Well, I ventured out with all the other old-timers in their beanies, band shirts, and flannels (I forgot my beanie at home) to see two bands full of elder Seattle music scene folks play songs I don't know the words to. My first visit to Baba Yaga was pleasant enough and I think they've got a solid thing going there with the basement venue and plenty of hang out and chill space to catch the vibes, as the kids say. It is a small room but the sound was good. Maybe the big LED wall is a bit much but I understand the multiple uses for it in the modern day venue. Anyways, it seemed to me like half the sold-out crowd had the Votolato last name or had been involved in the Seattle-area music scene in some way since the late 90's (I saw Jeremy Enigk from a distance in the crowd, for example) and I think all of us were treated to a fine evening. The High Beams The High Beams are a group of folks who have been playing music in town for a couple decades at this point. I saw Slender Means back in the day and most of those folks are in The High Beams it seems. I wasn't a huge fan of Slender Means as they tended towards the more palatable indie side of underground tunes and this project really didn't turn me around on that idea. A number of folks were doing the Seattle show of appreciation by bobbing their heads pleasantly to the guitar-era Radiohead and Neutral Milk Hotel indie mash-up. It's not badly done, it just doesn't inspire me. Their songs are sort of 60's garage-y pop nostalgia but lean into the control and precision instead of the loose passion of the scruffier garage bands. I rode the bus downtown for some of the scruff. Suzzallo Rocky Votolato started Suzzallo in search of catharsis after the loss of his son. It is no accident that the room was full of Votolatos and the band is formed of members with deep roots in our region's musical past. Everyone involved seems to be sort of gathering together to share the heavy load of grief. The show had a caring, supportive atmosphere like all of us, even the strangers there, were cradling the memory of this lost person and tapping into our own understanding of grieving to be lifted ourselves. The northwest has a long history of emotional and loud bands that has been somewhat overlooked, I feel. Suzzallo soaks in and is comprised of a significant chunk of that history. Rocky and drummer Rudy Gajadhar both made up half of the very important Seattle(ish) early millennium band Waxwing and bassist Steve Bonnell played in the mid-2000's Seattle staple Schoolyard Heroes. If you missed Waxwing, Suzzallo picks right up where the heart of that band left off. They played not-quite straightforward PNW emotional loudness inspired by the post-hardcore outfits of the late 90's and other bands of gruff but sensitive type. The band brought the catharsis and the emotion, putting their all into these grief songs, almost being too much for the small room to carry. Songs full of dynamism and tension blasted from the low stage as we all wanted to sing along but couldn't. A few interesting tempo changes and melodic devices supported a lyricism intense with wishing for things to be different and relatable death iconography. Supposedly, this was a single release show and the song "River" was touted to be the star of the evening but they got to it mid set and, while it is an excellent song, really hit their stride in the final third. Votolato really dove into the verses of the song I can only assume is titled Time Machine and visibly entered the anger stage of grief while still holding the melodic high notes over the rhythm section of the band. This was the group and the audience and the whole building reaching their catharsis and shifting grief into something else entirely. It was very good. I'm curious about where this band will go from here as there's clearly a singular purpose. However, at this point, I'm glad they're around find what they, and the rest of us, will sorely need in these dark times.