A few weeks ago, on one of my Roundtable posts,I ran one of the tracks off Intimate Stranger's new album "Under". I hinted it would be great to be able to run a live show featuring Intimate Stranger on my Backstage Weekend feature since they sounded as great live as the did in the studio. I ran a taste of the show they did at Maxine's earlier this year which was available via their website. A few days later I got an e-mail from Lau (Lautauro Vera), their lead guitarist who turned me on to the whole gig that night. So it's with great pleasure I run it for you this weekend with a huge and special thanks to Lau for taking the time and mixing the tapes.
Intimate Stranger have been getting some great word of mouth and press of late, including their appearance at the SXSW Festival earlier this year. Lau pointed out to me they will be touring around the U.S. again this Fall with at least one gig in San Francisco on the schedule. Their new album Under is doing very well (and it's available at their site - hint, hint) and the future is looking bright.
Further evidence that bands can really make it out there without the aid of a major label anymore also speaks volumes about the fact that festivals like SXSW, Coachella and many others are forward thinking and realizing modern music is completely international and there are scenes flourishing everywhere, and that now the casual listener has access to them in ways they never did before.
As a reviewer in the early 70's I knew there was a lot of great music happening in the world, but there was very little easy access to it, unless you knew what to look for or were friends with the local import record store, sometimes hearing about a band would take months. Many times a band would cut an album, and by the time you got it to review the band had already broken up. Fortunately, that doesn't happen any more and you are the beneficiary of that - lucky you.
Enjoy the concert - you'll be hearing a lot more about Intimate Stranger in the future and the very rich musical scene that's happening in Chile, even as we speak.
Oh . . .have I told you about The Ganjas lately?
Stay tuned.
