Drunk Music Review is Caitlin Behle and John Sebastian. Caitlin reviews a show while progressively getting drunker, while illustrator John Sebastian turns the drunken reviews, which could be ridiculous, sloppy or just plain insulting, into a comic.

Notes: The captions that end with the hashtag #DrunkMusicReview were pulled from Twitter during the show. Also, the chart at the bottom of every illustration shows the drink tallies for the night.

When John Sebastian and I wrote our first Drunk Music Review in October 2011, we thought it would be 1) mostly a joke, 2) a one-time thing, and 3) if not a one-time thing, only for festivals. As it turns out, a lot of people can relate to watching their favorite bands while hammered. The response was surprisingly positive, and people asked us when they could read another Drunk Music Review. Well, why not?, we thought. So here we are.

The Upset Victory CD release show at Madison Theater seemed like an easy fit for Drunk Music Review. After all, if we could do two nights of Clifton Heights Music Fest, why not a normal ol’ release show? The bill was stacked with local acts – The Plastic Inevitables, Automagik, Ohio Knife, The Lions Rampant, The Desert Gun, The Upset Victory, and The Yugos – and apparently it’s more difficult than we thought to stay drunk, coherent, and conscious simultaneously through seven sets of music.

The Plastic Inevitables

Unfortunately, we arrived just as the Plastic Inevitables wrapped up their set. John got a glimpse of them during the last song, though.

*Note: Each pint in the tally represents a Tall Boy (24 oz) of beer.

Automagik

Automagik hit the stage next, launching into their high energy set. The band is a spastic cocktail of one part glam rock (so many sequins) to two parts pop. While the costumes and goofy quips made by lead singer Zach Evans may lend itself to a cartoonish image, the band’s solid performance and musicianship prove the band is more than just show.

According to @automagikmusic’s singer, their keyboardist is absent bc of a tragic helicopter accident. So, uh…how bout them sequin vests? #DrunkMusicReview

Ohio Knife

Saturday also saw the debut of Ohio Knife, the new project by Jason Snell of The Chocolate Horse and Joe Suer. While I always felt Snell’s unique, husky voice didn’t quite match the melodic pop of The Chocolate Horse, it lent itself perfectly to the gritty, dark sound of Ohio Knife.

they’ve brought out the fog machines. @OhioKnife flirts w/ early desert rock so it makes sense. I knew I brought this peyote for a reason. #DrunkMusicReview

Everything was going great till a mic malfunctioned.

@OhioKnife: First OK show I got thrown out because I kicked over a mic. Good start I suppose.

Whoops.

The Lions Rampant

Four bands deep, and things started to get a little ridiculous. By then we made the executive decision any time anyone asked us anything on Twitter, our reply would always be “I’M DRUNK.” Can you review us? What time does the next band go on? What’s your stance on string theory? Answer: I’M DRUNK.

Though Lions Rampant seemed slightly more reserved than usual – after all, it was still pretty early in the night – the band didn’t disappoint us. Meanwhile, we were getting sassy.

Whoa, I didn’t realize Grizzly Adams was the drummer for Lions Rampant. #DrunkMusicReview

The Desert Gun & The Upset Victory

Once The Desert Gun made its way to the stage, we knew things weren’t looking so great.

My god. We’re only halfway though the night. Desert Gun, Upset Victory, and The Yugos still to go. This is like a marathon for my liver. #DrunkMusicReview

In all honesty, The Desert Gun and The Upset Victory’s sets are a bit hazy, which is admittedly not great since it was the latter band’s show. However, I recall thinking even though it was the Upset Victory’s release show, both Upset Victory and The Desert Gun stood out as having a sound that didn’t quite fit the rest of the lineup. While all the other bands could be categorized more as garage rock, The Desert Gun and The Upset Victory fell more along the lines of modern rock, straddling post-hardcore and polished pop-punk.

Anyway, the point is, we were both pretty drunk so we don’t have any illustrations of The Upset Victory. All I can recall, according to Twitter, is there were three guitarists for The Desert Gun, and one of them looked like Keanu Reeves.

Omg Keanu Reeves just hit the mic for the Desert Gun. Special k, I love your work! #DrunkMusicReview

And apparently, the Upset Victory played a 90s cover.

Upset Victory just covered “Jumper” by Third Eye Blind. I’m full of inarticulated feelings. #DrunkMusicReview

The Yugos

By the time The Yugos closed out the night, the crowd had mostly cleared out, which is a shame because I’m convinced The Yugos are going to be the next big band out of Cincinnati. Their self-titled LP is unabashed lo-fi pop, a perfect blend of simple, pure lyrics, hand claps and bouncy singalong vocals combined with echoes of shoegaze and afrobeat. The band was joined by Pomegranates multi-instrumentionalist and lead vocalist Joey Cook.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any illustrations because while I had begun to sober up by this time, John had already taken the bullet train (Bulleit train?) to Drunktown and was halfway to Sloppy Time Saloon. Sorry Yugos. Unfortunately, in a seven band bill, the last band is ultimately the one with the smallest and drunkest audience. On the bright side, it was an awesome set.

Stay tuned for another Drunk Music Review in April for The Heights Music Festival.

-Caitlin Behle – @cutelin

About Caitlin Behle

Caitlin has been with Each Note Secure since her days at WOXY as an evening DJ beginning in 2008. As a senior contributor with ENS, most of her live reviews are centered on Cincinnati's local music scene. She also provides the words for Drunk Music Reviews, a series of reviews written in collaboration with illustrator John Sebastian in which they both get hammered and write/draw their live concert experiences.