I first saw Virgin live while covering Seattle Weekly’s Reverb Festival for the Seattle Weekly (yup, there was a conflict of interests there) and when I walked out of their set at the Sunset Tavern that night I was left with a familiar feeling I hadn’t felt in quite some while. It was the feeling of being equally amazed, entertained and thoroughly rocked to the core after an awe-inspiring first encounter with a local band.
Well, I tried to capture that feeling with the digital ink that appeared on Reverb the following day and here is what I came up with:
Simply put, Virgin plays baby-making rock ‘n’ roll that’s so full of sex appeal I swear it could’ve got me pregnant if I had the right parts. After an inspired solo that saw the guitarist hop on the bar and proceed to melt faces I moved to the back of the packed Sunset (which was at capacity) where I ran into Brent Amaker. We briefly chatted and then he made his way to the front stating:”I don’t want to miss Virgin because this shit rocks.” There you have it kids, straight from the cowboy’s mouth.
But don’t take Brent Amaker’s word for it (even though he is right), you can check out Virgin yourself Friday night when they play at the Crocodile as part of a bill with Portland’s Love Loungers and Brent Amaker and the Rodeo ($10, 8 p.m.). Added bonus: the show will act as the premiere of the video for the “Man in Charge” remix featuring Tilson.
