Dec. 14
The Shakedown

Unfortunately, Bellingham’s favorite bar owner’s birthday only comes once a year. I say unfortunately, because somehow Hollie Huthman (the co-owner of the Shakedown) always manages to book the best bands in the Pacific Northwest for her little shindigs, and it is always one of the best shows of the year. If anyone is familiar with Hollie’s taste in music, then you probably know the bands are going to be heavy, and that everyone in attendance will be thoroughly trashed by the night’s end. This time around the party was brought via Bellingham’s own Wild Throne (formerly Dog Shredder,) Portland’s Gaytheist, Seattle’s The Family Curse and Lozen from Tacoma (but they may as well be from Bellingham with how often they play here.)
The Family Curse opened the show with a bombast of sound. The band features members of Bad Powers, which was a band that is hard to forget if you happened to be at the last show they played in town. They mix electronic music (via drum machines and sound effects) with the raw power of metal, and a front woman (Megan Tweed) that demands the audience’s attention. The band has as much in common with Big Black and Swans as they do with artpunk and stoner metal.
Gaytheist is a band I was always rave about when they come to town, because they are great! The music is catchy and heavy…somewhere along the lines of thrash pop punk with a nice dose of stoner rock riffs and falsetto voices. The last two bands, Wild Throne and Lozen are two bands that I have probably seen in the range of 30-40 times, maybe…that could be a slight exaggeration. Definitely the highlight of the night was Lozens set, which had a very unique ambiance thanks to the stage lights being out at various times throughout the set. But, the band persevered with the help of light emitting from the audience’s cellphones. The best moment of the night was when the two members of Lozen each manned a drum kit (by the way they are two of the best drummers in the PNW most def. Lead singer Hozoji drums for the equally-great Helms Alee.) The tribal onslaught made everyone in the place lose their goddamned minds. It was glorious! So happy birthday Hollie, and can’t wait to see what you have in store for next year’s bash!