The Nein, Annuals and Tiger Bear Wolf at Kings

Last night I finally got the chance to see three bands I've heard great things about, and I'm happy to say they all lived up to expectations. Greensboro's Tiger Bear Wolf, Raleigh's buzzband Annuals and The Nein from Chapel Hill all played the second night of the WKNC benefit at Kings. Tiger Bear Wolf is bluesy, intelligent Southern rock, kind of in the same vein as All Night (also from Greensboro). They were probably my favorite band of the evening. Check out their video (below).

Tiger Bear Wolf from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Annuals have been all over the place lately, and they deserve every bit of praise they've gotten. It's amazing to see a band so young be so good and so driven about what they're doing. I think they're destined for massive fame and a very quick rise to the top. I just hope they can keep their heads on straight when their world changes overnight. Here are two clips. Please note that Annuals have a LOT of stuff on stage and the show was packed, so it was difficult to get a clear shot of any of them.

Annuals from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Annuals from Mann's World on Vimeo.

The final band was The Nein, which includes Finn Cohen and Robert Biggers from one of my favorite local bands, The White Octave, and Chuck Johnson from a variety of bands/projects including Spatula. According to their Myspace, Dale Flattum (Steel Pole Bathtub, and the artist behind the "Tooth" paintings)is also in the band, but unless I'm just totally blind, he wasn't on stage with them last night (and, no, I didn't drink any Sparks last night). They were angular and noisy with some Gang of Four elements. My friend Karen said they reminded her of 999, with whom I'm not that familiar. Maybe they called themselves The Nein in homage to 999 (and, yes, I know that "nein" actually means "no"). Regardless, I got two videos -- one only a partial video -- of them. They also happened to be the only band of whom I got some fairly good pictures. See all the photos here.

The Nein from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Another one by The Nein from Mann's World on Vimeo.