By: Andrea Myers
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Jeremy Gordon of the Vestals at the Suburban World - Photo by David de Young (click here for full set)
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Previously a movie theater, the Suburban has a décor that is bursting with character, with white railings and tall, pointy fake trees bordering the room on the upper walls, and a ceiling that has scrolling, animated clouds and small white twinkling star lights. Though the venue has many factors working in its favor, it ultimately made for an awkward place to take in a rock show.
First up was Hanz Erik and the Hims, an energetic act that blasts sunny chords and catchy vocal lines. The group bordered on anthemic rock at times, and reminded me of early Red Hot Chili Peppers. I wished I knew the words to some of the songs, because it felt like they would be a fun band to sing along with. By the time Hanz and his band had finished their set, a group of four people had gathered enough courage to move to the area in front of the stage, which was a sort of raised platform dance floor that required several maneuvers down skinny hallways to stand on. It seemed that if the dance floor were a foot or two shorter, more people may have gotten the guts to stand in front of the stage; the floor remained empty or sparsely populated for most of the night.
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Hans Erik and the Hims - Photo by David de Young
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Chris Koza played next, delighting the audience (and causing some women in the back to let out shrill screams) by playing many songs off of his latest album, Patterns. Though it seemed that there were a lot of Koza fans present, his set did not manage to gather the same intensity as his CD release show last month, which could have been due in part to the fact that the closest audience members were about 50 feet from the stage and people were spread out at tables leading up to the back wall of the theater. Highlights of his set included a “Candle in the Dark,” which quieted down the chatty audience a bit, and “Midnight Rose,” which caused another small group of people to brave the dance floor for one song.
When The Deaths took the stage I decided to check out the sound from the back of the room. Climbing the stairs to one of the cabaret table compartments, I got the distinct feeling that I was at a dinner theater rather than a rock venue, and part of my view of the stage was blocked by the bar and sound booth set up in the middle of the room. It was easy to become absorbed in the chatter around me, which made it hard to concentrate at all on the music. The Deaths still sounded great from the back of the room, however, and Karl Qualey's voice soared above the organ sounds and power chords. Having never seen The Deaths live, I can now say that I completely agree with fellow HowWasTheShow writer Bob Longmore's classification of the band: “a 60s-inspired psychedelic rock band.”
It was 11:30 by the time The Vestals began to play, and the venue had completely filled up. The aisles leading between the levels of seating were crowded with people, and I noticed that a particularly heavy proportion of concert-goers were involved in the local music business in one way or another. The Vestals played a fairly no-frills set, mostly standing still and pumping out their unique strains of power-pop and harmonic rock. Brothers Jeremy and Ben Gordon complimented each other's vocal stylings perfectly, and their songs reminded me of both early Beatles and the Hopefuls. In celebration of their new CD, the delightful Songs About Girls...and other mysteries, they played a good selection of new tracks that got a good number of people down in front of the stage, nodding their heads in time with the music. The drumming duties for the set were shared by Mario Garza and Noah Levy (of Honeydogs fame), who both played on the record.
The band's sophomore album is aptly titled; most of the tracks delve deep into the mysteries of female/male interactions, but the lyrics manage to remain poetic and interesting up to the end of the disc. It took a couple of listens for the album to really grow on me, but around the third time through the songs began unfolding into each other and exposing layers of influences, from Ben Folds (the lilting, feel-good piano-rock of “Motorcycles and Butterflies”) to the aforementioned Fab Four (the jangly, major/minor changes of “Nothing”) to Rufus Wainwright (the soaring vocals of “Going Going Gone”). In the end, The Vestals combine familiar elements to make their own sound, and the sunny disc makes the perfect soundtrack for the budding leaves and lilac breezes of spring.
Location Info:
Suburban World Theater
Artist Info: Chris Koza, Hanz Erik and the Hims, The Deaths, The Vestals
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