Lennex!!!!!!!! just sayin;)

Off the top: Lennex, at the Recher Theatre, on September 9th, in Towson, MD, was off the hook, best band I have seen in a while (save my little BINXS obsession).

Photos are >>HERE<<, still being loaded...about 350 to shuffle through to see what is viable still...expect likely about 50 good ones...currently 65(99% complete, updated 9/14) uploaded.

My favorite songs in show: Bleeding my Heart out, Swandive, Moment, Misunderstood and the covers of White Rabbit and Smoking Umbrellas.

I say this though, every song was really good, top to bottom. Great set. Highly recommend if you read this, that you do whatever you can to see these guys, even if you don’t think you would be a fan…they will win you over.

The Why’s and Whatnot’s…
So, what is there to say…but the BSC(Batshit Crazy) bug that bit last year has spread, and now it seems… no bands are safe! Lol…

Anyway, you might have surmised, that yes, I did in fact, fly ACROSS the freaking country to join up w/ KTD and Mii to go to this show at the Recher, in Towson, MD. Why? I live in Seattle. Lennex is just an indie band, right? Well if you are a Rockbander, or a Rockstar viewer, then you understand that Lennex is fronted by one Mr. Phil Ritchie, a recent contestant on this seasons Rockstar: Supernova. I became a fan by week 2(although he peaked my interest in wk1’s reality epi w/his hollering!); right about the same time another Rockbander dubbed Phil with the dirtyPhil moniker. Phil was the first rocker this year to gain a common nick name.

Well, Phil did not win, in fact he was dismissed around week 4, admist a swirl of interesting factoids I won’t rehash. Needless to say, Supernova did not find him right for their band.

While I would have loved to see Phil on the show for longer, and singing some more rocking tunes; I am now SO glad he is back with his band Lennex. Over the course of the summer I have acquired both of their previously released CD’s, and downloaded the most recent release. Honestly, once I figured out on week 2, that I was digging Phil’s vibe, I looked up Lennex’s music, and really fell in love with their sound. That is what made me a real Phil/Lennex fan, moreso than any of his performances on RS:SN.

I figured though, that I would likely wait until they traveled either farther west or I was visiting my sister on the east coast next year, before I ever saw them. I mean, it is totally normal to be a fan of the music without experiencing someone live, right? Yes, well…I got a bit of a wild hair when I figured out this September 9th show was on a weekend. Though, when I first casually looked up flights(totally not serious, yet) they were out of consideration. I was not going to pay $600 to fly to DC….mmm, no! So anyway, I keep them in the back of my mind, and the first welcome home show reports come in from Ocean City, and I get even more itchy. Why do I have to wait to see them, possibly a whole year?!?!? No fair. Yes, well, apparently patience is not a virtue I am particularly fond of. About 2wks before the Towson show, I finally find a flight that is not out of control crazy, and I am like..should I? No that is crazy. Well, then I realized both KTD and Mii are going and I am like…it would be fun to get together…Yeah, and they were TOTAL enablers… Long Story not so short, I did it, bought a ticket, to the show and the airplane, lol, and made a quick little trip to DC/MD to see this band, I had just this summer, become totally addicted to on my Ipod.

Did I mention, my flight was going to be a redeye…yay! I get to go to another concert on no sleep (for those of you that don’t know, this is not the first time this has occurred…BSC I tell you!).

On to The Show!
So, uhmmmm, yeah….the show…FUCKING AMAZING. I mean, clearly I have been totally digging their music, but you never know how someone will be live. And to be quite honest, the only 2 really stand out performances from the TV show for me were White Rabbit and Smoking umbrellas. I liked the other ones, and I thought Phil was tres hot, but I was not positive I would totally dig him live. And I knew practically nothing about the rest of the band, other than the CD’s I now own.

Well, now I do, and WOW. That these guys are not yet signed, kind of boggles my mind. They are so TIGHT playing together, that, IMO, their sound is better live than recorded. That is a feat, in my estimation. It’s not like they were playing in an acoustic castle, just a little theatre that was SRO.Honestly, after viewing the openers, I was not expecting over much.

But then, out comes Lennex, and you could feel the swell and crush in the room, these guys were who most had shown up to see. And they did not disappoint. Phil looked REALLY good. Nice jacket…just sayin;)

But what, again, stunned me, was the band. The sound. I knew most if not all the songs, they were from their newest CD. Can I just say that the Phil we saw on TV, was not the guy fronting this band. This guy, is a fucking rock star. He has great stage presence, and sorry Jason(Newsted), he DOES know how to ‘crush it’. Mmmm, hmmm, yeah baby. And he’s funny…he joked and made fun of the bobble…and even dedicated one song to Jason…

Anyway, the tight musicianship of the band, and Phil’s great execution really made me step back and wonder…I mean, now I was REALLY happy I had pulled this silly little stunt of traversing the continent, but I was like…how do we make sure these guys get ALL that they deserve coming to them? In my gut now, I am like, these guys have to make it…they are too good not to. I wish them all the best, and hope they never ever give up. I am thinking further success is right around the corner. I want to see more of them, I want my friends to see them…I want everyone to finally ‘get’ it…Oh, have I mentioned, all my friends and family will be receiving the new CD as a Christmas present this year…just warning y’alls!

As far as the particulars, the songs were great, again, most if not all the songs off the new CD. They threw in, the 2 covers I most enjoyed from Phil’s tenure on Rockstar…and again, WOW, they crushed these. I love the HouseBand, but uhmmmm, Lennex fucking rocked these songs out! White Rabbit and Smoking Umbrellas, Lennex style…yes please! May I have some more????



Ok, now to my own little world…
I was taking pictures the entire show…I am sure I will use this as an excuse sometime in the future for why I have to see them again…to truly soak it all in…but I love taking photo’s. Some bigger bands are obnoxious about this, but a good photo(s), IMO shared amongst the fans, are great promotion for the band. So anyway, I had my way w/my good camera. Snap, Snap, Snap! I did take some breathers…but had the shutter going almost the whole show. As I was front and center, Phil was easily most prominent in my frames, so most of them are of him, though I tried to get a few good shots off of each of the band members…they deserve more, they are all so good. I am just a point and shoot girl, no real skills, but I do try to capture the emotion…those are the pictures I find most interesting…and I shoot w/funky angles…gives them some character…lol…whatever, I just want to capture my own Crack, let’s be honest!

Anyway, during some of my off camera time, I was singing along, I think to the song Moment…and uhmmm, well….I think Phil was singing right to me for a bit…err, I am not all about getting attention…sure I like to be up front, it’s the best view and energy is always great…I admit, I am a front row addict…anyway, so I just let myself drown in Phil’s gaze for a bit, lol—I am sure he was also schlepping for the cameras a bit too, as they were right in front of me, but I will just hold on to my own little fantasies! And Mii saw it and says it did happen, so there! LOL.

Another funny moment in the show, was during on of the song breaks…Phil asks the audience so, who got a plane to come here….uhmmm, lol, so in the excitement, I’m all squeeing…and Mii is all pointing at me...so yeah, not so secret…and hmmm, were there many of us…why did Phil ask this…odd. LOL, I really hope I am not the ONLY crazy person, but whatever!

Later, after the show, we all go back to the merch table and Phil is set up as the cashier and signer…okey dokey, so the 3 of us step up, and he looks at us, clearly recognizing us from up front, and looks at me and says…which one from Rockband are YOU? Uhmmmm, ok, I told him, and he seemed to really know my screen name, errrr! WTF have I posted…sigh, I always own whatever I say, I am not shy about it, but most people in my life do not give a fig about my odd little habits so I don’t over worry myself about it. And uhmmm, it came up again, that yes, I HAD traveled from Seattle to see this show…errr…anyway, it did garner me a hug! Hee;)

Yeah, ok…so anyway, then we all pull out our cash for a CD…holding it out at the same time…and it gets kind of comical…Phil is figuratively scratching his head trying to deduce how to transact our business, I guess we stumped him with what Mii refers to as our math SkilZ(mind out of the gutter old time Rbers!)….I was the only one who needed change, but whatever, it was cute…and he did do it right eventually! Then we had to unwrap the CD’s so he could sign…and not for the LIFE of me, could I get that fucking wrapper off the damn CD!!! LOL, thankfully, Mii took pity on me and did it…so now I own my very own hard copy of the CD, signed by Phil himself…why I get this stuff, I have no idea, I don’t really do anything w/anything I ever get signed, I just throw it on a stack of stuff at home, but I love doing it in the moment, especially when I NEVER have anything witty to say in any encounters w/cool people…yeah, I am usually like, ‘thank you, you were great’…DORK! Lol;)

So, hmmm, anything else…

Oh yes, did I mention…Phil *whipped it out*, repeatedly!!!


His Trumpet people… Sheesh!…what’d you think I meant…lol;)

We actually saw quite a bit of **IT** during the entire show. Love that they have a something special added to their sound. Gives them a unique vibe, and it is really hot….I mean it is hot when Phil plays it…yeah…mmm, ok;)

Ok, so moral of this tale is…BUY the new CD.

And, if at all possible, make it to one of their shows…

www.myspace.com/lennex
www.lennex.com

Pass it on;)

Kim and Mia(KTD & Mii) much thanks to you both, you made this show extra fun, it was great hanging out...Mia, thanks so much for being such a great host...