Heligoats untitled new song Live at Indie Coffee Madison, WI Jan 18, 2006

I had two last chances to see Troubled Hubble and I didn't take either one. They announced their break-up just a couple days after the second of the two, which has bothered me ever since (ever since meaning for the last six months). After their split, frontman Chris Otepka went out on a few mini-tours with his solo-ish side-project, Heligoats, one of which stopped at a tiny coffee shop on Regent St.

The place was packed -- we were lucky to get actual seats and even luckier to wind up right at the front of the crowd. Chris and his tourmate Jason Anderson had only one piece of equipment between them: an acoustic guitar that looked like they'd just pulled it off the shelf at ShopKo. I wasn't very familiar with Chris' Heligoats material before the show, but I bought both CD's he had available (Emily bought a shirt, and he only wanted $15 for the whole mess of it); this song isn't on either of them, or on the out-of-print Manitoba, so I assume it's from his upcoming full-length. Considering the glee with which he played his six-song set, I can't wait to hear what that record sounds like.