By: David de Young
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Tapes n' Tapes on stage at the Turf Club - Photo by David de Young (click here for full photo gallery from show)
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Friday was a great day for local music in the Twin Cities. Some of the town’s best bands, from Revolver Modele and The Deaths, to The Autumn Leaves and Heavy Sleeper, to Endless Blue and the Ashtray Hearts all played shows Friday night, dispersing the metro area’s live music fans across half a dozen venues. Despite the competition, the bill of Tapes ‘n Tapes, Friends Like These and Bridge Club at the Turf Club was still strong enough to turn out sizable audience to help “the brothers Tapes” celebrate the release of their brand new debut full-length CD The Loon (Ibid Records, 2005). The self-released disc was an impressive #3 add on the US college radio charts last week.
One of the last times I saw Tapes ‘n Tapes was June 11th, 2005 when they opened for The Futureheads at the Fine Line. Bespectacled Futureheads guitar player Ross Millard was in the audience for most of the Tapes’ set, and I remember him standing there stage right, hands in pockets, focusing on the band and nodding along to the music. Given The Futureheads status in the indie rock world, that’s a damn fine endorsement.
The new Tapes ‘n Tapes lineup is much the same as the old lineup. Lead vocalist and guitarist Josh Grier (Tapes 1) has recently shaved off nearly all his formerly bushy head of hair. Jeremy Hanson (Tapes 2) is a nerdy-looking, mean little machine on drums (see photo, inset.) Matt Kretzmann (the original ‘n), who left the band over a year ago is back on keyboards and sometimes euphonium – no, it’s not the same as a baritone – and what other rock band in the Twin Cities uses one of those in their live shows? Shawn Neary (who now shares the ‘n title) has grown a 1970’s John Holmes style mustache.
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Jeremy Hanson of Tapes 'n Tapes
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Though I’ve been to many a fun Tapes ‘n Tapes show, Saturday’s CD Release party was downright groovy. As a testament to the strength of the new album, the boys played the album straight through, Erik Applewick (who produced the new disc at Short Man Studios this past June) joining the band on tambourine for the first song, “Just Drums.” Special guests continued to come up on stage throughout the set, including Joe Werner from Bridge Club with some exquisitely loud guitar, and John Solomon from Friends Like These with an almost out of hand cowbell solo during “Cowbell” (a song which, incidentally, on the album features little or no cowbell.)
I’ve said before that Tapes ‘n Tapes play some of the most interesting original rock in the Twin Cities, so it doesn’t really surprise me that their new disc shot up the charts when placed in front of the open-minded college radio audience, known for not being afraid to take chances with what they play. From the start, TnT has been unconcerned that what they were doing might have sounded different than much of the indie rock fare out there, or even just plain strange at times. When asked last week by Chris Roberts on MPR’s “The Local Show” what the distinguishing characteristic of their music might be, Josh Grier almost immediately replied, “Weirdness.” He stressed that in the early days the weirdness was more deliberate. Now it’s, “Oh, that sounds really weird, let’s do more of that.” But weirdness is never enough in itself. Tapes ‘n Tapes had enough faith in what they were doing to take that odd-sounding music and nurture it until its quality alone made it something to be reckoned with.
Location Info:
The Turf Club
Artist Info: Friends Like These, Tapes 'n Tapes
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