Pitchfork

Photos by Zach Vowell

As is their custom, Lightning Bolt forsook the stage at Austin's Emo's last night and stacked up their amps-- complete with a large circular, convex mirror on top, so that the crowd outside the inner circle could see-- on the venue floor. Once they began the full-on assault of songs (most of which seemed to come from 2005's Hypermagic Mountain), the crowd swayed and pulsed, the front line struggling desperately to hold their peers behind them while also trying not to fall all over Brian Chippendale's drumkit.

Brian Gibson, meanwhile, let loose wave after wave of effects-laden bass noise, while Chippendale howled into the mic built into his maniacal mask and hammered away at his poor, defenseless drums-- it was amazing nobody in front lost a finger to an errant drumstick. Yet despite this and other dangers only a fire marshal could truly appreciate, a quick glance around the room revealed many a smile.

Lightning Bolt strike all over the Eastern U.S. this month.











Chasing thunder:

04-18 Houston, TX - Notsuoh
04-19 Oklahoma City, OK - The Conservatory
04-20 Kansas City, MO - Embassy
04-21 Bloomington, IN - Uncle Fester's
04-22 Newport, KY - The Southgate House
04-23 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks
04-24 Morgantown, WV - 132 Pleasant Street
04-25 Philadelphia, PA - Badmaster Records and Feux-Fetus
04-26 New York, NY - Studio B *
04-27 Brooklyn, NY - Pratt University (Todd P show) #

* with XBXRX, Aa, High Places
# with the Sun Ra Arkestra