Over the next two weeks, Durham’s Hammer No More the Fingers will offer daily glimpses into its touring life as the band tours the East Coast in anticipation of its Triangle CD release parties April 3-4.
Sunday, March 15
College Park, MD & Washington, DC
Oh, Washington DC—our home away from home. A network of bands and people are truly devoted to the success of the independent music scene here.
We met up with Caverns, the Jelly to our Peanut Butter, made sandwiches then head to the show at the University of Maryland. We were both playing sets at their radio station, WMUC. The format is really cool. Bands play a set to a live audience that is also broadcasted live over the airwaves, then do a short interview. The room was filled with old couches, speakers and random equipment. Flyers, posters, and art lined the walls all the way up to the high ceiling.
The room was overflowing, with people crowding the door and lining the hallways as Caverns started their set. They killed it. They always do. As we were setting up we could hear hysterical laughing coming from the booth where Caverns was being interviewed. They're not only an awesome band, but hilarious dudes. The room filled up again as Brian Hospital (of Deleted Scenes) tinkered with an ancient set of lights. He eventually got them working, and we played our set in what felt like a packed club. Unfortunately, the feeling caused Duncan to let a few expletives loose on the airwaves (sorry, FCC!).
After the show. we took a crew of local musicians back to the "House of Caverns" where we drank and made Viking Storm promo videos while shirtless and with horrible "German" accents (search for "Viking Storm" if you're on Facebook.)
Let's jump back to the beginning of the entry where I praised the DC scene: Deleted Scenes (who just scored an 8.0 on Pitchfork, congrats!), Imperial China, and Solar Powered Sun Destroyer all showed up to make sure we had a good time. Check these guys out. They're all awesome and are a big part of DC's independent music scene. —HNMTF