Pilot Speed Is Too Good to Be An Opening Band

OK, why didn't anybody tell us about Pilot Speed? We showed up early to last night's Annuals show and while they were good and everything we hoped they would be, upon leaving we were talking about the openers and not the band that motivated our attendance. Even our companion (another head of the Seattlest hydra) was in the dark. Well, here's your tutorial.

Pilot Speed hail from Toronto and have actually been around since 1999, but until mid-2006 were known by the name Pilate. They'd gained all sort of awards and accolades for their first two albums, but decided to change their name to avoid legal issues. Based on last night's performance it's not hard to see how they gained such praise.

At first we wanted to write them off as Just Another Opener, but after a couple of songs things really got going. The sound at times felt overly familiar (oh, this sounds like Snow Patrol, that sounds like The Stills), but it wasn't familiar to the point of boredom. The lead guitarist exhibited a healthy mix of skill and showmanship, and the rest of the band looked incredibly put-together. In all it was an incredibly solid, enjoyable performance, and if we had to guess, once the KEXP set catches wind of them this band is poised to blow up. Their latest album (actually a re-release) is Into the West on Wind-Up Records if you want to jump on the hype train early.

Sample songs on their Myspace.