Birthday Suits/The Blind Shake/Wereworm

Sugar Maple as a music venue is often overlooked in the circuit of bars hosting shows in Bay View. The decor is stuffy, semi-comatose, and if you drink your chosen beer solely for the purpose of getting drunk in the least offensive way possible, the booze menu hits the wallet a bit hard and can leave you perplexed. I know what a Budweiser tastes like. Can I just have one of those? Nope. Sugar Maple’s back room, however, is a pretty great spot to see bands, especially on weeknights when the relaxed vibe is much more appreciated. What the bar itself lacks in personality, the back room makes up for in sound and coziness. But for a place with such a low-key air that typically books jazz shows, albeit of the experimental type, the Sugar Maple occasionally plays host to the noisy and the LOUD.

This Wednesday, June 9, 2010, Minneapolis’s Birthday Suits and The Blind Shake won’t disappoint in defining either adjective. Birthday Suits wreak a ridiculous amount of havoc on their instruments. The two-piece are extra special showman, throwing their limbs in the air and spastically contorting through their shift-heavy noise punk, schizophrenically moving from one hook to the next. Their live show is tight, incomparably energetic, and a quick, joyous pummel. The Blind Shake likewise enjoy giving their audience a forceful jab, although more methodical and understated than Birthday Suits. Milwaukee’s Wereworm opens the show, whose bombastic yet subdued instrumental rock is measured out in all the right ways. I have faith that this will be one of the best shows in Milwaukee this year.