Harvey Milk - Live - The Earl - 06-17-08

Label: Bootleg
Year: 2008

Yes, Harvey Milk is heavy. And slow. And fucked up. And quite possibly (and self-admittedly) self-indulgent. But. BUT. Have you ever given the band's musicality it's fair shake? The density of bombast sometimes overwhelms what are actually very intricate and well crafted songs, and songs that are wildly difficult to pull off live. Have you ever tried playing that slow? It's fucking hard! You should run your own band through 'Crush Them All' at your next practice and see how it turns out...let me know.
Creston Spiers is a phenomenal guitar player, his leads are impeccable, his tone is beyond gnarly, and he manages to play vulnerable while at the same time rummaging through the dark recesses of your skull to unsettle your very core. Stephen Tanner writes wildly ambitious music that echoes his own personal black humor, ominous and suffocating balanced with spacious and delicate, anchoring it all with an unholy low end rumble. And Kyle Spence...I mean...fucking come on! The Atlanta/Athens music scene has been spoiled by an embarrassment of riches of incredible drummers over the years (Jerry Fuchs, Kip Thomas, Ed Livengood, Jason Griffin, Travis Owen, James Joyce [yes, THEE James Joyce], and for fuck's sake, goddamn Brann Dailor, just to name a few), but for my money Kyle is the best. He's in the Bonzo tradition of swing/pound, swing/pound, and that kills me every time. Plus, let's not overlook that Joe Preston happens to be on stage holding down second guitar at this show (and on the album preceding it), and his track record need not be under scrutiny.
Point being, Harvey Milk can fucking play.
The setlist for this show is a steamroller. Actual memory from he show: standing there bathing in the volume and a random stranger next to me turns and says "can you believe we're seeing this?!". Indeed. It's fucking unreal.

This set as recoded and originally posted by the fine folks at Southern Shelter, who we've big-up'd before, but will never stop doing so. Their dedication to cataloging Georgia music is insane. Peep it here
Photo above by Mike White / Deadly Designs, check his stuff out here

DL