Brett Callwood
Hand Drawn Maps Men Discuss Their Favorite Gigs: Stewart Crichton and Blake Baldwin of L.A. indie band Hand Drawn Maps told us about their Death Cab for Cutie and Between the Buried and Me experiences…
Stewart Crichton: The best concert I ever saw was a massive set by Death Cab for Cutie at the Hollywood Bowl in July 2015. The bowl is a magical place to see a concert anytime, especially when you see a band filled with such personal nostalgia. Mikel Cronin and Tuneyards absolutely crushed it as the opening acts and really set energy for the rest of the night. As a songwriter, I have always been really inspired by Ben Gibbard; I feel like his energy and the incredible imagery he uses are completely unmatched by anyone else, and often imitated. They played so many songs but I specifically remember all of us going nuts after they played “Crooked Teeth” and they immediately dropped the energy down into a solo acoustic version of “I Will Follow You Into The Dark.” The band had full control of the energy of the evening and we were right there with them. I was really moved by their performance and it is no surprise why they’re indie rock legends.
Blake Baldwin: I have seen so many amazing concerts over the years and I’m tempted to mention my first Warped Tour back when I was 15 or when I saw Khruangbin in November of 2019, but I missed a flight for a show back in 2007 and I will never forget that. I love a wide variety of music and for a while I was really into progressive metal so the show I keep thinking about is Between the Buried and Me at the Showcase Theatre (RIP). They had just come out with their album Colors, which is this crazy 60 minute through-composed multi-genre prog metal album, and my friends and I were going to see them on their tour for the record. When they got on stage, the tension in the room was palpable. Colors was such a monster record and I think everyone was just excited to see what the band was going to do. They started off with the first song from the new record and just kept going. It was blowing everyone’s mind. No breaks. No stopping. They played the whole thing from top to bottom and I just could NOT leave! I kept looking at my phone like okay, I can make it to LAX in 45 minutes if I leave at this time… yeah right. There was no way I was missing that performance. I ran to my car the second it was over and drove as fast as possible to the airport, breaking every traffic law in the process, and still missed my flight. Totally worth it.
Hand Drawn Maps Men Discuss Their Favorite Gigs: Hand Drawn Maps’ new single “Catch a Wave” is out now.
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