Wild Yaks Played Cameo

On Friday I was checking out the old Facebook feed and I saw a post from Wild Yaks. It basically said they're back (they broke up in June) and were playing that night at Cameo. Prior to the break up Wild Yaks were my favorite Brooklyn band to see live so I was pretty excited to hear the news. I spread the word and easily rounded up some folks to head to the show. Turns out I wasn't the only excited about another chance to see Wild Yaks.

As with any party/show/event on N. 6th we started the night at Zablowski's for cheap pre-show drinks. After the gang all arrived and sucked down a few rounds we headed to Cameo. When we walked in I saw Martin, the drummer, in the crowd so I knew we had some time before they would be playing. What I didn't know was the band that was scheduled before them didn't even get started yet.

I headed to the back room anyway and noticed that the attendance list for whoever this band was was super huge. I walked into the performance room and it was insanely packed. I grabbed one of the free CDs on the table before the door on my way in. I pulled it out of my pocket to see who the band was, The Wicked Tomorrow. On first impression the band was as bad as their name but it turns out it was just the first song. After that the girl/guy duo grew on me and by the end I thought they were alright. The jam packed room seemed to dig them a lot more than me though.

I was dipping in and out of the band room and hanging with friends in Loving Cup, it was also the only place to get a beer that night. Eventually the Yaks headed back and started setting up. They looked a little different though. The only familiar faces were Martin on drums and Rob on vocals and
guitar. The other guy on guitar looked familiar and I realized I saw him play at DeVoe Fest (Rob's yearly backyard bash). I reassured my purist friends that the guy could play and had a good voice too. The bass player was also new but I never saw him before.

They kicked off the set and everything seemed a little slower at first. The new guitar player was in no way playing anything familiar. He was adding his on touches to the songs, some of which worked and some of which didn't but might with some practice. Frankly I was super surprised by how tight the first couple of songs sounded. I figured they decided to do this show on a whim, with little to no practice, tight songs was the last thing I expected.

But then it all came crashing down! Rob tried to switch guitars but the back up wasn't in tune. He tried to tune it but it just didn't work out - it never does. They kept playing anyway, the new guy tried to pick up the slack and did a decent job but it was utter chaos. It was awesome! My favorite thing about the Yaks is their ability to run along the edge of the cliff, very fast and very frantic, but never quite go over the edge. It's brilliant. A flawless Wild Yaks show is a Wild Yaks show I want nothing to do with.

That said, aside from the few fuck-ups they sounded really good. The new songs they slipped in were pretty awesome too. About mid-set they played an upbeat rock n' roll song, the name of which I do not know, and it was an instant classic. Of course, they closed with "River May Come" and everyone went apeshit. The whole damn room was singing along as loud as they could. After they finished everyone was chanting for another song but hey, it's hard to beat "River May Come" so they declined and the place cleared out.

The show was awesome and I'm so happy that the Yaks are back in action. Many drunken sing-a-longs await, Brooklyn.