Max’s mom Kristen wrote a great blurb as a teaser to the Cathole show at Thee Parkside. “Reclusive San Francisco band, Cathole, makes a rare live appearance at Thee Parkside November 19th at 4 pm. Jonah, Alex & Max will be performing an eclectic set.”
I only get to hear snippets of Jonah practicing so it was mind blowing to see how far the band has progressed since they were named The Optimals.
The set finished off with a rendition of a Rage Against the Machine song that had me almost ready to get up and head for the mosh pit. If I wasn’t recording video, I think things would have gotten rowdy. 

AJ McKinley has been mentor/guide/bandleader/teacher of these guys for as long as they can remember. After all these years of watching him work with the band, I’m still amazed by his ability to bring these developing musicians to the place where they work together with the discipline of a seemingly much older band. They not only play together, but they listen to each other in the moment and make subtle adjustments, again, as an older set of musicians would. It should be no surprise that Cathole is a disciplined, practiced group as AJ is the real deal. He brings many years of actual professional touring band experience to the party. I’m psyched to see his band Battlehooch at the Bottom of the Hill in February.