This show was a benefit for the Bluebird Music Festival that they are trying to start here in good old Columbia, MO. It appears to be a SXSW style fest that will include many local and regional acts and occurring in multiple venues around Columbia. Since I liked to idea of supporting a new vehicle for getting good acts in Columbia, and I wanted to catch Casey Reeves, I decided to hit the show. It was a very interesting and diverse line up for the show. The order of the show was Ryan Groff from Elsinore (Champaign, IL), Casey Reeves and Wes Wingate (Columbia, MO), King Thief (St. Louis, MO), and finally Witches Hat (Columbia, MO). The first two acts were singer/song writer solo style shows and were nice and mellow. Then the night took a turn to the rock with King Thief and Witches Hat, but I will get into that in a minute.
The night started out interesting for me. I walk into Mojo’s, and they have a “new” board. It is actually the old monitor board for the Blue Note, but it was a step up from what they used to have. Of course, the problem with a new board is that I have to figure out how to pull the best feed. Since I was the first person trying to record from the board, it took a little doing to figure that out, and I don’t think it was the best option that was settled on in the end. I took what was apparently a tape out feed, but I got clipping out of that feed, so I am going to have to adjust the levels down or try to get the matrix out feeds to work the next time I record at the venue. Also, one final note for anyone that is recording multitrack out of the SBD, the direct out for input 14 does not work. So keep that in mind if you happen to be recording at Mojo’s.
Anyway, as I said the first two acts for the night were solo type performances, and I have to say that I didn’t get to focus on these to acts as much as I would have liked because I was trouble shooting the recording process and adjusting to the new board. However, what I heard of both Ryan Groff from Elsinore and the Casey Reeves and Wes Wingate shows were very interesting. For those of you who don’t know Casey used to be a member of the band Caulfield and The Magic, and Wes has been in The Doxies and The Stingrays. During the set Wes played both guitar and keyboards, and they played a nice set of covers and originals from both singers. When I get done mixing the recording and give the shows a better listen I will comment on the songs etc. I will say that during the set a beer dropped of the amp Casey was using and spilled on the guitar peddles that the guitarist for King Thief used, apparently rendering many of them inoperable. So, I am not to sure how happy King Thief was with the organizers of the evening.
After the quiet part of the show King Thief took the stage. I have never heard of the band, and I am pretty sure that would be because I don’t listen to their style of music much any more. If I had heard them during my early 20’s I would have loved them, and I have a feeling they would have been one of my favorite regional bands. They play a lush and complex brand of hard rock, not fast and furious like metal, but rather a controlled sonic attack. It’s hard to comment on the lyrics at a truly rocking show when you are not familiar with the music already, but what I heard was intriguing, and would have been inspiring to my younger self. I will say that despite the fact that I didn’t enjoy the music, and will more than likely not go to another show, they put on a DAMN good show. The band look, for this night at least, reminded me of mid 80’s era punk/new wave band, and Brooks Bracken, lead singer and song writer, sported a smallish Mohawk that fit in well with the look of the band. The majority of the crowd at the show was there for King Thief, and they played to their fans very well. There were a couple of songs that had crowd interactions involved that the crowd did not require the prompting of the lead singer to perform on cue. The Brooks moved around the stage like a hard rockin veteran working the music and the crowd all at the same time. He had all the poses and moves down, but I am happy to say that it felt neither tired nor contrived the entire time. He walk the fine line between true show man and wanna be rocker very well, and delivered his vocals with style. I was also pleased that the lyrics and the music worked well together. It is hard to listen to hard rock when the lyrics do not interplay with the music at all. Side not from this part of the show, there was this old drunk guy (no not me), who was a little obnoxious and started monopolizing the front stage area (dancing with people he didn’t know etc.), and by the end of the show I think that Brooks was feed up with the guy, because he stood next to him on the speakers that are in front of the stage and then pushed him away from the stage with a kick. The old guy was escorted from the venue after that little incident.
After King Thief left the stage, I think they took all the sincerity with them before Witches Hat took the stage. Now I think they are truly a serious band, but I am not sure much of the act is tongue in cheek. I have a hard time believing that a band playing hard rocking songs about knights and castles and other stereotypical “hard rock” imagery that has been satirized for years by the likes of Spinal Tap and Tenacious D, are not themselves having a laugh in the process. Add to the fact that the lead singer does a great impersonation of Jack Black on stage, and they didn’t appear to be taking themselves seriously the entire time they were on stage, and I have to conclude that they may not be as serious about the music as some other bands. I will say that the show was fun, but for totally different reasons as King Thief. The Withes Hat show had a lot more laugh out loud moments than I was expecting. My favorite moment was when the lead singer, while singing through a bull horn, ran off stage and started singing to the people out on the Mojo’s deck outside the venue. That is just genius.
I am currently working on fixing the shows and will post set lists and links to download the shows as I get them done.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment