How KEXP Failed the Wighnomy Brothers
By Rolo Tamasi
Recently, I volunteered for the Decibel Festival in Seattle. This was my first year as a volunteer and for me it was a bass blowing four day extravaganza that was literally mental. My responsibility was to pick up artists from the airport and get them to their hotel or whatever pit stops they needed. I shared so many amazing experiences with so many inspiring people it was almost too much to compute. From sharing cigarettes with N-Type to getting Tycho to sign a little airport sign for my roommate. There is just one story that stands out among the rest. That is how KEXP failed the Wighnomy Brothers… In all fairness I do enjoy KEXP from time to time. It's hit or miss mostly. Let me build up the story a tad.
After several trips to SeaTac, I was on my last run of the day to pick up Caspa and MC Rod Azlan. Now I'm not a big fan of dubstep. So I thought it was especially funny that I had to pick up most of the big dubstep artists. To be honest, I had never heard of either of them before this day. At SeaTac, I found them both in the baggage claim and before we even exchanged names Caspa needed a favor, "I need to hit up like a Walmart or Kmart for some cheap clothes." Really? Out of all the great clothing stores America has to offer you, you need Walmart? Is that what we're known for? I was like, "Listen man, we don't really have Walmarts' here in Seattle. I mean there's Target (same evil), but its pretty far away. SeaTac Mall is like right..." Cutting me off he says, "I'm not looking to spend a lot of cash. Target will work great if you don't mind…" I got the vibe I was just a "driver" to him. Rod on the other hand was a great fellow. We had a great conversation while waiting outside of Target about where drum and bass went. Rod then informs me that he is in need of the finer smoke. Being the gentlemen I am, I offered to help. It was that act of kindness that would later put me back in front of the hotel to meet the Wighnomy Brothers. Sometimes being a stoner has its perks.
After getting them to their hotel, I got a call from the boss saying they needed someone to pick up Holger Zilske aka Smash TV. How could I refuse, right? (I have to add that Holger was the most inspiring person I met during the Festival. Amazing musician and producer. It was an awesome detour). A second act of kindness that put me in front of the hotel to meet the Wighnomy Brothers. After getting Holger to the hotel, I raced to score that bag of fun for the MC.
Mission accomplished, the package was acquired and I even scored a parking spot right next to the hotel. After the back alley deal was made. I was walking back to my car when there in front of the hotel was Holger sitting with the Wighnomy Brothers. As I walked by I told Holger how nice it was to meet him. He then invited me to have a cigarette with him. Earlier in the day when I had dropped Holger at the hotel, I overheard the hotel clerk informing him of his sound check at 9:30pm. My acute attention to detail came in handy after I then noticed that it was close to 10:00pm. Both Holger and the Wighnomy Brothers had 9:30pm sound checks. I made a quick call to check on their driver's status and said, "I don't know where your ride is but I can get you guys to the venue." I pretty much had my car in front of the hotel before they could answer. It was unbelievable, the seriously huge vinyl crates of the Wighnomy Brothers were in my trunk. The bros themselves in my car. My only regret was that I had no music in my car, just the radio. So I flicked the dial to 90.3 and was bumping "Shake the Shack". They were into it.
The radio DJ came in and started listing off all the shows that were going down in the greater Seattle area for the night. I noticed right away that it was not Leon Berman but someone filling in for him. After 5 minutes or so the guest DJ finally gets to Neumos, where the Brothers were playing that night and proceeds to mention off the lineup for the night. "...Lowrez...Noah Pred...Rob Hood...Alex Under... and ah," then stops for a moment and says, "You're listening to 90.3 KEXP. Where the music matters..." Laughter ensues. I can only imagine what this guy would think if he knew the very DJ duo he failed to mention, practically headlining Decibel Festival, was tuning in. He probably would have thought, "Wow, I totally failed…"
Minutes later I delivered The Brothers to Neumos. There they killed the dance floor proper.
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