Murder By Death

The year: 2003. An 18 year old Chuck sneaks into a bar in Iowa City (drinking age, 21, legal entry age, 19) to watch one of his favourite, yet really new bands, My Chemical Romance, put on a rip-snorting show to about 80 punters in a dive bar with a tiny stage and a low roof named Gabe's Oasis. Their set was high energy and amazing (never to be relived no matter how many times he saw them in the next decade) but it was the opening bands that he remembers fondly.

The first one was a post-hardcore band channeling Muse named Vaux, who's album still gets constant rotation in Chuck's car in 2011. The other was a country-punk band called Murder By Death.

It was the first time I ever heard anything of this sort in my sheltered mid-west American musical upbringing. Of course, these days I'm obsessed with bands like Lucero that do this constantly. But at the time, it was something new and wonderful.

Even my great mate Wes, known more for his love of Christian punk rock, enjoyed them. We bought a matching set of these shot glasses to celebrate the night:

I hope he's still got his, I know I do and always use it when I hear this song... but that's another story.

It's been a long time since I first saw Murder by Death, but now they're bringing their unique style to Australia for the first time, and I imagine this little shot glass will be filled with a lot of whiskey before their show at Woodland on February 25.

Wait... what?! SOUNDWAVE DAY. Ah shit. This fucking blows. That being said, Woodland is notorious for late starting shows, I could probably do both in a day and then be exhausted.