Caribou who?

Last night a band called Caribou from Canada were playing in St. Louis, Fuck Buttons. I had never heard either band before. The catch of the night was, that my good friend Ahmed Gallab was filling in playing drums with Caribou. Ahmed plays in a band called Sinkane, which is a new Emergency Umbrella records band and he really is the brainchild behind it all. Sinkane had problems with their tour van and ended up canceling a few months of touring, while Ahmed was trying to figure out a plan or alternative means for the next few months, he received a email from Caribou stating that their drummer had broken his arm and they were in need of a replace drummer. Ahmed jump right on it and now has been touring with them for close to a month in the states and was headed to Europe in a few days. I have known Ahmed for a few years now, as he used to play in a band called Sweetheart that Bald Eagle played with many times and he became my go to guy for shows in Ohio. He have hung out many times, stayed at each others houses while on the road, and now are label mates (again in sorts, but that's a different story). Anyhow Ahmed has been very lucky to be a part of the Caribou tour and will also be joining Of Montreal on a upcoming tour, again playing drums. Then it will be back to focusing on Sinkane. So while i h ad never heard Caribou i felt like it was a good chance to see one of my friends i hadn't seen in a while.

The day began with me getting up at 6am and going to work until around 3pm. After a shower and change of clothes, i met up with Billy, Justin, and Zach and off to St. Louis we went. We got there early in hopes to go out to eat with Ahmed, but Caribou was running a little late and when they arrived they needed to do a sound check. We waited out and went for a walk and got a drink at a nearby bar. Back to the venue, for Caribou's sound check and to meet our friend Ryan who lives in St. Louis. We gab Ahmed and load six people into the van and we are off to eat. After food happenings, we head back to the club and catch The Fuck Buttons, I was not impressed by their brand of noise/feedback that was coming from two people essentially playing laptops set on a table. I was happy when they stopped and hoped to god that Caribou was not like them. Soon Caribou took the stage and blew my expectations out of the water. They were great, and i am not sure if it was the fact that my friend was playing drums for them, but i think they would have been great anyways, he just added to it. Ahmed has always been good at drums, but i was seriously blown away by the shit he was doing, after what seemed like a hour and half of straight performing and drumming they were done. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Columbia, for a night of little sleep and a early morning of work at 6am.

I tried my best to take some pictures and video of Caribou, from the show. The pictures are so/so, but the videos turned out nicely. So here are a few, i have 4 total but only 3 will load, as the 4th is rather long and i will see if i can figure something out for a later post, as it is easily the best sound of the 4 and shot kind of cool as well. Anyhow enjoy the sweetness of Caribou and more importantly the drumming of Ahmed.

1. Short and sweet, 32 seconds of awesomeness (sound quality is kind of bad on this one)

2. A few minutes long and in color (sound is bad on this one as well)

3. Longer and better sound quality