Shoegazing, so what's it to you?

Okay people, here is a Classy confession. I was a super to the extreme anglophile for many years of my youth. It’s nothing to be ashamed of because really during the early to mid-nineties the Brits were churning out the most awesome of tunes. I have yet to find another set of bands that encompass all that is brilliant about music. To this day, give me some Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Swervedriver, Slowdive, and I will proceed to shake your hand quite briskly and commend you on your excellent taste. Let’s not even get started with the Manchester scene, Stone Roses, anyone? Or don’t even get me talking about Suede, Blur, The Charlatans or Elastica. In high school I even signed a contract (was it in blood? I don’t know.) which vowed upon graduation that I would go to London. This never happened, shoot!

Recently, I have found not one, but two bands that have helped to reinvigorate my appreciation for the shoegazer genre of music (not that I ever deinvigorated my appreciation, but it has been lying latent waiting for something). They aren’t even from England mind you! I have “discovered” Serena Maneesh from Norway and Airiel from Chicago. Chicago! Can you believe it!


This past Friday I had the pleasure of seeing Serena Maneesh at a local music venue, the Empty Bottle. Seriously folks, they are my current rock n’ roll fantasy and dream. They should be yours as well. As mentioned, they are from Norway and the lead singer loves the black eyeliner and has a mike stand that is very Steven Tyler-esque. They have a bassist that looks like Nico if she was like 100ft tall! They have a rock violin! Most importantly, they started and ended their show with walls and walls of feedback. They were supposed to headline that night, but instead played second fiddle to some World Music Festival acts that I couldn’t bring myself to stay to watch. It made me sad that Serena Maneesh wasn’t headlining. They only played for about 45 minutes, but boy it was jammed packed with some rockin’ and some jammin’. I decided to buy a t-shirt from them and proceeded to tell the violinist and keyboardist how much they rocked. The responded back with a “Thank you” in the cutest unassuming Norwegian accents possible. Get this, this evening when I was out at a local watering hole the dj played a Serena Maneesh song that I’ve included on my Ultimate Shoegazer v.1 playlist. It’s called “Selina’s Melodie Fountain”. Seek it out people.

So, this evening I saw my other shoegazer band crush in action, Airiel. They were playing at a local venue called the Darkroom, which touts itself as being a place where photography and mixology meet. Umm. . . I suppose so, there where some snazzy photos up on the walls, it was pretty dark in there, the red photo lights were all abound, there were lots of douche bags taking photos, and mixology was happening behind the bar. But, enough of that, Airiel played and they were AWESOME! Again, feedback, walls of sound, ethereal vocals, crazy ass guitar pedal effects, really can a girl ask for anything more?


Oh, yes, and there was this random Japanese dude in the crowd in uber-tight Adidas track shorts with his shirt off getting his dance spaz on for a few songs! I saw him recently at a street fest in the same area and at that time he was all oiled up and was wearing cheetah patterned speedos! He was entertaining; my only worry was that he was going to cold-cock some spectator that was too busy looking at their shoes. Airiel is also on my Ultimate Shoegazer v.1 playlist with their song “Kiss Me Softly” which they happened to play second this fine evening. Again people I implore you to seek them out!

In sum, I love me some shoegazing music and I am extremely pleased that there are bands out there now bringing the music back to the forefront. I commend them, I stalk them, and I heart them.