Reviews of Sid 'n' Susie; MetalTech; Flood Empty Lakes/Run Dan Run/The Explorers Club
Sid 'n' Susie
September 9, 2009- World Café Live, Philadelphia
Sid is Matthew Sweet. Susie is Susanna Hoffs. They have two albums out as a duo, Under the Covers, Volumes 1 and 2. Volume 1 is 60s covers, Volume 2 is 70s covers. Their performance at this upscale rock supper club drew from both albums.
The show was acoustic, featuring Sweet on 12-string guitar, Susanna on 6-string, and their friend, multi-instrumentalist session musician/sideman Greg Leisz on 6-string. There were no drums or bass, but with three guitars playing at once they weren’t missed.
The show started a half hour late. The audience was patient during that time, but Hoffs was nervous and flustered when she did appear onstage. She slipped up a lot, and relied on lyric sheets for much of the show. Sweet made some mistakes, too, but these failings endeared them to the fans, all of us offering our encouragement by applause, cheers and shouts. These slips didn’t prevent them from playing the songs well. They also bantered well. For example, after “You’re So Vain” Sue asked the audience if they had read a biography of Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell and Carole King named Girls Like Us, where Carly tells of Mick Jagger’s unaccredited vocal on “You’re So Vain”. I had, liked the book a lot, and joined those who shouted “yes” to her.
Sweet said at one point that all the songs, even the rock songs like Fleetwood Mac’s “Second Hand News”, were learned in the folk tradition, where songs are passed on by people learning to play them themselves. What was kind of non-traditional was that the band all sat on red velvet chairs, rather than standing to sing.
Hoffs shone vocally on Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May”, her scratchy voice giving the song an air of regret and love. Sweet’s best moment was Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue", which he sang with a bit of a sneer in his voice. They also played two songs in the main set that weren’t on either album -- Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” with Sue on vocals, and Nick Lowe’s “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding”. Both were wonderful. These two songs, and some 70s punk rock covers, can be found at Amazon and iTunes.
The encore was interesting. They took questions from the audience. Sweet and Hoffs said the Bangles were recording a new album at his house. They also said that Volume 3 would be covers of 80s bands like the dB’s and Let’s Active. Then they returned to singing. Hoffs introduced the next song as one the Bangles covered in their early days, Carrie Nation’s “In the Long Run” from the film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. She followed it with a medley of the Bangles' “In Your Room” and “Manic Monday”. Then Sweet did his song “I’ve been Waiting”. The show concluded on a high, fun note with Lulu’s “To Sir With Love”, sung by Sue. [www.myspace.com/sidnsusie]
Andrea Weiss
MetalTech
July 17, 2009- Bannerman’s, Edinburgh
MetalTech
Come 11 PM, all of Bannerman’s (if not the entire building, nay, entire block) was filled with the glorious industrial/techno/totally festive noise that is MetalTech. The trio comprises Erik Tricity on vocals, guitar and drum machine, Rory Alsop on guitar, and Emmett Christie on bass, and they are the loudest triad I have heard in ages. My initial impression was that MetalTech is a perfect hybrid of Kiss and Celldweller, plus Nine Inch Nails and Slipknot with senses of humor. The Kiss/Slipknot debt is evident from the moment they step onstage in face paint and masks that remind me of a hell-raising Gene Simmons minus the fire-breathing. But trust me, the powerful and (I repeat) loud sounds emanating from this charismatic threesome are theirs and theirs alone! Their use of onstage props like party poppers and a lovedoll named Sarah Tonin to illustrate songs like “Unknown Exception”, ”Elektrik” and “Sex On the Dancefloor” was fun for the enthusiastic throng. These songs and “Slam Trance”, among others, are guaranteed to get your feet moving while your head and ears pulsate uncontrollably with the electronic beats and sequences. But MetalTech have a serious side as well that is revealed in “Slice”, which relates the sad story of lonely outsider Suzy. This versatility in material combined with their mesmerizing stage presence and truly entertaining show makes me certain that it’s just a matter of time before MetalTech (signed to Alex Tronic Records) become mammoth. Somebody really should tell Sharon Osbourne about these guys because I think they would add a lot to the next Ozzfest.
All told, MetalTech provided a most “elektrifying” coda to my week in Scotland.
[www.myspace.com/metaltech]
Rebecca Sharp
Flood Empty Lakes/Run Dan Run/The Explorers Club
April 4, 2009- The Village Tavern, Charleston, SC
Charleston, South Carolina's Flood Empty Lakes is not your typical rock band. Think of the jazzy/classical dynamics of early Athens scenesters Love Tractor, before vocals were added to their formula -- if Love Tractor were inspired by prog rock and European avant garde electronic music and the production sensibilities of Robin Guthrie. Instead of the Georgia countryside's kudzu and mud, think textured manhole covers and the stark, dark smoothness of a modern Berlin apartment. Now, instead of hearing such an act in a minimalist European nightclub filled with pale waifs in black sipping pouty cocktails, imagine hearing them in a small hole-in-the-wall bar with regular Southerners in baseball caps and Asics sneakers drinking draught beer on a Saturday night just outside of Charleston, South Carolina, and you have the experience. The band, four regular looking thirty-something guys, Nate Naylor on keyboards, Chuck Hamilton on bass, BJ Edmunds on guitar and Taylor Payne on drums, played a half-hour set covering their EP Union of Sound Minds, and this reviewer must say that the band has outgrown their release, as their chops have grown exponentially since recording it (the band is planning on re-releasing an updated version of the EP with new recordings). This listener's favorite song from their set, as well as from their EP, is the track "Strata Illuminata (part 1)", a musical journey of about 10 minutes that is headphone music for reflection, to be sure, on record, but live, the best thing to do is to simply be still and watch and listen and take it all in, as the stage, and four guys all very into their playing, take you tripping, sans drugs. I was impressed.
Upon returning to The Village Tavern (there was another band that played this night between Flood Empty Lakes and The Explorer's Club, Run Dan Run, but this reviewer had to leave the venue for a short time and missed their set) I caught The Explorers Club, and what a great Southern California 1966 evening it was, right there in 2009 South Carolina. This band, Charleston locals, has gained national attention with music in TV shows and movies and on satellite radio (Micky Dolenz of The Monkees has even gotten them to do the music on a couple of tracks on his new Carole King tribute album) and they do an excellent interpretation of Brian Wilson's signature sound, but it doesn't sound like plagiarism. It sounds like admiration and respect. Going on a year since hearing their debut, "Freedom Wind," I would say that the seven-piece are better now than they are on their record, and sound to these ears like they are in the process of discovering their musical voice (perhaps it is the same timbre as Brian Wilson's, but with a Southern accent?). The band played an excellent set that the crowd enjoyed, and how they got all that equipment up on that little bar stage with all of them, yet still managed to move and breathe, is truly amazing. They immediately draw you in, and when they opened with "Forever," (the first track on the LP) you simply must submit to the sugary innocent beauty, pay attention with your ears and heart, and smile (no pun intended). An excellent way to spend a Saturday night.
Mark Staples