The Other Side of Todd Aune: The Sword, Big Business, O'Brother, The Hop, Spokane, Washington, March 15, 2014

Finally, a show at The Hop! I have heard about this club for a while now and they are doing their part to keep the punk, metal, underground rap and more vital to the area. This was a busy evening for myself, for I attended the 2014 Inland Northwest Motorcycle show earlier in the evening. Before going to the concert. I wanted to drive around The Hop to see where’s the best place to park, considering the building reputation that the Hop is drawing nothing but trouble to the area. BULLSHIT, as always! The people that tend to end up at this club are enlightened, piggish, punk and God bless them for their lifestyle choices. It makes people like myself have something to entertain myself with while enjoying the music on stage.

I found a very close parking spot near the Hop’s back entrance, where everyone enters, for obvious reasons (being right on a main street in Spokane). As I approached the venue, I took a few pictures of a local church that was lit along with the natural light of an early setting of the spring forward time change. It was a beautiful site, very gothic and quite appropriate for entering a new venue.

Upon entering The Hop, there was a guy taking money and checking off will call patrons (that was I). As you got past that area, very near was the merchandise area for bands’ goods. From there, you turn right and enter a very unexpected and narrow standing floor to watch the band. There was a second story where there’s a bar and places to sit/stand to watch the show on three walls. The fourth wall is nothing but brick. As you enter, there’s also an area to sit down at tables to visit with friends and concert-goers. The main floor area where people file into like cattle is so small! But, you’re right on top of the band and it’s quite an intimate setting. There’s also doors that lead to an oudoor patio so people can cool down and smoke. It tends to remind me of the place Ducky met Molly Ringwald and the woman from Ghostbusters in Pretty In Pink. It also took me back to other seedy clubs in Sacramento and Redding where you would see fantastic bands rip through amazing sets and think, MY GOD, the band deserves to be heard by more than this! Keep in mind, The Hop was full that night with about 300 people and everyone was there to absorb the music. It’s also St. Patrick’s weekend, so we were all warned to be careful because the local fuzz was waiting for us all to bust.

O' Brother was the first band that came on stage and they kind of reminded me of many bands…but the lead singer seemed to have a Kurt Cobain complex and the bassist in his silly ski cap tried to hard to be someone I’d see in Blind Melon. A sound that was trippy, bland and boring overall.

Big Business started off interesting and then fell into the category of their headliner that night, which was disappointing. At a certain point, during the evening, I got tired of staring and fighting with people to move out of my line of sight as they stepped in front of me. For a while, I was near the kitchen where orders were being taken and then delivered, so for The Sword, I made a point to move to the opposite side.

The Sword were quite fantastic! Unfortunately, they have no stage presence nor did I have a desire to watch them do their thing, but their music is incredible. Perhaps it was the size of the stage, but I have seen them before and they haven’t learned much when it comes to dynamics on stage. Unfortunately, views the closer you are to the stage are harder to come by and I must learn the best place to be at the Hop for future shows. The Sword played everything I wanted to hear and more (which gave me more appreciation for their talent). I was fascinated with the crowd at many times throughout the evening because they actually knew the lyrics and at times, the crowd drown out the band.

There's a growing loyalty building for The Sword...please to go see them play, buy the albums and hear fantastic music!