Satchel Reunion Show Hits Seattle Like a Freight Train; Seattle Likes It
Many of the dedicated Satchel fans throughout the years have followed singer Shawn Smith throughout his time with other projects, including solo material and other work with friends Regan, Steve Fisk, & "Brad" since the essential break up of the band 13 years ago. Shawn's other projects have been dynamic but have also tended to sway toward more groove, pop or balled oriented rock including many songs that are essentially piano constructed from their nascent (excluding From the North). But as a dedicated Satchel fan who had the pleasure of seeing the big reunion show at the Crocodile Cafe last week, I am deeply apologetic. As much as I hyped up the show in my head ad nauseum beforehand, for some reason I never imagined Satchel rocking the shit out of that place. And I am sorry for that. And yes, I was expecting a rocking show, but not like that. It was a lot of guitars, bass, and drums and ears were ringing. If you can exempt the wonderful vocal work of Shawn Smith, then the rockingness is the story of the night. 'New Satchel Songs Live' is probably the headline after that. And somewhere you also need to mention that guitarist John Hoag is talented, has really long hair, and is a big part of the Satchel sound. John laid down much of the known EDC laced octaves on the electric guitar this evening and played some keyboard as well. And again, no jokes about the rocking. It was guitars, bass, and drums to your face. Ears were ringing.
The first big chunk of songs alternated between new songs and old songs much to everyone's delight. Satchel's new album's first single, "The Return" kicked things off and soon after EDC rockers "Mr Brown" and "Taste It" fed the fans early. New songs "Created a Monster", "Old Spirit", and "Golden Showers" complimented oldies "Criminal Justice" and "More Ways Than Three" in the first 30 minutes. The new songs appeared to capture the layered "EDC" guitar laced vibe well but with a nice dose of the more melodic "The Family" vibe too in this ears opinion. On this night, fans were getting what they wanted. "Pink", "Not Too Late", "Time of the Year", "Suffering", are exactly the four straight songs fans may have envisioned Satchel playing before the show during their nerdy "Satchel Die Hard Fantasy Setlist Drafts" across the country. Even better, when the band went to do a set break, Shawn snuck back to play a solo "Wrapped In My Memory" and "Buttercup" to a very content, standing sellout crowd. It was great. The band, also including drummer Regan Hager and bass guitarist Jeremy Lightfoot, came back out to finish the night where we started. Namely, heavy Sabbath like guitar riffs with a gentle groove, lyrics that evoke imagination and some great vocals. Everyone on stage appeared delighted too which shined wonderfully on the many of us paying folks who were happy to be there. It is always more fun to watch musicians when you know they are having a blast. Satchel will be releasing their new album "Heartache & Honey" in the upcoming weeks so I'm pretty sure that was the case Thursday night. They will be playing more shows too. Not only is Satchel back together after a 13 year hiatus, but they sound like they have it more figured out than ever.
Update: Unfortunately we played the bad memory game and accidentally referred to super hella talented guitarist John Hoag as Mike Berg. It's been corrected and we feel appropriately ashamed. To be fair Berg used to play some bass in the band and even contributes some on the upcoming album, but again, John Hoag, guitar.
And just for fun here is a ten minute video featuring different parts of the show that made its way onto youtube.
