Wages of Sin and Season of Nightmares Shake Up St. Pat’s Day at Seattle’s Sunset Tavern, By Holly Homan

It’s St. Patrick’s Day 2012 and I’m headed to The Sunset Tavern in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. When I arrive, Season of Nightmares was already on stage. I had to push my way to the front, which was not an easy feat. The Sunset is puny and the sold-out crowd was packed tighter than that proverbial tin of sardines. But push my way I did.

I’m not sure I can say anything about Season of Nightmares I haven’t said before. I’ve seen them many times and they never fail to impress me. They put on a fun show, joking amongst themselves as well as with the audience. The last time I saw them play was last Halloween and Nick (stand-up bass) has since sprouted a mustache, which at first I thought was fake. I don’t like it. It makes you look old, Nick.

Season of Nightmares is a young band and therefore have tons of energy on stage. But they’re also excellent musicians and play that psychobilly as well as any of the more famous psychobilly bands like Koffin Kats or Nekromantix. These guys should be at least as big as those aforementioned bands. They are that good. Bill (vocals/guitar) and Nick wore matching green shirts and moved about the small stage with great prowess. This is a band that clearly loves being on stage. They love playing with each other and their audience feeds off their energy. By the time they left the stage, drenched in sweat, the audience was thoroughly warmed up.

It was then, to my horror, as I shot my last shot of Season of Nightmares, I got the message from my camera that my batteries were depleted. I had forgotten to recharge them. The time was now 11:00. I had to think of what might be open at that hour that sold batteries. I remembered there was a QFC close by, but couldn’t remember just where. I headed outside, saw two cops on the corner and asked them if they knew where the QFC was. They directed me. It was just two blocks away. I guess the rock and roll goddesses were on my side because I didn’t have to give up my precious parking spot that I’d spent fifteen minutes looking for. The goddesses were still on the clock because QFC had alkaline batteries on sale for a $1 for a four-pack. I bought two, just in case, and headed back. Ballard was teeming with St. Pattiy’s Day revelers as I made my way back to the Sunset Tavern. The break tape was playing Flogging Molly’s Seven Deadly Sins as I re-entered the club and I once again squeezed my way to the front just as Wages of Sin were coming on. I had never seen Wages of Sin before. I’d come mainly to see Season of Nightmares, being that they’re one of my favorite local bands. Well, one of my favorite bands, period. Wages of Sin are a six-piece from Seattle consisting of Jesse Stewart – vocals & guitar; Tom Martin – banjo; Ethan Sobotta – upright bass; Marc Robben – mandolin & harmonica; Nate Atkins – drums; T Royal Morgan – fiddle and jailhouse cup. They play a healthy mix of good old-fashioned hillbilly music with a modern smattering of rock, a dose of punk and a generous dash of the good ol’ Irish thrown in.

Oh, I haven’t mentioned how great they are. There were a lot of on stage antics between band members and joking with the audience. There wasn’t a still body in the place, although one bloke with bleached hair got overzealous and nearly knocked me to the floor on several occasions until singer/guitarist Jesse told him to chill out. I was quite glad he did, that bloke was the cause of me missing more than a few good shots.

Wages of Sin played everything from a sea chanty, to some old tradition Irish tunes (Tell Me Ma & Whiskey You’re the Devil), both of which have been recorded by The Tossers.

For the finale they played a speeded up (if you can imagine that) version of The Clash’s White Riot. Really, you haven’t lived a full life until you’ve heard this traditional punk anthem played with fiddle, stand-up bass and electric mandolin. To use an over used word, but apropos here, it was freakin’ awesome!

When they left the stage, screams for One more! One more! Immediately ensued and the band was back on stage within a few short minutes. Besides performing the aforementioned Whiskey You’re the Devil, they also did a cover of the old heavy metal song Jail Break, with singer Jesse donning a metal guitar and Marc ditching his mandolin and donning dark glasses and shouting heavy metal screams into the mic. Toward the end of the song, he grabbed his mandolin and they ended the show playing this classic metal tune with mandolin. So I’m going to repeat myself here: It was freakin’ Awesome!

I have no idea why neither of these bands has gotten publicity in either The Stranger or Weekly. They should. There’s a lot of talent in this city that hasn’t been uncovered by some of the more mainstream media and that’s a tragedy. But I guess that’s my job. So, everyone out there who loves good music, keep your eye on the listings for Season of Nightmares and Wages of Sin. They are well worth the price of a ticket and braving a packed club. You will have more fun than you can possibly imagine.

– Holly Homan