All Dogs Go To...Oakland: Live At 1234Go! Records

ALL DOGS

1234GO! RECORDS

OAKLAND, CA

09 AUGUST, 2014

When we stop to look back, this space in time will live on in infamy as: "The Week Of No Effing Around". Starting in Orange County, the trail wound up to Big Sur, down to LA, over to Joshua Tree, and now up to the Bay Area. Which is to say, a hyper-compressed version of the year. The timing of the Desert to the Bay run was fortuitous, landing me in Oakland with time to spare Saturday evening to check in on Columbus, Ohio's All Dogs, fresh from an appearance in LA days before.
1234Go! Records is both a shop and a label, keeping things punk in the Bay Area, and well worth a trip over the bridge if you're visiting SF. It only took 10 minutes shopping to make a convert of me. They've recently expanded, and their performance area was, for a record store, well laid out, with a good sound mix. Furious promoters of all ages shows, a quick peek at their impressive event schedule will give you an idea of how they do business.
As part of a four band bill, All Dogs once again occupied the third slot, and the space quickly filled as they set up. Once again, they were the perfect mix of bittersweet personal songs pinned to tunes given to dynamic shifts, every song an emotional rollercoaster, and it was sweet to see people singing every word back at them. Two choice outtakes below sum up the proceedings..."Farm" from Split Tape With Slouch opened with ringing chords, a burst of feedback that didn't faze the band, and when they kicked in, the song took off skywards. Having seen the impact of the live version of "Say" on the audience in LA, I made a point to have my head in the game, and won't waste words on it, simply a must see, and encapsulates all the virtues of the band in one neat little package. Simply, one of my favorite bands at the moment, and recording on a new LP is taking place. Yay! From here, All Dogs crossed the Bay to SF for a show the next night, then wound their way home to the Midwest for a well earned break.