Just kidding; I actually didn't get to see Ty Segall

After a fairly busy week this week in terms of concert going, the plan was to cap it all off with a trip to Nashville's Zombie Shop to see lo-fi/proto punker Ty Segall, whose Slaughterhouse album has proven to be among 2012's better records. However, I had to leave before he went on.

I had work early the next morning, but thought I could catch him, head home, and crash for long enough to make it through a reasonably productive work day. At most shows the main act goes on around 10-10:30ish wrapping up around midnight, however the Zombie Shop is having none of that. At 12:30 I finally had to give up and head home, still stuck in the endless stream of opening bands; there were apparently eight bands that played in total. Ordinarily this would have been awesome, but given my time constraints it seemed like overkill. A friend I talked to said it didn't wrap up until after 3a.m. Needless to say, I was majorly disappointing with the outcome of my night.

Other than that, though, the Zombie Shop seems cool enough. It's a motorcycle shop that sells parts, or maybe they just work on them. Not really sure. It's nestled along the Nashville's bustling industrial district, directly behind the new bigass Music City Convention Center. The area was pretty dead around 7 p.m. when I arrived, except for the Slaughterhouse Haunted House located across the way.

On 6th Avenue South, it's also not too far away from the projects, which I mistakenly passed by while looking for a place to eat. It certainly wasn't dead in this area. There were bars on every storefront and what looked like dealers on every corner. I decided to eat after the show.

The scene at the Zombie Shop though was your typical indie crowd, which immediately made me feel better. It's basically a warehouse venue, with room for probably about 400-500 people and a spacious backyard for people to chat or just chill out. There was also a campfire going. Booze price is okay; about four or five dollars for cold keg beer if memory serves. You can grab a can of coke for two clams, and there are also crepes.

Pick between nutella, banana, peanut butter, or honey. Or do like I did and grab a ham and cheese. There's also some game systems in the corner; you can play Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros. 3, or Soul Calibur. However, they charge for water; a dollar a bottle. And it wasn't even cold. Bastards. That is, unless you want to grab tap water from the bathroom. But both bathrooms are apparently single seaters, and there's never less than 20 people in line. As far as the actual bands go, there's a general garage rock/punk mentality. It goes far beyond the chords ringing from guitars and seems to seep into the brick and mortar of the actual building itself. There was plenty of fist pumping, beer cups (and I think other objects) thrown into the crowd, and of course moshing. The first band, Gnarwhal, played a math rock informed blend of post hardcore, with guitar styling reminiscent of Tera Melos or The Fall of Troy.

After the first song the vocalist's guitar string broke, which prompted a nearly 10 minute delay. During which he made an abortive attempt at joke about a whale bringing a six pack into a bar and trying to drink it. A couple songs later, furious moshing broke out right where I was situated I've heard Ty Segall shows tend to get rowdy, and this was no exception. I probably should have just forgot about sleep and stuck around for the rest of the show.

Nashville's D. Watusi smashed the crowd with a stellar proto punk vibe.