The Mountain Says No At the Zen Lounge January 9, 2016

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a great time seeing music at the Zen Lounge on Saturday night. The show was set for 9pm so I left around 8:45 and arrived around 9:05. I had not been to that specific bar before, but it’s the same room that Texas and kd Churchils and Club Toast was in, so I have a lot of history. It was fun to walk up the stairs, take that right had turn and enter the bar. Right by the entrance was a curtain running most of the width of the bar. The band were curiously set up in front of the curtain with the drums on the left, Andrew Frappier‘s bass to the right of that, Jedd Kettler‘s guitar to the right of that and Ben Maddox‘s guitar to the right of that. All the way to the right the curtain was pulled back showing a dance floor and another set of curtains farther back into the club. Behind that was another section of booths, and a stand for a dj was set on the old stage area. Hmmm, having the band play in the bar area, who would have guessed. I said a couple of quick hellos and the band started soon after I arrived. 

The sound was just great as The Mountain Says No kicked things off with the heavy rocking Long Term Sermon. They eased off a bit with the mellow and beautifully odd Who Could Say. They moved into the sludgy opening of Iron And Metal before nimbly zipping through the middle part of the fun rocker until it crashed into the sludgy ending. They kept things in full rock mode with a killer version of Restaurant. They eased up a little for the slow gloomy 3,000, they went back to the serious rock with the new and magnificent Glazerbeam. They followed with a stunning version of King Grifter, then rocked hard with another new one called I Know Right. They finished off set one with the funky Ricky The Rider.

The set break was not long and soon they were back. Come And Decide rocked hard. Statistik soared majestically. They played another new one, this time one that I have not heard, called Nothing In This. It was really good. They reworked an old farm song with Blanket’s Fine. This was especially appropriate since the calendar on the door of the ZL listed the show as Farm The Band. I’m still chuckling about that. They answered a philosophical question with The Mountain and followed with a blistering version of JC And The Beast. They eased things up with Hard Times White Winds then played a new instrumental, Islan’ High. They closed the night in full rock mode with The Bomb. I guess they were not kidding when they said they would play every song they know. What a great show!

I headed out shortly after they wrapped up. I was thinking of checking our Sad Turtle and Manhattan Pizza and Pub, which is right around the corner. I made it in and grabbed a slice of pizza, but was quite exhausted and ducked out before the band began to play. I will have to catch them next time.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.