Crawl Bands

Take Me Out to the Crawl Game!

Spring Crawl 2007

Tank tops and flip-flops, the smell of cut grass, and bleary eyes from another bout of debilitating allergies—telltale signs that springtime has returned to Albuquerque and, with it, the all-American pastime that is Spring Crawl.

On Saturday, April 28, the crack of microphone cables and roaring crowds will fill our Duke City streets with the unmistakable sounds of Crawling. A flat-rate wristband ($10 in advance, $15 day-of-show) is all the gear you'll need for multiple innings of live music in clubs throughout Downtown Albuquerque, including our Third Street Outdoor Stage. We're suiting up for a memorable night of heavy-hitting performances from more than 80 live acts. Get ready to play Crawl!

You'll get a lot more than ballpark franks and beer at the Crawl. Downtown visitors are enjoying one of the strongest, most diverse restaurant scenes in the city. Everything from New Mexican cuisine to fine dining and exotic fare are within easy reach of the Crawl venues. Scroll through the "Crawl Chow" capsules in this week's online Chowtown roundup. You'll find a listing of every late-night dining establishment in the heart of Downtown, plus many that are just a short walk or drive from all the action.

Designating a dependable, sober driver in your Crawl crew will keep everyone safe and happy. But what if everyone in your party has one too many adult beverages—how do you get home? We know you're not stupid enough to drive drunk (especially since there'll be extra police officers on the streets to make sure you're safe). We suggest you check in to one of the many reasonably priced hotels that Downtown has to offer or call a cab. Some taxi numbers are:

Albuquerque Cab: 883-4888

Checker Cab: 243-7777

Yellow Cab: 247-8888

Giant Cab: 293-4222

Or hop on the JIT. The shuttle/bus is giving free rides from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. to any home within Albuquerque city limits. You can find the JIT station on Fourth Street between Central and Copper. (You can also thank Club 7—they’re donating this amazing service to the Crawlers!)

You don't have to be a barfly to Crawl. Even under-21 music lovers can take advantage of Downtown's thriving music community at our special all-ages Crawl venue. The Sunshine Theater (Central between First and Second Streets) will showcase the immense skills of Albuquerque hip-hop emcees and DJs, plus national headliner Black Sheep. Smoking and alcohol service will be available in segregated areas for those of legal drinking age.

You'll save time and money by purchasing your Spring Crawl wristbands in advance. They are available for $10 at all Ticketmaster outlets (plus a service fee), Owl Green's Music (121 Seventh NW, 243-1889) at the UNM-area Mail Station (2118 Central SE, 842-1306), Grandma's Music and Sound (9310 Coors, 800-444-5252) and through the Alibi website. Note that you can avoid paying a service fee by purchasing wristbands directly from us. If you enjoy standing in line, day-of-show wristbands cost $15 and will be available at the Alibi Info Booth, Sunshine Theater, Third Street Outdoor Stage and El Rey Theater on the night of the Crawl.

Figuring out which bands are worth your time is easy with this edition of the Alibi. First, scan the schedule of bands to see who's playing and where during each time slot. Then scroll down for an alphabetical listing of Spring Crawl 2007 performers. Listings are made up of general information about each musical act, including music genres, where to find them online and other stats. Next, check the nifty Crawl map for clearly marked locations of participating venues, the Info Booth and parking. We'll be glad to answer any additional questions you might have at our Info Booth. Ready to rock? Good. We'll see you on the field!

Team: The 2Bers

League: Hip-hop, reggae, funk

Website: www.2bers.com

Mascot: Mr. Potato Head

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Till the soil.

Grand Slam: Our joint CD release party with Mystic Vision/One Foundation at [the now defunct] Stella Blue. The club was packed beyond capacity with lines stretching a city block on Central.

Team: Afterpill

League: Progressive, emo, rock

Website: www.myspace.com/afterpill

Lucky Charm: A red cross

Team: Approaching Andromeda

League: Alternative intrumental melodic ambient climactic semi-electronic rock

Website: www.myspace.com/approchingandromeda

Uniform: Shirts, shoes and sometimes pants

Mascot: The minor 9 chord.

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: All we can tell you is that it involves a Ouija board, the living dead and some popcorn.

Number of Road Games: The same number Tool has been on ... minus the number Tool has been on.

Team: The Bellmont

League: Agro dork-rock

Website: www.thebellmontrocks.com

Uniform: Pinstripes, because vertical lines are slimming.

Fight Song: "Tonight We're Gonna Rock You, Tonight," Spinal Tap

Mascot: Manatee

Team: Burlesque Noir

League: Neo-burlesque

Website: www.burlesquenoir.com

Uniform: Pasties and boyshorts! Sometimes construction barrels and mustaches!

Lucky Charm: The Golden Ass

Home Field: Holly's house (nicknamed Glitter Base)

Anthem/Fight Song: "My Humps," The Black Eyed Peas

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Carefully applying false eyelashes and pasties.

Team: The Cherry Tempo

League: Rock, powerpop, indie

Website: www.cherrytempo.com

Lucky Charm: A guitar pedal board of infinite knobs and buttons

Mascot: Huckleberry Finn

Team: CrazyFool

League: Ska, reggae, soul

Website: www.crazyfoolvibes.com

Uniform: Ghostbuster khaki overalls

Anthem/Fight Song: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," Charlie Daniels Band (with dueling trombones)

Mascot: Chewbacca in a tuxedo at his junior prom

Grand Slams: Halloween 2005 at the Launchpad with La Junta and Concepto Tambor. Our rhythm section sported Ghostbusters costumes, complete with silly string guns. The horn section was made up as Slimer and the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man, complete with slime and marshmallows. We've had trouble booking shows there ever since.

Hall of Fame Nominee: Bradley Nowell (of Sublime)

Team: DeeJayClout

League: Underground hip-hop

Roster: Me, myself and I

Lucky Charm: My turntables

Grand Slam: Common/Gangstarr show in 2003

Hall of Fame Nominee: Run-DMC, Public Enemy

Team: The Dirty Novels

League: League of Extraordinary Lovers (that’d be rock ’n’ roll, baby)

Website: www.thedirtynovels.com

Number of Road Games: 14 tours, undefeated on the road

Uniform: Fancy jackets, tight pants, tight shirts, boots of any kind, tattoos, shaggy hair—makeup and scarves optional

Home Field: The Blackbird Buvette, our van

Fight Song: "It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’n’ Roll)," AC/DC

Hall of Fame Nominee: T-Rex

Team: Element 37

League: Acoustic, reggae, rock

Website: www.freewebs.com/element-37

Lucky Charm: A bubble of blown glass

Hall of Fame Nominee: Ben Harper, G-Love and Special Sauce

Team: Five Minute Sin

League: Hard rock

Website: www.fiveminutesin.com

Uniform: It's less about the look and more about the smell.

Fight Song: "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin. We always try and have this tune on during setup.

Grand Slams: Red River Memorial Run 2006. We performed for Gov. Bill Richardson (who left halfway through our first song) and signed numerous biker lady breasts post-show.

Team: Frostbite

League: Rock

Website: www.frostbitemusic.com

Lucky Charm: Armondo the drummer's dirty socks

Home Field: Armondo's house—dirty socks and all!

Fight Song: The "Leave it to Beaver" theme song

Grand Slam: The Musicians Against Violence Benefit show

Team: The Ground Beneath

League: Metal

Website: www.thegroundbeneath.com

Lucky Charm: The Jeep Beneath. We live in it for weeks at a time.

Home Field: The House Beneath

Fight Song: The "South Park" theme song

Mascot: Steve's wiener dog, Ciabatta. We think he has Down Syndrome.

Team: Halcyon

League: Booty Clappin' Music

Website: www.myspace.com/djhalcyon

Uniform: My tried-and-true hair shirt

Lucky Charm: A bottle of Astroglide

Team: Icky and the Yuks

League: Old-school punk

Website: www.myspace.com/ickyandtheyukspunks

Uniform: Catholic schoolgirl

Anthem/Fight Song: People love the "Fat Chicks." We prefer "Fuckaholic."

Mascot: A drunk lead singer who hasn't left a Downtown bar in more than 15 years, a.k.a. Icky.

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Showing Bob how the new song goes.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominee: Mike Bobroff

Team: La Junta

League: Anything and nothing at all

Website: www.myspace.com/lajunta

Uniform: Whatever we're wearing that day topped off with a sombrero

Fight Song: "We Don't Stop," Michael Franti and Spearhead

Mascot: Cochise the tortoise ... lazy and slow, but he gets done what he needs to get done.

Hall of Fame Nominee: Franti and Spearhead, Ben Harper, Cultura Profetica, Britney Spears

Team: Left Brain

League: Crunk-metal dork-prog

Website: www.leftbrainband.com

Uniform: Girl pants, white belts

Home Field: All of us fight ... er ... practice at our house. It's tightly packed like a tin can of sardines.

Mascot: A morbidly obese basset hound named Blossom.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominee: Patty and Mildred Hill for the "Happy Birthday Song"

Team: The Lowlights

League: Folk, country, psychedelic

Website: www.myspace.com/thelowlights

Uniform: Bolo ties and brown leather

Mascot: Wood duck, Aix sponsa, is a medium-sized perching duck. A typical adult is about 19 inches in length with an average wingspan of 29 inches.

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Venison jerky and whiskey

Team: Marsupious

League: Progressive rock, alternative

Website: www.myspace/marsupious

Uniform: As the singer, I usually like something soft on the skin. Perhaps a silky T-back. (I usually wear it backwards.) It gives me just enough freedom to feel like a man but just enough softness to keep me in touch with my feminine side.

Home Field: We practice at Fox Office Complex (San Mateo and Central). I hang out at the gym a lot. Gotta look good to pull off the uniform, right?

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: We switch underwear with each other before each show. You really don't know someone until you've sweated an hour in their underoos. It's our way of bonding.

Hall of Fame Nominee: Weird Al Yankovic

Team: Mei Long

League: ’60s-ish pop rocks

Website: www.myspace/meilongacoustic

Uniform: Casual fancy to moderate fashion for those on the rise

Lucky Charm: Lingam

Mascot: Sun Ra covered in cute animal breath

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Conjuring souls of cute animals through the magic of hair restoration.

Team: The Oktober People

League: Space rock

Website: www.oktoberpeople.com

Roster: Nate, Chris, Rhian and Sean

Uniform: Typical slacker wear

Lucky Charm: High fives and butt slaps

Home Field: Silverchord Studios

Grand Slam: Playing with Mono, Pelican and Bellini

Team: Outrage

League: The real hip-hop

Website: www.myspace.com/outrageone

Lucky Charm: An Allah medallion my father gave me when I was about 12 years old. It has seemed to keep me out of harms way.

Home Field: As long as there's a candle lit, I'm comfortable anywhere.

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Constantly going over songs in my head.

Hall of Fame Nominee: Big Pun! The greatest MC that ever touched a mic ... R.I.P.

Team: Polaroid Pornography

League: New new wave, lo-fi electro

Website: www.myspace.com/polaroidpornography

Uniform: We're always wearing something pink ... even if you can't see it.

Lucky Charm: A VHS copy of Porky's

Mascot: Crystal's French bulldog, Elliott. He just got his balls chopped off.

Number of Road Games: Our first and only tour to date took us to Amarillo, Texas, to perform at a "Haunted Prom."

Team: Rap

League: People actually having fun

Website: wolfspace.us

Uniform: New York street gangs in 1982 are actually from the future

Lucky Charm: Magical dance lasers that shoot out of our ancestors eyes or mouths so you freak out.

Hall of Fame Nominee: "Ninja Gaiden." And those robots from the music video for "Rockit."

Team: The Rudy Boy Experiment

League: Experimental blues-rock

Website: www.myspace.com/therudyboyexp

Home Field: Sonny's, R.I.P.

Fight Song: "Unreality," The Rudy Boy Experiment

Team: SaintSinnerSunS

League: Underground hip-hop, rockabilly

Uniform: Whatever fits ’cause we so phat

Mascot: Godzilla with a mic

Hall of Fame Nominee: Weird Al

Team: Scarless

League: Alt.prog-metal

Website: www.myspace.com/scarlessband

Home Field: Music Go Round

Anthem/Fight Song: "Pet," A Perfect Circle

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Habañero Doritos! Pow! Right in the Kisser!

Grand Slams: Spring Crawl 2007! Wait a minute ....

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominee: Soular

Team: Soular

League: Rock

Website: www.soular.us

Uniform: Chain mail and boxing gloves

Fight Song: "Night Fever," The Bee Gees

Mascot: Starship Enterprise

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Standing in a corner and whining about not enough cocktail sauce ... chanting "More cowbell!" until we hit the stage.

Hall of Fame Nominee: Tiny Tim, The Turtles

Useful Trivia: We like skydiving, parasailing and yodeling. We are all Libra in our hearts.

Team: SuperGiant

League: Rock

Website: www.supergiantrock.com

Uniform: Bone, nerves, flesh, skin and hair

Home Field: Anodyne

Mascot: Antares

Grand Slam: Our CD release show with Beck!

Hall of Fame Nominee: Rage Against the Machine

Team: Under The Blood

League: Soulful, melodic edge

Website: www.myspace.com/utbmuzak

Lucky Charm: A beat up SM57 that keeps working no matter how many times it's been dropped

Home Field: The Hookah Kings

Fight Song: "Muskrat Love," Captain & Tennille

Mascot: Frank the shop dog

Hall of Fame Nominee: Kronic Obsession

Team: Unit 7 Drain

League: Death wave

Website: www.unit7drain.net

Uniform: The other team's torn and bloody uniforms after we cut them off at the end of the "game."

Home Field: We practice in a parallel dimension filled with happiness and light. In this wondrous place FDR is still president, the Velvet Underground had more record sales than The Beatles, Pepsi is called "Rexxi" and is chock-full of Valium and you can buy hash brownies at every convenience store. We hang out at Del Taco.

Fight Song: "Anymore," Romeo Goes To Hell

Mascot: Engels, The Giant Red Socialist Panda

Hall of Fame Nominee: Yo La Tengo or The Pixies.

Team: When Darkness Falls

League: Metal, rock

Website: www.myspace.com/darknesscrew

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: A shot of Black Tooth. "Nostrovia!"

Grand Slam: Isleta Casino benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina victims (December 2005)

Team: The Ya Ya Boom Project!

League: Orchestral pop rocks

Website: www.myspace.com/theyayaboomproject

Roster: Carlos Kerplow, Miza Blast, Rob Plosion and Machina Dynamite

Uniform: Petticoats. Ties. Gloves. Socks and flip-flops (only when worn together).

Fight Song: "The Thong Song," Sisqo

Mascot: A wind-up bomb with legs

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: Discussions of politics, the nature of the heart, fine cigars and cognac. Psych! Usually we pace frantically wondering where the other band members are until it's time to set up. Then, magically, as if materializing out of thin air, they show.

Hall of Fame Nominee: PJ Harvey

Feature

MVPs

The headlining acts of Spring Crawl 2007

Team: Black Pegasus

League: Hip-hop, rap

Website: www.myspace.com/blackpegasus

Uniform: Baggy jeans and fly-ass T-shirts

Lucky Charm: Hippie mineral rocks

Home Field: Panera Bread Cafés in rich Colorado neighborhoods looking at MILFs.

Fight Song: "You Are the Best Around," Joe Esposito

Mascot: Brass knuckles

Pre-game Locker Room Ritual: The Kid & Play dance from the House Party movies

Hall of Fame Nominee: Bloodhound Gang

The DJ Dugout