Friday night I drove down to Champaign-Urbana for the first time in a few years to meet my brother and see the first ever Certain People I Know (CPIK) show and also the Smoking Popes. Coincidentally (or not) I also saw the first Hey Mercedes show back in 2000, and even though it has been now over a dozen years since I first heard/saw Braid in C-U, I’m still such a dorky Bob Nanna fanboy. It’s actually kind of embarrassing. So after drinking some Jim Beam and reminiscing about when we went to school there, we headed to the Union for the show. So CPIK (for those who don’t know) features Bob and Damon (Braid, Hey Mercedes), Jeff (The Bomb, The Story So Far), Matt (This Is Me Smiling), and Lauren. Bob and Lauren split lead vocal duties on the eight songs the band played and musically they bear some resemblance to Hey Mercedes but not exactly. All in all, CPIK was pretty damn amazing even though I don’t have a clue what any of the song titles are. And not that you care, but after the show my brother and I spent the rest of our waking hours drinking Lagunitas brews at the Iron Post. Good times.
What a great show. The videos turned out really good. Thanks for meeting me, and thanks for posting. CPIK is definitely for real.
Awesome! I watched all but two and I really like them. Definitely very Hey Mercedes. I wasn’t sure on the girl’s vocals but I think she has a really pretty voice.
Thanks for taking all of these & putting them up!
Shows a lot of promise if Bob can get his head out of 2002 and into the present. I’m waiting for the over compressed over produced EP to come out on PV…