When Tee of Afraid of Figs talked me into attending the show at The Belltower on Friday, he informed me that it would be "like nothing you've ever heard before."
I ran into Tee and his loyal merch boy on the way out of the Compton Union Building on Friday afternoon, while they were being accosted by a CUB employee for hanging up flyers on the doors and windows. I struck up a conversation with them after jumping to their defense (I try to back up my Belltower buddies as much as possible). One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was on their list for press coverage that night.
He was only partially right--the music was not quite my style, so my bias is immediately going to show. When they started into their poster song, "I Ate a Vegan," the first two bands that came to mind should probably not be said in the same sentence: They Might be Giants and The Barenaked Ladies. I can't really tell if I was relieved or mortified to see the band bragging about this exact sound on their website (iateavegan.com, oddly enough).
The evening was a little bit of a blur, really; I hold the sensory overload responsible. There was an inflatable t-rex, a Ronald Regan sex doll, some old people in converse dancing provocatively, glow sticks, a singer in winged glasses and a "dyslexics untie" shirt--I'm not entirely sure what happened, but at some point I just really had to get up and leave.
Those who really love Barenaked Ladies--there have to be some of them out there--will love their songs. They never really go beyond the surface of the song; technically-constructed music with shoddy rhymes, promises the ability to make you dance as long as you're not paying attention to what anyone in the band is saying.
I really can't fault them for their energy. Tee was all over the stage, and had more costume changes than Lady Gaga must in a show. Saxophone player Crazy C really had mastery of his instruments--all three saxophones sounded absolutely superb (as a saxophone player, I'm revealing another bias; this one, however, allows me to appreciate skill). Every member of the band sang at least once, and everyone was technically proficient. And every member of the band spent the entire day before the show self-promoting.
"We've really never had a band put that much effort into promoting themselves," owner Andrew Forsman said. "The moment they got here, they grabbed some flyers and went out to put them up. No one's ever really done that much work."
A beacon of hope shined on the bass player, Arjay, when he stepped up for a tune. His voice far outshines Tee's, and has a real depth that actually put some emotion into their sound. I found myself intrigued--what would they sound like if they dropped the frantic, poorly-written silliness for actual music?
I don't think we'll ever know.
The Moondoggies, New Lagoon, put on a great show
Audience members resisting the urge to dance Sunday night did not stand a chance once The Moondoggies hit the Belltower stage.
Opening bands New Lagoon and Cody Beebe & the Crooks built up the energy to that perfect point where everyone in the room couldn’t help but move, rounding out the kind of lineup that makes for a good show. The energy of the show even inspired a local artist to set up in the corner to paint throughout the evening.
“Good music makes for really good art,” DeeDee, the artist, said. “I really like painting at live blues shows, and doing portraits of the bands and this was the perfect place to do it.”
The first night of the Birds on a Wire Mini-Fest had an impressive turnout — with half of the crowd just sitting and enjoying the music, and the other half consisted of showgoers who grabbed the first person they could find to dance with.
“The show was amazing. Overall, so many people showed up, and it would not have been the same without them,” said Madison Hayashi, the Belltower Street Team coordinator. “I could not have asked for a better night for the bands. They needed this crowd.”
New Lagoon started off the festival, debuting their music to Pullman with their first show ever as a band. The supergroup consists of Luke Taklo of Moss Campions on vocals and guitar, Sean Knox of Buffalo Death Beam on keyboard, vocals and guitar, Ted Powers of Yarn Owl on drums and Bart Budwig on bass. Though they were two members shy of the rest of the bands in the lineup for the night, their sound was just as strong.
“Everything went really well,” Taklo said. “It felt like it was a really good start for us.”
Cody Beebe & The Crooks attracted a strong local following — including a rather large pack of girls chanting Cody’s name before the songs. Despite their country-rock sound being a bit out of place among the other bands of the evening, they delivered strong technical ability and enough energy to really inspire excitement to keep the evening going.
By the time The Moondoggies made it to the stage, the crowd was incapable of containing excitement. The quartet appears to have expanded into a sextet, led by Kevin Murphy on vocals and guitar, and jumped right into utterly danceable blues-rock, however much of an oxymoron that description is. The band’s tight harmonies and stunning bass lines proved that The Moondoggies are a band that makes an already great sound even better in live performance.
“We definitely take this whole thing seriously, where maybe we didn’t before,” keys player Caleb Quick said. “But we play music like we’re playing in a garage — when you’re in a garage, sometimes it comes out dirty, sometimes it comes out clean and you don’t know why. You just have to go with it.”
The Pullman show was the last night of their tour, and even Quick admitted that the whole band was exhausted, though you would never guess from watching them play. The tambourine player, who doubled for backup guitar for a few songs, made tambourine alone look like an art and definitely covered more of the stage than any other band member that evening. His energy was easily matched by the crowd, which eventually included dancing members of the opening bands.
“This has just been amazing,” Taklo said. “As far as the Moondoggies go, I have a story to tell my
grandchildren.”
New Lagoon Preview
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| Sean Knox (Buffalo Death Beam), Luke Taklo (Moss Campions), Bart Budwig, Ted Powers (Yarn Owl) |
Luke Taklo (Moss Campions), Ted Powers (Yarn Owl), Sean Knox (Buffalo Death Beam) and Bart Budwig joined together to form New Lagoon only a month ago, and they already sound like they have been playing together for years.
“We’re really not finished yet,” Taklo said. “It’s a work in progress, a little rough.”
After hearing their first song — which they jokingly refer to by a variety of working names, including “Navajo Camo” and “Old and Rusty” — it became clear that the members of New Lagoon have a different definition of “rough” than the average listener. Their sound actually has more finesse than several much older bands and is a clear departure from the folk sound many of the fans of their other bands may be expecting.
“It’s all been pretty organic; we haven’t really talked about what we wanted to sound like,” Taklo said. “But Motown is something we’re all pretty enthralled by.”
It shows. Their music reflects a lot of older Motown, with the kiss of a retro ballad sound. They work in organ sounds to really bring together music that sounds as though it lives in the 1960s and today, simultaneously. The end result is utterly catchy and promises to entertain.
“We really just want to have fun,” Powers said. “We want people to come to our shows and dance. We don’t want them just standing around, we want them dancing. We’re playing music we love to play, and we just want to keep that going for as long as possible.”
Their supergroup reflects the energy of the local music scene, which all the members are hoping to promote as much as possible.
“We’re really excited about the music around here, with Birds on a Wire happening and everything,” Budwig said. “I would just encourage people to be optimistic, and really get out (and) look around. There are great shows happening here.”
They will be opening for The Moondoggies Sunday as part of the Birds on a Wire Mini-Fest. Tickets are available from members of the band or from The Belltower for $7 in advance or $10 at the door. Festival passes are also available for $25.
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