Fitzgerald with Aviette and The Winter Blanket at Kitty Cat Klub on 6/16/06

By: Bob Longmore

The Winter Blanket - Photo by Bob Longmore

Driving to the Kitty Cat Klub, the highway signs warned of flash floods. Potential audience members who are debating whether they really want to go out in the rain can’t be ideal for clubs or bands.  However, there are few bands whose music is better suited for a stormy night than The Winter Blanket.

I walked into the KCK as the band was finishing working through some sound issues.  I found a place in the back of the meticulously decorated music room as the band started in earnestly with “Last Resort,” from their latest album, Prescription Perils.  A sparse acoustic song with a loping snare beat, it was a perfect vehicle for singer Stephanie Davila’s vulnerable voice. She sang:

            The look that you gave me
            You cast some spell
            I don’t have anything to say about
            These last four years
            All the stories I want to tell
            Involved you being there

Then came the chorus, where Doug Miller’s deep voice occupied the opposite end of the spectrum from Davila’s. On record, this works well, but live the sonic distance between the two seemed too much at times.

Mandy Tensen-Woolery of Fitzgerald - Photo by Bob Longmore

After two soft songs, the band kicked up into some Miller-fronted rock songs. During their set, The Winter Blanket ranged from sparse Low-like tearjerkers to Springsteen-inspired rock to wah-wah pedal psychadelica, complete with a droning melodica bridge.  During the last song, which was introduced as “Golden Sun” (also the name of their forthcoming album), they combined all of these elements into one song. Starting with a sultry, whisper quiet guitar and minimal drums, Davila added an echoing slide guitar that moaned with each flick of her hand. All of this simmered into a bombastic ending, complete with a Neil Young-style churning guitar solo climax. The four-piece band unstuck themselves from the tiny stage to the sound of short-lived applause. Because the KCK is so comfortable and laid-back, the audience doesn’t seem to get too worked up about anything. Instead of the dirty, dark rock club jubilation, there is coffee shop politeness.

Aviette’s singer/ guitarist Holly Muñoz and bass player Justin Hartke eschewed the tight confines of the stage for the floor in front, which left drummer Kyle Larson free to pummel his drums with thunderous results.  Aviette’s songs alternated between friendly alt-rock pop songs to tripped-out, prog-style jams. Muñoz’ sleepy vocals flitted above the din of the anchored rhythm section. Hartke played hide and seek behind the load-bearing beam that dots the middle of the room as he and Muñoz dipped and swayed in time to the meandering songs. The band played a sincere version of Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” which brought a smile to anyone who was self-assured enough to recall junior high without pain.

Let me just say: I am a sucker for two-part harmonies. The married duo of Mandy and Nathan Tensen-Woolery of Fitzgerald make the tiny hairs on the back of my neck tingle when they sing. Morphing from the bedroom recordings of a duo to the now full-sounding four-piece, the harmonies have always been the star of the band. As Nathan gyrated to the music his unkempt mop of hair shook against his head. In contrast, Mandy rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and a peaceful smirk formed from her lips as she sang. There were also tiny drum machine sounds that added an electronic element to the emo-indie-folk sound of the band.

A few songs into their set their fifth member, a laptop, began to malfunction. Nathan admonished the device saying it was, “like a drunken band member.” The group forged through the difficulties and their music did not suffer from the lack of computerized accompaniment. Toward the end of their set, Nathan asked no one in particular if they could handle three more songs. A reply came from a woman seated in front, “We can take 30 more!”

Fitzgerald is quirky, but not in an ironic way. They sing about cutting off your hands and waving around the bloody stumps with such beauty that you think, “Fuck yeah. I totally get it!”

Location Info: Kitty Cat Klub
Artist Info: Aviette, Fitzgerald, The Winter Blanket

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