Freelance Whales Geek Out Over Pavement's Sasquatch! Set

When Freelance Whales and Cymbals Eat Guitars were out on tour together this past spring, they looked ahead to Sasquatch!, realizing that they would share a bill with Pavement -- and therefore finally have a chance to see them.

"The lead guitarist and singer of Cymbals, Joe [D'Agostino], is a really big Pavement fanatic," Freelance Whales' frontman Judah Dadone tells Spinner. "It was fun to watch the show with him. He was absolutely freaking out. It's funny, because he's one of the only, in my opinion, young possible 'guitar gods' out there right now, so it was just really cool hanging out with him, watching him do air guitar to Stephen Malkmus."

Pavement's set got off to a bit of a rough start but Dadone's bandmate Chuck Criss thought this was exactly as it should be. "It was sloppy in all the right ways," he said. "A classic Pavement show."

Dadone also liked the way they dealt with the early problems openly, including Malkmus' comment, "pretend like you're in Spain and it's really fun and you're really drunk."

"That's one of the funniest things I've ever heard anyone say onstage," Dadone said. "I mean, that's kind of a very dodgy thing to say in front of an audience of people! But a band like that, when they're having issues onstage and conflict and tensions, it's actually really generous when they let you feel or see that tension. They could just internalize it and like, argue after the show, but they're so un-self conscious, and I love that. They don't hold back."