Start off this Weekend with The Weakend!

If you grew up on the East Side like me, you probably spent your high school and early college days going to hall shows, basement shows and The Wired Frog. Well, if you are close to my age that is. In the music scene around here there were tons of bands throughout the years. But there were definitely familiar faces that moved throughout those bands. They started out playing under names like Gumshoe 49 and Skalastic Genius. Then they grew up and formed some of the most popular bands in Detroit. I'm proud to say that I grew up with some of the most fun-loving, musically talented guys that stuck to their dreams and created some amazing music.

One of the bands that emerged from this group of people is The Weakend. Ok, maybe they weren't necessarily in those specific bands that I mentioned, but all of the guys in this band have been around since way back then. The Weakend is a group of 6 great guys, Andrew Loehr, James Walmsley, Joe Walmsley, Jeff Supina, Brian Connelly and Mark Smak. The band formed in 2003. All of the current members have played in numerous bands before and after The Weakend. The last time that these guys performed together was back in 2008. Since then, they have grown up, moved all over the place and moved on to other projects. Or so we thought... until the band announced that they will be playing a REUNION SHOW! The show has been in the works for a couple of months now, but it is edging closer and closer. It is this Friday at The Pike Room! To get you ready for the show and to fill you in on the details, I had a chat with James:

Hip In Detroit - It's been quite a few years since The Weakend has been around. You joined forces again a few years ago for Fordirelifesake's Final show, but before that it was a little while since you were together. When was the last time you guys played together? What made you decide that now is the time for a reunion show?
James - "The last show we played was in November of '08. The event was befittingly billed as our "final" show. We co-headlined with Fordirelifesake that night — well, on paper we co-headlined with Fordirelifesake (they were most certainly the greater draw) — as it was their "final" show, too.

Truth be told, following our "final" performance until approximately 3 months ago, I was pretty confident that The Weakend would never play another show again. I mean, Teen Wolf lives in Alabama, I live in Nebraska, Mark's always out hunting ghosts or assuming his "Tape Face" alias, Joe's out there trying to teach the world to be more like Joe, B. — B. is always on the C., and Supina's still breaking down his kit from the '08 show. Not to mention, we can't find our manager, Jeremy Crawford; Joe Lemble, our entire label, was abducted by success; and Mickey McCranor, our everything else, went into exile. And don't get me wrong, we've always joked about reuniting, but we were without the means to take that joke too far…until now. We're playing a show! Get it?"

Hip In Detroit - On top of this being a reunion show, it is also the release of the Tornado Days EP. Are these old recordings, new recordings or a combination?
James - " 'Tornado Days' was recorded in Philadelphia, PA at Big Sky Studio during the months of September and October in 2007. The mixed, mastered version of our efforts was delivered to us the day after our "final" show, more than a year later. How's that for timing? "The Curse of Old Man Perpendicular," we like to call it. Although we've been selling and handing out copies of Tornado Days since, we thought the EP deserved a proper debut. Unless, of course, Perpendicular has other plans."

Hip In Detroit - Sounds like you guys are pretty excited about getting the crowd involved at this show. You are encouraging on stage sing-a-longs and video recordings. Tell us a little more about this.
James - "My 'mates have informed me that the Pike Room stage is too small to host the choral mix of sea dogs and landlubbers I've aspired to collect. But YouTube tells me otherwise! I've seen cinematic depictions of galleys, ones smaller than the Pike Room stage, sailing far more CGI humans than I could ever dream of joining us in song. Either way, my hope is that the whole venue will incant the chilling tale of that first ship, "The Harbinger," to announce the death of our Lord Euphony."

Hip In Detroit - Can we plan on seeing Mr. Supina on stage for any sing-a-longs?
James - "If someone can get Pasadena onstage to sing "The Harbinger" with us, I'll die. What a legend. Otherwise, he'll make his presence known with a freshly shaved head, tinted glasses, his XL black Weakend shirt (the one with the bullets) and a six-shooter to boot."

Hip In Detroit - So you still haven't announced who else is playing this show. Any chance you can give us a hint?
James - "CLYD DRXLR."

Hip In Detroit - Should we plan on seeing more of The Weakend in the future or is this the last time we will hear from you guys?
James - "We will release a full-length album within the next five years, or my name isn't 'James Christopher Walmsley' and your name isn't 'Hip in Detroit'."

Sounds like the guys are pretty excited about this show! Since this interview, The Weakend has announced that one of their special guests is going to be Wilson. So now we are even more excited than we already were! Tickets are still available for the show, but they probably won't be for long. It is only $8 to get in. The band advises that you buy tickets ahead of time because this show will most likely sell out. We have to say, we agree with them! We can't wait to start off another great weekend with another great show! And I definitely can't wait to see a bunch of familiar faces again this Friday!

~C