Recap: Tacocat & Sallie Ford @ Neumos
Tacocat & Salle Ford Live @ Neumos
December 2015
Words and photos by Tori Dickson
Tacocat and Sallie Ford co-headlined the last night of their tour December 13 at Neumos and it was an honor to welcome back one of our own (Tacocat). Ford and her band, the Sound Outside, are close though, hailing from our sister city, Portland.
The stage was decked out in Christmas decor with glowing Santas and sparkly trees, all of which we soon found out Tacocat had brought from home… an extra special treat just for Seattle.
Ford played first. I had yet to see her live and had always struggled to figure out how to describe her sound, but while she was on stage with her horn rimmed glasses and wild mane of hair I figured it out: she’s the prefect combination of Buddy Holly and Janis Joplin. It’s not just her appearance that channels those two legends, though. She has fun and simple chord progressions mixed with screaming psychedelic riffs and keyboards. And she performs with a badass, “don’t-mess-with-me” vibe to make it all her own.
The Sound Outside not only rocked while showing off their dance moves, but taught us some of them as well. They also cracked jokes and occasionally switched instruments. It was a fantastic performance.
Like most Seattleites, I’ve seen Tacocat so many times I’ve lost count. But I’m not over them yet. Not even close. This time they brought a ton of new songs, all keeping with their recurring lyrical themes of “Seattle,” “PMS” and “getting high” and each delivered with their simple punk sound.
One endearing thing about Tacocat is that they clearly love what they do and have a ton of fun doing it together. Lead singer Emily Nokes dances around stage with her tambourine. Band members crack jokes with each other, tell drummer Lelah Maupin she’s on probation for making mistakes, and share funny anecdotes of past shows… all while rocking hard and looking good doing it. They never fail to bring their best, most quirky fashion on stage with them either. This time they sported of green and red and sparkles to match their Christmas decor.
Here are some shots from the show.
Check out more of Tori’s photos from this show on our Flickr page.