There’s a difference between being influenced by the eighties and recycling them. Apparently Liam and Me didn’t get the memo. This became abundantly clear as we tolerated the first band of the night with mimics and impressions followed by chuckles and sneers. Sneering is generally something we try to avoid and really, we tried. This band deserved nothing more. Setting their hyper-electronic time-warped cliché eighties pop aside, their performance on stage was memorable, but not in a good way.
Matt O’Dowd, front man of the band on vocals and guitar and piano (not simultaneously, of course) insisted on giving himself a nod of approval after every song as if to say “Yes, I know we are God’s gift to you ears.” His “killer moves” were an incessant side step back and forth that made him look like he was jazzercising and his attitude was less rock star and more snobby department store manager. Near the end of the set they decided to cover “Enjoy Yourself” by Michael Jackson and I thought “finally, something they can be good at.” When I thought that the set was finally leveling off in annoyingness, O’Dowd decided to twirl some girls in the front row like a pervy drunk. Their “workout” song sound sounded exactly like their “slow jam” and O’Dowd molested the keyboardist. Curtain. Thank God.
Steel Train took the stage and relieved the bad vibes the previous band had put out. Their heavy bass coupled with light keyboard and hollow booming, bright vocals made for a really dance-y folk-y sound. On certain songs, they sounded like U2 fused with heavier beats but twangier. They did a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins’ song “1979” and pulled it off without a hitch. They had good stage energy and are a band to look more into.
Ludo hit the stage running with 10 tons of energy. Andrew Volpe, front man, guitarist, and vocalist for this fine five-piece filled the set with Jack-Black-like facial expressions and gyrations into his guitar. Their keyboardist, Tim Convoy, also wanted to be a front man, abandoning his keyboard to do full-on finger-licking air guitar around the stage mid-song.
Their sound is up-beat rock with heavy snare and fun guitar melodies. The lyrics are dark and sadistic in a somehow light, humorous, and sometimes romantic way in songs like “Love Me Dead” the single off their new release You’re Awful I Love You. “Lake Pontchartrain” on the other hand is a horror story in song version. The song “Go-Getter Greg” was introduced by Convoy as a song about, “a creepy stalker douche bag named Greg. It’s not that good, don’t get excited.” Their self-deprecating humor was entirely unwarranted as their set was interesting and exciting including their cover of Faith No More’s “Epic.”
The headliner took the stage led by a woodsy teddy-bear looking man named Nick Thomas, guitarist and vocalist. Some of their tracks are heavy-bass and fast-paced electric guitar dance rock. Their popular “Polygraph! Right Now” off their 2005 One Fell Swoop got the audience shouting the lyrics. A good chunk of their tracks however are acoustic-based and sincere slow-jams like “Bound to Happen” and “The Tide” with lyrics that are captivating and soulful.
Their set included mostly songs off their older release like “All Hail the Heartbreaker,” “Lust a Prima Vista,” and “Natalie Marie and 1cc.” They did play a couple tracks from No Really, I’m Fine from 2007 such as “Saved” and “Connect the Dots.” Thomas explained that he’s always been a really big fan of old school R&B like Marvin Gaye and that they could say anything racy and make it sound smooth so when he wrote the lyrics to “Connect the Dots” he had them in mind. They closed off the night with the heavy, heartfelt “Staplegunned” to an eruption of screams and applause.
Stay Saavy,
Steph@A2S
*all photos taken from the respective bands’ myspace page or website*
