BATTLE /MTN\ At The Crepe Place

The transformation of the Crepe Place from a funky, old-school Santa Cruz restaurant to the epicenter of what appears to be full-fledged renaissance in the music scene in this town has been a little odd for me. It seemed that overnight, bands like Red Sparowes, who used to bypass Santa Cruz entirely on their national tours, were packing the tiny room at the corner of Seabright and Soquel with people who genuinely seemed to enjoy the music, who didn’t just stand around drunk and indifferent while the bands were playing. This is a great boon for a scene that has long been wracked by apathy and Johnny-come-lately faddishness. Now that dance-punk appears to be over (thank god) for the most part, and the hardcore scene has been reclaimed by the sober people, the fashion of the day, particularly at the crepe place, seems to be of the freak-folk, boots and beads and beards sort. Which is why it was especially nice to see the three dudes of BATTLE /MTN\ deliver a set of some actual Rock music the other night at our beloved creperie.

The dudes consist of one skinny, hyper vegan kid on drums, one brooding, bearded fellow smelling vaguely of whiskey on the first of two guitars, and their leader, a handsome Chinese gentleman with some killer dance moves on guitar and vocals, and they laid it the fuck down at this, the second ever live show they’ve played. The songs veer between instrumental, spazzy post-Don Caballero jams played at Fang Island (google ‘em) speed, and moments of downright heaviness such as the song I know only by the name of “The Stony Jam”, a riff heavy Sabbath throwback that allows the handsome mister coffee to really get his scream on. Of great interest was the song that presented the band as a four piece, with their fourth member playing the electric guitar with a slide. It added a great deal of texture to the songs, which can sound a bit thin at times, and the fleshed out, four piece sound made me think of some of the post hardcore music of the nineties that I used to love and has since disappeared from the face of the earth, for the most part. Think early Unwound, or maybe the mellow parts of bands like Indian Summer and Shotmaker. All in all, a great deal of promise from a really fun band.

However, as we all know, any time you leave the house, you leave yourself open to interaction with any of the endless number of fucking kooky douchebags that this town has to offer. There was this little motherfucker doing his moshing thing in a roomful of people who were standing completely still, and this is made even more inexcusable by the fact that this dude was at least five to ten years older than myself (I am twenty five). Not only did he fall face first and into my lady friend and I (he was apparently in the grips of some kind of guitar induced epileptic fit) he then lay on our fucking feet until we kicked him away. This was then followed by the classy move of knocking the singer’s mic stand over and being so intoxicated that he couldn’t really stand it upright unassisted. It was about nine thirty in the pm at the time, by the way. I heard later that he caused so many problems during the next band’s set that the promoters had to get him in a headlock and forcibly remove him from the venue. Good work bro. First dude ever 86′d from the fucking Crepe Place. Kind of impressive, almost. But I also heard that this same dude’s cab broke down and he had to walk to whatever shit hole apartment or relative’s basement he resides in, so I guess he got his. In conclusion:

BATTLE /MTN\: Awesome, with a lot of potential
DRUNKEN IDIOTS: Everywhere. Be on your guard.
THE CREPE PLACE: Unlikely though it may be, so far the best place to see a show in Santa Cruz at the moment.

Daniel Strong