"Retreat! Retreat!" somebody shouted, and followed by several other people. No, it wasn't an order, but it's a song title from 65 Days Of Static, the band from Sheffield, England who made their way to Bottom Of The Hill, San Francisco. It's probably 65 Days Of Static's most well-known song, thanks to its air share on MTV2. 65 Days Of Static has been hailed as the new Mogwai with their soft-loud, crescendo sound. What sets them apart from other imitators of "grandfathers" of post-rock is their mixture of drum & bass, layers of glitch noise and melodic piano.
Witnessed by a half empty room on Saturday night (what a shame, where were you San Franciscans?), the band delivered an intense performance that could only be matched by a pack of starving wild animals. Starting with a two minute-loop of the beginning of their song "Drove To Ghost To Get Here," one by one, the foursome made their way to the stage. From the first chord and first cymbal crash, I knew I would be in for a special treat. The next song, "Await Rescue" from the same album, their latest release called One Time For All Time, was full of glitchy noise and vicious beats that kept assaulting audience's ears and emotions. Bottom Of The Hill's small stage wasn't an obstacle for four members of 65 Days Of Static – Joe Fro (guitar) Paul Wolinski (guitar, piano, programming) and Simon Wright (bass) just kept pounding and moving frantically.
All the good things must come to an end. After about half an hour of onslaught of loud and beautiful songs, 65 Days Of Static finished their set with "Insert Song Here." I shook the hand of one of band's members thanking him for the amazing show. Sweats were coming all over his forehead and he whispered exhaustedly "thank you". Outside the fog kept rolling in and the typical cold night of San Francisco started to bite my skin. As I stood in front of 65 Days Of Static's tour van, I was wondering if they had to drive through ghosts to get to San Francisco.
