SPECIAL ACCESS: Ponytail and High Places at the Department of Safety

From Special Correspondent Ben F.
On Friday, October 3rd, I left my ridiculously boring drivers ed. class at 6PM. I walked across 52nd ave in the U-District, into my friend's van, drove half a block, picked up my other friend, and left for Anacortes. The traffic was dismal, and all we have in our van is a tape player. Luckily, I brought with me some sweet tapes; Fugazi, Seahouse/The Last Slice of Butter, and a mix with Pinback, Hella, Portrait and Orchid. That got us through the hour and a half drive up to Washington's prettiest ugly place. We arrived at the Department of Safety around 8:20, fifty minutes after the scheduled beginning of the show. It cost $ but I only had seven, so I was let in by the cheery people who worked there, telling me not to worry. My friends and I walked past the art galleries (which I will describe later) and into the showroom, where we immediately noticed the couches and cushions everywhere. There were teenagers, adults and even a very small girl who knew some Karl Blau lyrics (good parenting). Though it was cold out, I felt pretty comfortable at the D.O.S. Around 8:45, Karl Blau began his set. His intention was to play through his entire new album, Nature's Got A Way. Although he succeeded, it wasn't easy. Two of his friends were playing with him, a pianist, who had never played any of the songs before, and performed quite well for his lack of experience, and a "drummer" who had a floor tom and a snare covered in blankets. Karl Blau's heartfelt, rootsy folk music warmed everyone up for an excellent show. I thought that his set was a little too long, but nevertheless it was excellent. A highlight was watching that same little girl singing along to several of his songs. Next up was Ponytail, a band who I was most excited for. Ponytail had travelled from Baltimore and comes from the same citywide scene as Dan Deacon, Adventure, Future Islands and Beach House. As I had expected their set was excellent. They played one song with acoustic guitars, which must have been incredibly challenging due to the fast and technical nature of their songs. Once they picked up their electric guitars, I was almost too pumped to breathe. Just kidding, but I was super excited. They opened their set with my favorite, a song called "Beg Waves" that incorporates guitar loops, crazy shredding and animalistic noises from the groups vocalist, Molly Siegel. She squeals and screams and makes a ton of noise, and man it could not sound any better. In a way, they remind me of 1977 Television with the crazy guitar riffs and erratic but steady drums. Their set was near perfection; by the end, everyone was up dancing, including my usually stationary friends. At the end of the set, we walked out to the van, dumbfounded. My friend Jake pulled out his giant water, took a swig, and breathes heavily. "I judge the awesomeness of shows by the closer I come to death." He is very asthmatic. That just tells you how amazingly intense Ponytail's set was. Next up was Brooklyn's High Places, a electronic duo, who's signature sound included a lot of drums and percussion. The duo, a short woman in a ponytail and a tall man in short cutoffs and tie dye, set up on the floor, and played to the tired crowd. While they were excellent, they couldn't follow Ponytail, in energy or in musical prowess. I began to fall asleep, and the show was over. They sounded like a super cute Black Dice, but with less harsh noise and more tropical vibes. I took sometime after the show to talk to Ponytail, suggesting all-ages and DIY locations for them to play next time they came to Seattle. They turned out to be really nice, awesome and nerdy folks. We got in the car, drove off, stopping only twice. Once to try and steal a giant McCain/Palin sign off of a local fence, failing, and a second time at 12:30 am at a rest stop, to get coffee and cookies from a Lutheran man and his wife. We felt horrible that we had no money to donate. I got home and crashed, thinking about one of the best shows I'd ever been too.