By: Andrea Myers
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Ear Candy at Club Underground - Photo by David de Young (see the full set of photos here)
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The first band to take the stage was Thosquanta, a four-piece outfit led by vocalist and guitar player Adam Powell. Formerly of solo project Girl Next Door, Powell has spent the last several years writing songs and searching for the other musicians to create the current Thosquanta line-up, which includes vocalist Jen Plum, guitar player Nic Heidt, and 6-string bassist David Erickson. With no drummer, Thosquanta puts out a unique sound, creating industrial rhythms on beat machine. “Our perfect drummer is sitting on top of my guitar amp,” joked Powell between songs. “See how he never misses a beat?”
Despite the dark nature of the music, Thosquanta ends up sounding satisfyingly poppy. Jen Plum provides stark contrast with her breathy, angelic vocals and timid stage presence, which creates a sort of good versus evil struggle in the music and makes their sound truly unique. With the back of the stage left empty from the lack of a drum kit, David Erickson stands on the back platform, feet spread apart, symbolizing his role as time keeper and groove maker. Erickson indicated that they have begun auditioning for a real live drummer, and despite the novelty of their line-up it seems that the addition will add more organic power to their heavy, mechanic sound.
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TOMHANKS at Club Underground - Photo by David de Young
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Next up was TOMHANKS, a one-man band that just might be hilarious enough to succeed. In a style similar to acts like Har Mar Superstar, TOMHANKS (real name Grant Cutler) took irreverence to the next level by performing in a plain white t-shirt, ratty jeans, huge red-rimmed plastic sunglasses and about two weeks’ worth of five o’clock shadows. With a computerized techno beat as his only accompaniment, TOMHANKS sings in a half-assed rapping manner about topics ranging from sex to dancing to…well, mostly just those two things. In a downright dirty song about the intricacies of sexual mishaps, he scoffs at the chorus, “If this is making love, then this is making love.” In another song, “Sounds Pollution,” off of his self-titled release from last year, he jokes, “Baby what’s that sexy noise? Is it one of your toys?”
Even though his shtick would like to convey otherwise, TOMHANKS comes off as being strangely, comedically sexy, and he seemed to drive the other ladies in the audience wild. At one point a girl jumped up on the stage almost involuntarily, shimmying up against TOMHANKS in a frantic, excited fashion. In a time of excessive, bleeding heart indie-rock movements, perhaps TOMHANKS and his no-nonsense overconfidence is exactly the right formula.
“This first song is about rice, and peaches,” stated Lady Bon Bon (aka Dawn Miller) as Ear Candy began their first song. The trio, dressed in matching white vinyl button-up dresses, dark sunglasses and knee-high black boots, kicked off with a beat from Lady Bon Bon’s mixing board and a series of synchronized dance moves that actually made me laugh out loud. The subject material of Ear Candy’s songs ranges from “Do It On the Bus” to “Let’s Go Shopping,” and their dance choreography and props only added to the silly, happy-go-lucky feel of the synthesized beats. After a polite little “Merci beau coup” between songs, they would launch into another tune, and I was impressed by the variety of different dances they had memorized to go along with their mesmerizing, bubble gum techno-pop.
Uber Cool Kung Fu closed out the night at the club, and though it came time to leave and run over to the Hexagon to see the Knotwells, I was told that they play a killer version of “Daydream Believer.” If the clips on their MySpace page are any indication, the buzz on their Monkees' cover is definitely justified.
Location Info:
Club Underground
Artist Info: Ear Candy, TOMHANKS, Thosquanta
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