The Terrordactyls!

The Terrordactyls are my new favorite thing to gush over. I have a crush on the band as a unit.

Michael Cadiz and Tyrel Stendahl make up The Terrordactyls, but they seem to grow in numbers each time I've seen them. Their friend and former Dactyl, Kellen, from Yes, Oh Yes joined them in studio at KUPS last Thursday to play drums. An additional anonymous member played toy piano with them at The Vera Project this evening.

The Terrordactyls opened for Shane Tutmarc and the Traveling Mercies and the headliner PWRFL Power. I didn't stay to see Tutmarc or PWRFL because 1) I didn't feel like sticking around all night and 2) I honestly felt a little out of place.

This was my first time at The Vera Project and I didn't know it was a non-profit venue touting all-ages shows. It was a very neat place, but I'm at a rather awkward age to try to fit in here. I couldn't very well blend in with the small crowd of sitting 14 year olds (hopefully they'll realize that this is incredibly annoying "show behavior") or the crowd of 40-something parents who had brought them.

There's a venue similar to this in my hometown called Howie and Son's Pizza Parlor, except Howie's cover charge was only $2 and beer was easily accessible to minors...

I took a few pictures from the evening. I'm a terrible photographer, but you can sort of make out shapes of things and get the general idea of what's going on in these photos. Part of the poor quality is due to my point-and-shoot camera, but I can't blame my equipment entirely. I must have shaky hands.

The Vera Project



My hand stamp. I document this only because I feel like it embodies the spirit of this venue.

This is the new PWRFL Power album I purchased. Kazutaka Nomura sold it to me and he awkwardly thanked me for buying it about six times for the one hour I was there.

The Terrordactyls!
(note the heads of the kids sitting down)

The venue was perfectly suited for the cutesy pop of The Terrordacyls. Their set was only a half-hour, but they were all smiles as they played their kazoos, toy piano, and self-made instrument consisting of jingle bells, a horn, and a large rubber band whacking a pie pan all mounted on a large stick. This actually sounds better than it would seem through this description.

I chatted with Kellen briefly before their set and he said their show at the Fusion Cafe Thursday night did not go over so well. I have not been to this cafe, but he said it was small and the acoustics were terrible. In addition, the attendance was not so hot due to an abundance of other great shows (*cough* The Magnetic Fields) that evening. The Terrordactyls were well received at Vera with quite a few kids even singing along.



*The Terrordactyls have a new EP out called the Mike Bowers EP which cover Seattle's The Pharmacy on five tracks.
*Michael and Tyrel also made a video for their song, "Devices," which has become quite popular on YouTube. The song features Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches.