There was an overarching theme to this night at The Music Hall; totally killer drummers. There was also a lesser theme, and that was the autoharp. With that in mind, lets begin.
The opener of the night was a guy named Liam Finn, a New Zealand native that you could know from a few different places. If you saw Crowded House on their reunion tour you probably saw Liam playing in the band, backing his pop Neil. Though Liam has a pretty popular band back in NZ, he was at the MHoW doing his solo thing. He plays guitar and drums. Also in his band is a girl named E.J. singing back up along with her pipes shes equipped with pedals, tambourine, cowbell, and some sticks. While a lot of the songs were fun to listen to, they played with speed and pitch and looped quite a bit, the good stuff happened when Liam got on drums. Hes loud and brash and fast. After a while you could tell the audience was just waiting for him to start the loop on his guitar and sit back down with the hammersticks. Unfortunately I dont know any of his music, but I do know he played Ill Be Lightning which was good. Also cool was his joy stick Theremin, and E.J. playing the autoharp.
Next up, was Apollo Sunshine, who took foreeeever to set up which is weird cause it’s just three guys. Go figure. My friend who works at a recording studio said he was helping them out while they were laying some stuff down for a new album, so I wasnt surprised when the majority of the set was new songs. There were songs about love and death, some songs working with blues sounds, some with a country feel, and a ballad, and one with some straight classical elements. It was all over the map and it felt good. Near the end they played out a rockabilly-esque jam that had all three with sticks on the drum kit. Again, there was a pretty number with an autoharp and as is to be expected with Apollo Sunshine- there was some kick ass drumming.
At the end of the line we had Pela. Id read about this band way more than a year ago and whoever was writing about them convinced me that I should see them live but as it goes, things got in the way. Seeing this band was like fulfilling a plan set into motion long ago. Pela is a bunch of darling guys who play catchy tunes. Although I tend to demand something a little more challenging in the sounds I pick for myself, I can see how their music could sell out a venue. They played a song that I recognized as Lost to the Lonesome that seemed to go over really well, and another one about Philadelphia, though I dont know the name. I could see this band gathering a few followers. Just a note though, I recently just looked at their Myspace page and the band has cancelled all the rest of their tour. I guess Billy McCarthy fell off the stage during their encore at Schubas and landed on a pint glass. Ehhh, he sliced some tendons in his hand. Ehh. Blood, gross.
