This month, reviews of Engine Down/The Jealous Sound/Moments in Grace in Cambridge, Heavy Me/The Pistol Whippers in Huntington, Murderous Geese/AV Club/Heavy Me/Dirt Bike Annie in Huntington, The Wrens in Minneapolis

Engine Down/The Jealous Sound/Moments in Grace
March 4, 2004- The Middle East, Cambridge, MA

It was a great night for hipster bingo (www.catbirdseat.org/catbirdseat/bingo.html) as Boston's emokidz turned out for an emo state-of-the-nation show: three bands all featuring a two-guitar/bass/drums line up with a single primary vocalist, playing mostly Les Pauls through Marshall amps (Engine Down had an Orange), and Fender basses (all played with picks, a rarity in my new home) through Ampegs.

First up were Moments in Grace, a heavily-hyped Florida band. They were admirably tight-- especially the rhythm section. But despite the frenzied way they jackknifed around the stage, my attention kept wandering. Their songs are built on standard rock progressions, played predominantly in blocky chords. Melodically and lyrically they were uncomplicated, unchallenging, and almost painfully generic. Their most distinctive trick is singer Jeremy Griffith's tendency to jump into an upper register for a note or two-- which reminded me of Sarah McLachlan, as did sappy lyrics like "Forgive, forget all of our broken promises," repeated ad nauseum. This band belongs in the "Tonight's episode featured music by" tag after a TV show you were embarrassed to watch. The shocker is that their EP (available as a free download from www.momentsingrace.com) was produced by emo/hardcore tastemaker Brian McTernan, known for his work with truly fierce bands like Drowningman and Strike Anywhere. And as dull as I thought their set was, the kidz loved it. Go figure.

The Jealous Sound feature former members of Knapsack and Sunday's Best, both bands I kinda liked. From the first few seconds of set-opener "Anxious Arms," with its dueling palm-muted eight-note figures, they clearly had more going on than Moments in Grace. But their dynamic palette was limited. If you know the quiet melodic part is inevitably going to explode into big slashing power chords, it robs the song of drama. Blair Shehan had surprisingly poor mic technique for a veteran of national touring acts, which had the weird effect of making some of his chorus parts nearly disappear. What I could make out of the lyrics seemed less interesting than Knapsack's anyway. His stage patter was also mostly about how superior California is to Massachusetts, which probably made him sound dumber than he is.

Engine Down closed out the night. They're from Richmond, Virginia, close to my old DC hometown, and record for Lovitt, a label sometimes dogged by the epithet "DisChord junior." I'm not partisan: association with DC does not automatically mean good. But Engine Down really seemed to be playing on an entirely different level from the other bands, working around the conventions of the emo genre rather than being constricted by them. Their songs were marked by more expressive dynamics, more varied singing, and harmonic progressions with passing tones and chord permutations rather than standard I-IV-V moves. A handful of songs from their recently-completed forthcoming record suggest it will be a worthy follow up to 2002's Demure. Sadly (and perhaps inevitably for a Thursday night), they played to a substantially thinned crowd.
Doug Mayo-Wells

Heavy Me/The Pistol Whippers
March 20, 2004- Goodfellas, Huntington, WV

"We'd like to dedicate this set to the spirit of John Kerwood," Russ Fox announced as Heavy Me took the stage. Long-term Huntingtonians would know that Goodfellas used to be the Drop Shop, and before that, Gumby's, a venue run by the late John Kerwood, who, despite a disregard for building codes, was instrumental in fostering a lot of good local talent a decade and more ago. Back then, Heavy Me were known as Cretin Hop, and this was their main stomping grounds. The building has been remodeled at least twice since its Gumby's days, and it was looking much spiffier and more urban last night than we'd ever seen it. I hadn't set foot there since seeing Jerry Cantrell on its last night as the Drop Shop in 1998. It closed completely for some time, then was a dance club of some sort, then sat vacant again until recently. But on this Saturday night, cheap beer flowed freely, the music was fast and loud, and the show didn't end till a dizzying 3 a.m. Heavy Me definitely had the audience in their court, and with a high stage, people could use it to park their elbows or beers and really get into the up-close vibe. For their encore, the crowd en-frenzying "Sonic Reducer," Tommy Fitzpatrick climbed up onstage to take the final chorus, getting a bit overly enthusiastic and whacking bassist Russ Fox in the back of the hand with the mic stand as he swung it wildly around.

Charleston, WV band the Pistol Whippers played two sets of fast-paced punkabilly about beer, hot rods, and a haunted whorehouse. The crowd loved it, bouncing around, even moshing just a little, down on the floor. Lead singer Guy Parker climbed up into the rigging near the second story height disco ball and jumped down onto the stage during the climax of one song. The lyrics were fun, often funny ("Beer Pirate" is about a party predator who has his thieving eye on other people's beers), and the covers were a trip (ranging from "The Gambler" to "The Ace of Spades"). You can visit their website at www.pistolwhippers.com for MP3's [follow the link to the old page to get the tunes].

All in all, a fun show from an energetic and entertaining pair of bands.
Jen Grover

Murderous Geese/AV Club/Heavy Me/Dirt Bike Annie
March 13, 2004- Marley's Doghouse, Huntington, WV

Inflatable dolls, Speedos, strobe lights, bubbles, panty sales! Just another Saturday night in... Huntington? This show caught us off guard. We had no idea there would be four bands instead of the two listed on all the announcements we saw, nor would we ever have guessed that a show at Marley's would start at the unheard of hour of 9 p.m. We showed up at our customary 11:00, expecting an 11:30 or so show, and found that we had completely missed Murderous Geese and missed all but AV Club's last song. I can say from that one last song, that AV Club sounded good. Russ Fox said they reminded him of Wilco. I wish we had heard more of them. I really wish we had seen Murderous Geese. Apparently they played MC5/Stooges style rock, cavorted about with inflatable dolls, had things painted on their chests, and the guitarist stripped down to nothing but a Speedo! What a missed photo op. The band room at Marley's has seen improvements since our last visit. The ceiling is now covered in black, acoustic fabric, the stage has been revamped, and the PA system upgraded. It sounded great, and visibility is improved. Between the last two sets and after the show, the DJ blasted A Place of Solace's brand new album, just finished that day at Broadmoor Studios. It sounds monster heavy. Heavy Me charged through a rocking, high energy set, short but tight, all originals except the Dwarves' "Anybody Out There." They sounded great, as usual, and the new sound system really brought out the vocals well.

Then it was on to the headliners, New York's Dirt Bike Annie, who sell, along with other, more usual merch, band logo panties (actually, they say "Dirt Bike Fannie") in a variety of colors. I went for the pink ones. This is a really fun band to see. They rock, they roll (literally, on the stage floor), they dazzle with flashing colored lights, strobe, smoke, and bubbles, but they would be fun even without all that. They play lively punk pop, look like they are having a great time, and they sound good. Three of the four members sing. Guitarist/singer Jeannie is cute and spunky and can belt it out. Check out their website at dirtbikeannie.com for MP3's and tour dates.
Jen Grover

The Wrens
March 13, 2004- 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN

I first heard the Wrens on some otherwise long-forgotten compilation from 1994 or so that featured their song "What's a Girl." I was intrigued by the song's slow build, by the singers' somewhat snarly vocal timbre, by the dissonant harmonies, and by the band's perverse but curiously effective decision to interrupt the whole thing near its peak with a few seconds of seemingly random noise and studio chatter a la The Fall's "Paint Work." So I bought the album "What's a Girl" was drawn from, Silver, and although it took me a while to digest the album's twenty-plus tracks, I was hooked. Secaucus followed in 1996 with a slightly less sprawling, more refined version of the sonic range demonstrated on Silver, and then . . . well, every article written in the last year about the Wrens details their long struggle with record companies to get another record released, so I'll skip that story here. (Bonus note: even though everything but The Meadowlands is long out of print, the band is selling home-burned CDs at their shows of the rest of their releases, including the 1998 EP Abbott 1135).

Despite my history with them, I'd never seen them live, my luck there being about as ill-favored as the band's with labels. But, even though it took a five-hour drive to do it, I finally saw the Wrens in Minneapolis, and I'd have driven twice as far for a show this good.

While their recordings veer mercurially from barely controlled furor to whispered beauty, I was unprepared for the band's sheer enthusiasm in a live setting. They're just utterly possessed in bringing chaos, delicacy, power, and control to the songs. That enthusiasm comes also with sheer gratitude that their work is finally being recognized by more than a handful of people. Several times during the show one Wren or other mentioned that they're still not used to crowds as large as this. While it's little more than a hole in the wall, the 7th Street Entry was packed body to body.

The show featured most of The Meadowlands, with a few tracks from Secaucus and Silver as garnish. Kevin Whelan was the most energetic Wren, playing his bass left-handed in upside-down Hendrix style and leaping all over the small stage, several times threatening to accidentally imprint his instrument's headstock on his cohorts' faces. He also revealed himself as a formidable player of insane barrelhouse piano on a couple of songs. Charles Bissell, who also handles most of the lead vocals, is surely one of rock's most underrated guitarists: he pulls chord voicings out of his instrument that I would have sworn were made by two or three guitarists. Kevin Whelan's guitarist brother Greg had a more subdued presence stage-right, adding high vocal harmonies on most tracks and filling out the Wrens' intricate guitar arrangements (and occasionally pinch-hitting on bass while Kevin Whelan played keyboards). The Wrens' vocal blend is quite distinctive, too-- they alternate block harmonies from Bissell and both Whelans (drummer Jerry MacDonnell occasionally pitches in, too) with contrapuntal lines. The three main singers' vocal timbres are quite complementary, to the extent that it's sometimes hard to tell who's singing what without visual cues.

Despite being literally dripping with sweat, the band came out for two encores. As the last notes faded away, Kevin Whelan puckishly said into the mic, "See you in seven years." Here's hoping that with label Absolutely Kosher's support and the triumph of The Meadowlands, it'll be a lot sooner than that.
Jeffrey Norman