At The Spine and The Beautiful Sunsets with The My My Hey Heys and live karaoke from U Rock

At The Spine

At the Spine is a high energy rock/punk rock/indie rock band from Seattle, WA. The demo for the first album, The Curriculum is Never Neutral, was recorded at 151st & Broadway in NYC in 2001. Work on the actual album began in Seattle in the summer in the summer of 2002 and earlier experimentations with the band stretch back to as far as 1992 in Portland, OR.

At the Spine loves and lives to play live music. We believe in the power of music. We try to make great music and put on sincere and energetic live shows. We also try to do what we can to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable planet.

We write about what we have experienced and seen in the world. Sometimes it is about politics, and sometimes it is about relationships. Sometimes we are raging against something, like war or imperialism, and sometimes we are celebrating something in solidarity with the masses of the world. Sometimes we cry tears of sorrow and sometimes tears of joy.

We have played hundreds of shows across the U.S. and a bit in the E.U. since 2002 and released four critically acclaimed albums.

2003 The Curriculum is Never Neutral
2005 First Day of Spring
2006 Sonic Resistance
2008 Vita

Music has inspired us, moved us, and kept us alive though the good and the bad times, so we are doing our best to return the favor to all those that have come before us, and all those that will come after us. Your support is greatly appreciated.

The Beautiful Sunsets

The My My Hey Heys

The word's most exciting Crazy Horse era Neil Young tribute band.

Interview with Hannah Levin (Seattle Weekly)

Local musician and At the Spine leader Mike Toschi is whip-smart, sweet as pie, and blessedly free of cliché when it comes to describing his love for Neil Young and the motivations behind tonight’s Young tribute night.

Do you have any distinct memories of when you were first exposed to his work and why it moved you?

My first first exposure to Neil Young was via my father listening to Crosby Stills, Nash, and Young on vinyl. My father loved the vocal harmonies of CSNY, and The My My Hey Heys will be bringing in a bit of that tonight on “Ohio”, “Southern Man”, etc. My dad also had After the Gold Rush on vinyl, which is a great album. I think Neil’s music moves me because he is not afraid to say and do what he wants, the same way Fugazi, or any other great artist isn’t afraid to be who they are and to take tough stands on things, like the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He has made some brilliant music, and some awful music, but he seems to have been true to himself, and I think that can be rare at his level of success. I remember reading in, The Mansion on the Hill: Dylan, Young, Geffen, Springsteen, and the Head-on Collision of Rock and Commerce, that Neil Young got sued by David Geffen. Geffen begged Young to sign with his label, promising him the artistic freedom he could not get at other labels, and when Young turned in albums that Geffen didn’t like, he sued him for making “un-Neil Young like” albums. I find this to be a very telling moment both about Neil Young as an artist and the crass commercialization of rock and roll.

Why do you think his material is well-suited to a cover night? Not all great artists make great cover night topics.

Neil has such a wide and wild range of stuff. On one side you have the noise scape of Arc Weld, on another side the 1982 electronic Trans, and then the tenderness of songs like “The Needle and the Damage Done”, and rockers like “Hey Hey, My My”, which is inspired by Mark Mothersbaugh /Devo, references Johnny Rotten and the Vietnam War, and gets quoted by Cobain in his suicide note. If that song doesn’t summarize life, I’m not sure what does.