It din’t take me long to make my second trip to Athens, this time going to the historic 40 Watt Club to see Russian Circles and Gouge Away. The venue sounded great, I’m impressed with Athen’s venues so far.
Gouge Away took the stage first, playing an energetic set entirely made up of songs from last year’s excellent album Burnt Sugar. As might be expected with a Russian Circles headlining show most of the crowd were just standing around like statues during the Gouge Away set. A very subdued reaction for this style of band. I enjoyed the set anyway and the Burnt Sugar songs translated very well live.
Russian Circles were up next. Being totally instrumental they didn’t even have a microphone on stage, so zero intros, banter, or discussions. They played a solid 75 minute set in mostly darkness, silhouetted by a few stage lights. The three person band sounded good, and louder than Gouge Away, it seemed. All in all it was a solid first experience at the 40 Watt Club.
Entreaty 