thought some of the younger people in the very front were middletown people
izmasterflex: this is the first of three concerts that wesu is putting on, and the other two will also be open to middletown residents/anybody
Pmyers: i think more concerts should be open to any/every body
Zach: there lots of bureacratic stuff that gets in the way of it.
Pmyers: like it must be annoying to live here and have all these concerts you can’t go to
Zach: well, you can if you’re Anthony Fantano.
izmasterflex: haha
Zach: and befriend random Wes students.
Goatmilk: yeah! I kind of didn’t realize a lot of them weren’t open to middletown residents
Zach: I wish Michael Roth ’78 made cameos at more concerts.
Zach: his dancing at The Mash thing was iconic.
Goatmilk: it’s not like we’re hosting huge bands every month that would cause enormous crowds if middletown residents showed up
Goatmilk: it was legendary
izmasterflex: he could bring his friends that live in middletown

Zach: speaking of which, The Stepkids would be so good for an outdoor show in spring.
izmasterflex: CFA!
beccahope: not sure how the visuals would work outside, though
izmasterflex: projected on teh walls, on all sides
izmasterflex: and people could dance all around them
Goatmilk: yeah it would have been amazing if they’d been able to have wrap-around visuals
Zach: Stepkids tweeted about wanting to hijack an organ.
Zach: I heard lots of sudden keyboard flourishes that weren’t being played onstage.
Zach: it was disorienting/slightly scandalous.
izmasterflex: sending that to my friend who plays the organ at wes
Goatmilk: maybe they had a secret organist
Zach: Like when the Flaming Lips started using backing tracks on the Yoshimi tour and fans flipped a shit
Goatmilk: do you think it was a backing track?
Zach: the keyboard parts in the Stepkids? I didn’t see anyone playing it onstage.
pmyers: there was definitely a backing drum track for one song
Zach: The Stepkids’ Wikipedia is the first usage of a .gif I’ve seen in a Wikipedia page.
Zach: Rachel, plz incorporate this fact in your thesis.
Goatmilk: !!!!
Beccahope: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Interchange_Format
Zach: also, apparently, SPIN placed their album at number 19 on the list “20 Best R&B albums of 2011”
Goatmilk: I guess I would call them R&B rather than rock, just because of how rock’s deteriorated these days
pmyers: they have soulful voices, that’s r and b right?
Goatmilk: blue-eyed soul