Category: show reviews

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Benjamin Riley Band/Cassie Morgan and the Lonely Pine/Patrick Sweany at Off Broadway, St. Louis, MO, 2.10.11

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To continue Patrick Sweany Month here at NTSIB, we are pleased to have a guest review of Patrick’s recent CD release show in St. Louis by our friend Nate Burrell, along with some wonderful photos by Nate and another talented photographer, Kate McDaniel.

On a cold and icy Thursday evening in south city St. Louis, music fans braved the elements to go out and see an absolutely stellar 3-band bill at Off Broadway – our city’s premier music venue. With the stage lights beaming down, headliner, Nashville-based rhythm and soul rock-n-roller, Patrick Sweany grabbed his pale green guitar, stepped to the mic and shouted out “All right, St. Louis, how ya doin’?” and immediately started into a hot set that melted the stage and unthawed the ears of anyone unfamiliar with his signature sound. Backed by an extremely tight bassist and a drummer with metronome like precision, Sweany burned through a few numbers from early in his catalogue before unleashing live versions of tracks from his recently released 5th album That Old Southern Drag. Showcasing his commanding guitar work and his beautifully raspy, soul-filled voice, Patrick stomped, shredded, and howled out tune after tune for 75+ minutes, leaving the crowd wanting more. With an applause that could be heard three blocks down, Sweany played one last song before stepping off of the stage and into the masses, where he began handshaking, talking eye-to-eye with every approaching fan, and thanking the out-of-town crowd that he had just won over.

Opening the evening and warming up the stage were St. Louis-based indie folk darlings Cassie Morgan and the Lonely Pine. Morgan, whose song craft is as brilliant as anyone in the industry today, and her band mate, the endlessly talented Beth Bombara, played a delightfully beautiful set of original tunes that held the room at a captivated stand-still. With songs formed around Morgan’s eerily delicate vocals and outstanding use of space in her guitar playing, while Bombara sang in deliciously on-point harmony as she laid down layer after layer of percussive accompaniments, these two multi-instrumentalists were able to let their uniquely organic sound breathe a melodic breath, that was warmly welcomed by their appreciative hometown crowd.

Rounding out the evening was the ever-energetic Benjamin Riley. With a five-piece band backing him, Riley took control of the center stage and absolutely let loose. Belting out a series of upbeat songs, Benjamin let his gritty soul-soaked vocals do the rolling, while he and his band did the rocking. At one point, Riley and bassist Kit Hamon were so into the moment that they were literally stomping and playing in unison – completely awesome to see. Just as they did for the Sweany, Morgan and Bombara, the crowd showed their appreciation and respect to this up-and-coming St. Louis band.

Three bands. Lots of people. One kick-ass venue. All coming together for an excellent night of live music.

St Louis music photographers Nate Burrell and Kate McDaniel were in the front row capturing it all as it went down. See the show as they saw it – both in black & white and color. And when you are done with the visual stimulation, go get the sounds of each band at their website. You’re sure to be a fan when it’s all said and done. Rock on!

Links:
Bands
www.patricksweany.com
www.cassiemorgan.com
www.benjaminrileymusic.com

Photographers
www.flickr.com/natebnate or www.beforetheblink.com
www.flickr.com/kate_pequeno

Who Kate and Nate often shoot for:
www.kdhx.org

Venue:
www.offbroadwaystl.com

Label:
www.ninemilerecords.com

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Panic! at the Disco / Walk the Moon

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This week, Jennifer reconnects with one of her favorites and discovers a new Ohio band.

Last Tuesday, Panic! at the Disco played their first U.S. show in almost two years. It was an amazing evening, but before I tell you about it, I’d like to introduce the opening band, Cincinnati, OH natives Walk the Moon:

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I am not quite sure what the facepaint has to do with anything, but: they have hot funk grooves powered by two drummers – one whom is also the lead singer – and in addition said lead singer is in possession of a killer disco falsetto. They immediately engaged and kept the attention of a restless crowd, and the reason I took so few pictures of them was because I was busy dancing. I’d also totally go and see them at their own show in the future. You can listen to them on bandcamp and also they will be at SXSW. If you’re going down there check them out, you will not be disappointed.

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Spencer Smith and Brendon Urie

But now, onwards to the main event, with some brief background: In July 2009, Panic! at the Disco split in half. Ryan Ross (guitars, lyrics) and Jon Walker (bass) became The Young Veins, while Brendon Urie (vocals, guitar, piano) and Spencer Smith (drums) continued as Panic! at the Disco. Following a short tour with Fall Out Boy and Blink-182 in the summer of 2009, Panic! have been largely incommunicado while working on their next record.

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Ian Crawford

On Tuesday night, Urie and Smith were joined by traveling members Ian Crawford (Stamps, The Cab) on guitar and Dallon Weekes (The Brobecks) on bass, and from what I saw, the time away has had a rejuvenating effect. The dance party started as soon as they played the first notes of The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage – their early song titles are kind of ridiculous – but ridiculous titles or not, the old songs sounded new and the new songs fit in with them seamlessly. And by “old” songs I mean Fever era tunes. A few tracks from the more recent Pretty. Odd. were in the set, but they were beefed up to fit with Panic!’s current modern pop sound, which MTV’s James Montgomery has dubbed “baroquetronica.” Whatever you want to call it, Panic! at the Disco’s sonic Summer of Love has pretty clearly come to an end.

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L to R: Ian Crawford, Spencer Smith, Brendon Urie, Dallon Weekes

Vices & Virtues is out on March 29, and, seriously, Happy (Belated) Birthday to ME. I am SO EXCITED for this record, y’all, I can’t even tell you. I’m predicting it will be delicious and they’ll have us dancing all summer. I’m especially keen to hear the studio of version of Let’s Kill Tonight, which as best I could tell was a “you do what you want, we’re going to party” song with a headbanging beat and complicated string section accents.

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Dallon Weekes

Panic! has a tradition of playing one cover per tour: in 2006, during the Nothing Rhymes with Circus for their first record, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, it was were Radiohead’s Karma Police; when they went on the Honda Civic Tour in 2008 in support of second record Pretty. Odd. it was The Band’s The Weight ; during Rock Band Live, also in 2008, it was The Isley Brothers’ Shout and lastly in 2009 for the Believers Never Die tour with Blink-182 and FOB it was Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’.

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Brendon Urie

For this show – and I am hoping for the next tour – it was Science Fiction/Double Feature, from Rocky Horror Picture Show, with just Brendon Urie’s voice and the keyboard. It was a beautiful, unfussy valentine to campy ridiculousness, science fiction geekery and musicals all wrapped up into one song. You may, possibly, at this point, be unsurprised to learn that I put it on almost all of my mix-tapes, back when I made mix-tapes, and that it is my favorite song from that movie. Hearing it again, and so unexpectedly, was both a highlight of the evening and the moment that I fell in love with Panic! at the Disco all over again. In conclusion: that was great, and I can’t wait to see them again.

— Jennifer

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Iron and Wine with Edie Brickell

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This week, Jennifer visits with a couple of old friends, watches Sam Beam rock out (and get Dylan’d for his trouble) and has some choice words for the monkeys at the circus.

Occasionally my adventures in modern music appreciation feel a bit like being at a big party with a lot of pleasant strangers, where I’m half wandering between intriguing conversations and half hiding behind a potted palm with a cocktail thinking Who are these people and what is going on here? And then the crowd parts and a familiar but rarely-seen face appears, and I feel a surge of relief and affection and want to stop and chat and see what they’ve been up to all this time.

One of these moments occurred last Saturday night, when Edie Brickell & friends (including Charlie Sexton!) took the stage at Radio City Music Hall:

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In case you are now squinting your screen thinking Edie who?: she had a big hit with What I Am in 1988, and then in 1992 married Paul Simon (MTV nation emitted a collective WHAT? at the time) and essentially fell out of pop-cultural memory. She did not, however, stop making music, and now it looks like she’s come back with a new band The Gaddabouts . Also I am pleased to tell you that her voice is as clear and sweet and true as ever, and she sounds comfortable – settled in herself – and best of all, like she is having the most possible fun she could be having on stage. If you’d like to hear more, she’ll be on WFUV this coming Friday night, along with Iron & Wine.

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Iron & Wine were also next up at Radio City. If you haven’t heard of them before, they normally specialize in somewhat mellow folk. Their average tempo is somewhere between gentle swaying and spinny hippie dancing. I say “normally” because that is what they did for the first half of their set: glided pleasantly through tunes like He Lays in the Reins, from In the Reins the album they made with Calexico, and Naked as We Came from Our Endless Numbered Days.

Then the horn section and the drummer came out –

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– Sam Beam plugged his guitar in and SHAZZAMO! Iron & Wine became a rock band and proceeded to stomp through Lion’s Mane like roadhouse veterans and give House By the Sea some jazzy calypso swing. The songs that followed were similarly rearranged and reimagined, and I have never before been as simultaneously baffled and pleased at a show. Though I do have to say it was the kind of reinvention that rewards people who pay attention to lyrics, because there was really no other musical cues to go by to figure out which song they were playing.

While I felt the evening was a success, musically, some of my fellow audience members were less excited. Several people left and one person yelled Judas! at him (Sam Beam: “But Judas was Jesus’ favorite!”) But really the biggest irritant of the night were the people hollering out requests. Ladies. Gentlemen. You are at Radio City Music Hall. The person on the stage 1) can’t hear you and 2) isn’t a jukebox and also 3) please can we all at least pretend to be adults who know how to behave? And really, where-ever you are, unless the artist actually says, “So, what do you all want to hear today?” be quiet and let the artist work whatever magic they feel like working.

— Jennifer

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: The Beatles Complete on the Ukulele

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The Beatles catalogue gets refreshed on… the ukulele? It’s true! And Jennifer was there to experience it.

The Beatles Complete on the Ukulele 2011, producer Roger Greenawalt’s annual weekend-long celebration of the Beatles’ entire catalog / fundraiser – this year’s recipient is Mark Zuckerberg – took place this past Saturday and Sunday at the Brooklyn Bowl.

This actually marks the second concert I have attended in a bowling alley. The first a all-star Cure cover-band (The Love Cats) at Asbury Lanes, and, well, I love all aspects of Asbury Park, Asbury Lanes included, but in terms of style, Brooklyn Bowl is a cut above. It is, in fact, possibly the fanciest bowling alley I have ever attended. Also, the food is delicious.

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The “Uke Mob”, performing Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?


The first two songs of the evening were performed by a “Uke Mob” made up of enthusiastic amateurs. After that, a wide variety of bands took the stage to celebrate the Beatles, and were accompanied by Greenawalt on the ukulele. The following are some of my favorite moments:

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The Zambonis, their mascot, and Greenawalt

I promise I am not making this up: The Zambonis are normally dedicated solely to songs celebrating hockey. I took this particular picture when their mascot, Sir Hockey Monkey, joined them on stage for a rousing rendition of Everybody’s Got Something To Hide But Me And My Monkey.

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The Wild ConFabulations singing When I’m 64 through a traffic cone.

In addition to inventive appropriation of non-musical objects, the Wild ConFabulations gave the proceedings some swing. And some tap; for their songs, percussion was provided by the shoes of Lorinne Lampert, the talented lady on the far right.

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A.L.X. of Love Crushed Velvet and Greenawalt, powering through Back in the U.S.S.R.

A.L.X. made an interesting point when introducing the song: the USSR as a concept is starting to fade from pop-cultural (if not historical) memory. The song is as catchy as ever, though. (By which I mean: the chorus is still stuck in my head.)

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Nat Wolff (left) and friends, making Here Comes the Sun bearable.


All I am going to say is that I once had an alarm clock that played cheesy synthed-out version of Here Comes the Sun; I still kind of want to throw something across the room when I hear it. The Wolff brothers and friends performed a far superior interpretation of the tune.

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Starting the Magical Mystery Tour with The Jingle Punks


Intriguing discovery: the Jingle Punks are both a band and a music licensing company! If you are a musician and want to get your work on tv or in movies, etc, you probably want to check them out.

— Jennifer

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Crazy and the Brains/The Due Diligence/Shivering Timbers at Now That’s Class, Cleveland, OH, 1.13.11

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Crazy and the Brains

Imagine: You’re in a chilly punk bar, the kind with band stickers all over the walls, along with a little graffiti, and bike quarter pipes along the back of the room. There’s four-piece punk band on stage whose line-up includes xylophone. The band starts up, and a crowd comes dancing in, some of whom look like they were shipped in from the suburbs. There is a conga line at one point.

This was my cognitive dissonance-inducing introduction to not only Now That’s Class (a nice little venue with good acoustics and a laid-back vibe – easy to see why they received more than one nod in Scene’s most recent “best of” round-up), but also Crazy and the Brains. The audience, who had apparently been priming themselves at the bar for a while, was ready to dance, and CatB supplied just the right soundtrack with their bright, high-energy punk rock. While their originals, like “Birthday Song” and “Saturday Night Live”, were well-received, the most popular song of their set was a scream-along cover of “I Want Candy”.

Here’s video of “Birthday Song”. Gotta say, the xylophone really works.

 

 

The Due Diligence

Regular readers know I’ve been enjoying the music of the Due Diligence (i.e. Isaac Gillespie) for a while now, so I was excited for the opportunity to see the New York-based artist live. Gillespie set the tone by kicking off with a ragged tribute to Sly and the Family Stone in the form of a cover of “Family Affair”. Going from a quiet figure (with an impressive beard) to a stomping, howling demon in seconds, Gillespie seems to be less playing and singing the songs than he is pulling them out of his chest, strand by gut-drenched strand.

While the touring version of the Due Diligence is much stripped-down from the album line-up, the song arrangements lend themselves easily to a simple guitar-and-drums set-up, especially when amped up by Gillespie’s flip-a-switch energy. Including originals like “I Will Wreck Your Life” and “Uncle Stephen” and covers like the aforementioned “Family Affair” and Steve Miller’s “Keep On Rockin’ Me, Baby”, the Due Diligence set covered extremes from slow and sultry to a screaming wall of sound.

 

I Will Wreck Your Life • Cleveland, OH from the Due Diligence on Vimeo.

 

Shivering Timbers

“This is a nursery rhyme,” Sarah Benn almost seemed to be warning the audience, with finger pointed, at the beginning of Shivering Timbers’ set. Sarah and husband Jayson traffic in nursery rhymes, littering their album We All Started in the Same Place with jazzy arrangements of the childhood rhymes along with songs inspired by their daughter. But Shivering Timbers’ music is not strictly for the babies. With Sarah’s slinky upright bass and Jayson’s bluesy guitar – along with drums and appearances by banjo, toy piano and toy hand bells – stories like that of the crooked man who walked a crooked mile sound like they were birthed in a smoky club instead of at cribside.

While Dan Auerbach – who produced Shivering Timbers’ album – is known for his ability to capture a honest, live sound, the Benns should be seen in concert to appreciate the range of their talents, such as Sarah’s powerful voice and Jayson’s skilled guitar work. Not to mention the fact that they are charming as all hell, Sarah projecting a warm and friendly presence while Jayson, with a grin, thanked the crowd for “being drunk enough” at one point. And the way the Benns look at each other while playing is enough to make a seasoned cynic melt a little.

The dance-hungry crowd – who were obviously familiar with the band, requesting “Baby Don’t” and sending up a pathetic whine when they thought they might have to go the night through without hearing “Little Bird” – was given enough ammunition to keep them happy with the likes of the rock-out endings to “Little Bird” and “Evening Prayer”.

 

 

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Soft Speaker/HotChCha/mr. Gnome at the Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH, 12.18.1010

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Somewhere between home and the Beachland, I managed to lose one of my camera batteries, but I did manage to attain a concert-going companion (NTSIB friend Joy) with a camera phone. We didn’t get any shots of Soft Speaker, but we do have some fittingly atmospheric pictures of HotChaCha and mr. Gnome.

Soft Speaker

This Chicago quartet, whom my brain persisted in thinking of as the Red Guitar Brigade due to the color of all their string instruments, weaves in and out of styles, sometimes moving from a more funked-up groove to treble-heavy indie rock within the same song. And it may just be my background playing up things that weren’t there, but it seemed at times that the vocals and lyrics were influenced by a dusting of late-’90s goth. While it is easy to hear how a track like “I Stand To Lose My Fortune, Easy” can grow quickly on the listener, Soft Speaker’s encompassing style is perhaps too much for a first-time listener to process at a live show, and they never seemed to spark with the audience.

HotChaCha

HotChaCha are swiftly becoming an NTSIB favorite, bolstered heavily by their energetic live shows. As most live reviews of the band will mention, much of this is thanks to frontwoman Jovana Batkovic and her complete lack of inhibition or pretension. She will engage the audience, whether they like it or not – and they usually end up liking it. Especially the men who gather up around the front of the stage, eagerly anticipating Batkovic’s eventual leap into the audience to dance through the crowd, sliding up against various audience members as she goes. In an era when most live performances will consist of a group of shy hipsters standing still behind their mics, not making much eye contact with the crowd, Batkovic definitely stands out as she lets the music take her, using her mic and/or mic stand as a phallus, crawling between the legs of her bandmates, making eye contact with any and everyone and folding herself backwards on the stage.

But it is Mandy Aramouni, Heather Gmucs and Roseanna Safos who perform the massive springboard from which Batkovic launches. Aramouni’s atmospheric guitar and keys are never in danger of becoming lighter-than-air partially thanks to the heavily solid low end held down by Gmucs and Safos. And while most eyes tend to be on Batkovic, the rest of the band is giving their all, Aramouni rocking and headbanging, Gmucs prowling across the stage and Safos propelling everything with her power hitting.

At one point Saturday night, Batkovic asked the crowd, “Who wants to dance?” She then proceeded to pull about ten audience members on stage – including Joy – for a dance party, which she soon left for the floor to let the stage dancers take the spotlight while she took a rest from being the center of attention. Audiences will often reflect the attitude of the band they’re seeing, and while those shy indie hipsters have shy hipster audiences, HotChaCha’s audience is one of the smilingest crowds you’ll see.

mr. Gnome

I suppose it is a common cry among fans and bloggers who concentrate on independently-produced music, but every time I listen to mr. Gnome, I ask, “Why isn’t this band huge yet?” Finally seeing them perform live (after having failed to make it happen three times previous), this question has only grown louder in my mind.

Nicole Barille and Sam Meister eased the crowd into things with the soothing, pretty “Titor” before plunging directly into the bounce beat of “Plastic Shadow” (one of my favorites). When listening to mr. Gnome recordings, I’m usually too caught up in the atmosphere, the feeling of their songs to notice the skill involved. That probably sounds counterintuitive to some of you, but I always latch onto emotion in music before I get around to pesky things like skill or even lyrics. Being able to see Barille and Meister work their instruments Saturday night brought my levels of respect for them from merely high to through-the-roof. While Meister is a power hitter of epic proportions, he’s also precise and complex, his syncopations and fills far beyond the skill of most rock drummers.

Most press on Barille focuses on her voice as she plays between low roars, tenor howls and pixie trills, but her guitar work is more than just a backdrop to her vocals. Barille moves easily between the heavy power chords and experimental atmospherics you would expect when listening to mr. Gnome’s music, but she’s also capable of intricate fretwork, which she displayed on a brutal “Deliver this Creature”. Oh, and she also belts out the vocals like a hellion live.

The playlist for the night concentrated on Deliver this Creature and Heave Yer Skeleton material, ending with “Three Red Birds” from the recent Tastes Like Magic EP. They also broke out a couple of new babies from their forthcoming album, which land on the more head-banging end of the Gnome spectrum. Check out this footage from the omnipresent kingofthecastle7 of their new song “Manbat”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzNHGgpKX1c?fs=1]

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: My Chemical Romance

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Yeah, you read that right. I’ll just say this is completely Jennifer’s thing and leave it at that.

The first time I saw My Chemical Romance was at Madison Square Garden, for the last show of their last tour. It was the first time I had ever been on the floor for a stadium show, and I remember at one point I turned to my sister and said Oh my god, we are really here and this is really happening.

On Friday night I had that same brief stunned moment of holy crap, this is not a dream about halfway through the evening, when Dr. Death Defying (aka Steve Righ?, or Steven Montano, of Mindless Self Indulgence) walked out onto the stage at Roseland and started doing the intro to Na Na Na. I was three rows back from the barrier, jammed up in the epicenter of the soon to be screaming, pogoing children, and I could feel the energy building in the crowd as they joined in, a little breathless but growing stronger with each word. Then Gerard Way walked out into the lights and the whole place went berserk.

It was an amazing show, y’all. They did a fairly even mix of their older work and songs from Danger Days, which is the new record, though my heart particularly lifted when they kicked into I’m Not Okay because I will love that song always and forever. Pulling out other highlights is kind of impossible, because it was like we all came home, and they were there waiting for us so we could sing and dance together, clapping and stomping and howling over the dueling guitars. Even I, decrepit as I am, joined in the pogoing for Planetary (GO!) and Desolation Row. Afterwards I walked out sweaty and sore and excited to do it all over again in April and May when they come back on a proper tour.

Anyway, taking pictures during all of this was . . . a challenge. A lot of them are, as I like to say, “atmospheric”, by which I mean, you’ll get more of an idea of the lights and smoke and color than their actual faces. But I did get a few good ones. The following are a selection of my favorite images:

Gerard Way, during “Cancer”, and probably my favorite shot of the evening:

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Gerard Way again, during the encore; “It’s fake fur!” he informed us, after putting it on. Also, it is really difficult to take a performance picture of Gerard Way in which he is not striking a campy pose.

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My other favorite from the evening is Mikey Way and his sparkly bass:

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I was on the other side of the stage from Frank Iero, and lost amid a sea of arms, so I didn’t get very many good pictures. I honestly couldn’t see him half the time. But this one I like:

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And finally Ray Toro, who wins the “this picture is totally blown out, but I kind of love it anyway” prize this week:

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And in conclusion, one of the Way brothers that I just like for the appropriately post-apocalyptic atmosphere:

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Other notes: The first opening band was the radio station “house band,” and they were so boring and awful I would have preferred to listen to twenty minutes of Creed. Scott Stapp may be a bombastic disaster but at least he isn’t dull. The second band was The Gaslight Anthem, who have recently released their third record, and are much better now that they’ve stopped shoehorning Springsteen references into all of their lyrics.

— Jennifer

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Eddie Kirkland/The Alarm Clocks/The Gories at the Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH, 11.27.10

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This past Saturday night at the Beachland (a busy day for the venue on all fronts with four different events taking place) felt more like a package tour out of the 1950s than your regular a-headliner-and-two-openers show. The mirror ball was spinning, and New York DJ Mr. Fine Wine (check out his WFMU Friday night show Soulville) painted the scene with groovin’ chunks of early soul between sets.

Eddie Kirkland

Kirkland’s name might be a little obscure, but his history should make even the most casual music fan pay attention. Aside from his own modest hit “The Hawg” (released on Stax/Volt in 1963 under the name Eddie Kirk), Kirkland played second guitar for John Lee Hooker on a number of recordings throughout the ’50s and toured in Otis Redding’s live band for a while in the early ’60s.

After spending most of his pre-show time sitting behind his amp, waiting for his backing band (second guitar, bass guitar, drums and keys) to arrive, Kirkland suffered a little from a hurried soundcheck (this apparently stemming from the fact that the ballroom was occupied all day by Genghis Con). However, once he got going, he gathered an appreciative crowd from the still-sparse patronage of the ballroom. Kirkland specializes in a mix of electric dance blues and soul – the kind of music the encompassing term “rhythm and blues” was first invented to cover. On some songs, you could practically hear a horn section, and it was hard not to imagine the kind of show Kirkland could put on if he had the full band his music deserves. Building up steam throughout his set, it felt like Kirkland had really just hit his peak when his time was over, and the 87-year-old “Gypsy of the Blues” with the jewel-bedecked guitar exited the stage to the cheers of a now switched-on audience.

The Alarm Clocks

Formed in Parma, Ohio, in 1965, the Alarm Clocks took a long time off when guitarist Bruce Boehm was drafted into the army in 1967. Their music resurfaced in 1983 when their songs “Yeah” and “No Reason to Complain” were included on the first Back from the Grave compilation (a series credited with inspiring Jon Spencer to begin his career in music), and Norton Records released an Alarm Clocks album culled from early recordings in 2000. The band reformed in 2006 and have put out their second album since that time, Wake Up.

While the Alarm Clocks are a fully competent band and bass player/vocalist Mike Pierce has an impressive scream, their straight-ahead ’60s garage rock felt a little too straight-ahead to me, and my interest in the music waned as the set went on (not even to be re-awakened by a cover of Bo Diddley’s “I’m Alright”, though this may have been a cover of a cover given that the Alarm Clocks call it “It’s Alright”, just as Spacemen 3 did when they recorded the song). But it should be taken into account that I have never been the biggest fan of this style of music, and the band received an enthusiastic reception from many in the audience, including the Gories.

The Gories

Dan Kroha was going to have a good time with the Gories’ soundcheck whether the sound man liked it or not. The singer/guitarist/harmonica wailer is about 200 pounds of personality in a 100 pound frame and was a clear indicator that the Gories’ set of serious rockin’ was not going to be serious. As seems to be the case for any of singer/guitarist Mick Collins’ bands (see the Dirtbombs, the Screws, Blacktop, etc., ad naseum), energy was the name of the game.

Don’t know the Gories? Jack White sure does. Take a listen through the Gories’ catalogue, and you’ll easily catch the influence that the band – who formed in 1986, broke up in 1993 and reunited in 2009 – had on the White Stripes, right down to specific riffs.

Kicking off, appropriately, with “Hey Hey, We’re the Gories”, the Detroit three-piece – rounded out by Peg O’Neill on toms – immediately sawed into the skulls of the Beachland crowd (which seemed like it had gone through a complete rotation from the beginning of the night) with their trademark don’t-call-it-garage rock. They threw out songs like “Sister Ann”, “Feral” and “Telepathic” with bombast and love. Kroha looked like he was going to blow a nut as he wailed away on his harmonica during “You Don’t Love Me”, but, unfortunately, those of us positioned in front of Collins were unable to hear most of the fruits of Kroha’s labor (again, a less-hasty soundcheck would have been beneficial).

While the crowd was clearly a few steps behind Kroha, spurring him to comment midway through, “Oh, you liked that one, did you? Finally decided to wake up?”, they’d finally all caught up by the end. When the band returned for an encore, Kroha gave the audience the audience a loving middle finger before the Gories launched into a rowdy call-and-response version of “Thunderbird ESQ” and topped things off with “Nitroglycerine”.

Then, around 1:00 A.M., it was all over too soon. Like the best shows, the Gories leave you with excess energy and a jones for more, and I personally would be happy to see the Gories (and most any of Collins’ other bands) several nights in a row. And if you have even an inkling of interest in catching the Gories, don’t sit on it because Collins’ limited attention span – and the fact that O’Neill was reportedly pretty much done with the tour before it even began – may mean this reunion doesn’t last long.

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: The Frames 20th Anniversary Tour

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Today, Jennifer shows us how far Glen Hansard has come from And And Fucking And. (I don’t have a long memory, I just happen to have re-watched The Commitments recently.)

You may be most familiar with Glen Hansard’s voice from his being half of The Swell Season, or perhaps from his appearing in and writing all the music for the movie Once, or, if you have a very long memory, from his smaller role in The Commitments. The Frames is his regular band, and this past Saturday night they made a stop at Terminal 5 as part of their 20th Anniversary Tour.

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Glen Hansard, singing Disappointed

The Frames, if you don’t know them, are from Dublin, but unlike other Irish bands such as the Saw Doctors or the Pogues, they mostly don’t have a “traditional” sound. I say “mostly” because they do have Colm Mac Con Iomaire and his magnificent mournful violin winding through their big fuzzy guitars like a dark, shimmering ribbon.

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Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Glen Hansard

I’ve actually been puzzling over how to describe them since the show, and “loud-soft-loud-hyperarticulate-howl-of-rage” would be accurate, but so would “spare, sharp, bittersweet and delicate romantic melodies.” For examples of these variations, see “Fake,” off of Burn the Maps and also “New Partner,” from The Roads Outgrown, respectively.

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Joe Doyle

And, some news for established Frames fans: during one of their many encores (there were at least three!), Joe Doyle sang a song they had composed that day, which if the lyrics are anything to go by will probably be called “You Can’t Hide Your Love”. Or maybe “You Can’t Hide Your Love (For Someone Else)” since it was something of an elegy for the end of a love affair. In any case I hope they record it soon because I would like to listen to it about a million more times.

— Jennifer