How Was The Show - Ela, Martin Devaney, The Missing Numbers at The Turf Club

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Martin Devaney CD Release Show at The Turf Club on 11/20/04

Martin Devaney at his CD Release Party at the Turf Club Saturday night. Photo by David de Young (Click for full size.)

At 24, Martin Devaney is well on his way to local hero status. He is as much a master of hanging out and having fun while supporting other local bands as he is at getting a helluvalot done. Most people who spend as much time in drinking establishments as Devaney does don’t have much to show for it. But despite his part time job as barfly, Devaney still finds time to tour with his band (newly re-christened The Men of La Mancha), put out well above par albums every year or so, and run his co-operative record label, Eclectones Records. If Susstones

mogul Ed Ackerson were ever to retire (which howwastheshow sincerely hopes never happens), Devaney might be poised to take his place as the new Renaissance Man of the Twin Cities music scene.

Devaney has another much envied quality that if bottled would be worth more than its weight in gold to budding musicians: Like his friend (and now fellow Eclectone label mate) Dan Israel, he’s a press magnet.

Devaney’s CD release party at the Turf Club in St. Paul Saturday brought not only a night of great music, but a whole lot of fun.

Opening was Minneapolis rock quartet Ela. Ela is currently comprised of Bill Caperton (vocals/guitar), Knol Tate (vocals/misc.), Jacy McIntosh (bass) and BJ Wuolette (drums). Ela’s set was full of rocking and funky grooves, some songs with a moody Pedro the Lion feel to them, others with a Brit-rock feel in the spirit of a less girly version of Muse. A song late in Ela’s set featured a sax solo by Devaney himself, who in his former life as a jazz sax player was a founding member of hip hop act the Heiruspecs.

After one song, Knol Tate deadpanned in Midwestern drawl with no hint of the Johnny Rotten snarl with which the original remark was delivered so many years ago: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

Ela’s restrained yet passionate rock and roll is one reason I look forward to their next show at Big V's December 9th with former Dismemberment Plan front man Travis Morrison. You can hear live streams of their new album on their website: http://www.elamusic.net.

The Missing Numbers set had elements of déjà vu, seeing Jimmy Peterson back on the Turf stage a week to the day after he’d played there with Bellwether at their CD release party the week before. Peterson and company undeniably “brought it” to use the lazy rock parlance of the times, and it’s just plain good to see them going at it up there.

Martin Devaney kicked right into things in his headlining spot with the leadoff track from his new album La Mancha, the bouncy “Is That You?” The song includes something almost akin to an urban bar crawl love spell with its “I wish I may, I wish I might, see you in this bar tonight.”

Devaney was looking almost evil with his recently-grown beard during the second song, “Falling Away.” If he hasn’t broken free of the “mellow acoustic folk act” moniker with which he was labeled by the press after his previous album, the down-tempo September, supporting gigs for this La Mancha will undoubtedly take care of that.

Things were getting a little crazy up front by the stage, and it was immediately apparent this was as much a party as a rock show. I heard a Tambourine that didn’t appear to be coming from the stage or speakers after looking around realized it was being passed around the audience with Devaney’s full support.

Martin Devaney and his 3 guitar attack of Steve McPherson (second from left), Devaney and Josh Peterson (far right) level the Turf Club. Far left is Jake Hyer. In the middle on bass is Matt Palin. (Click for full size)

After a quick, tiny sip of his Guiness, Devaney went straight into his next song “Meeting Like This” another one of my favorites off the new album, re-immortalizing the already famous downstairs bar at the Turf with the line, “Scrounge around the clown lounge in the dark.”

“(Friends Don’t Let Friends) Drink and Dial ”is another stand out track off the new disk. (The title is similar in theme to DUI (Dialing Under the Influence) that appears on Har Mar Superstar’s new disk, The Handler. Don’t tell me the subject matter isn’t something we can all relate to, for better or worse results. Devaney’s song though ends with a purging mantra of “I don’t wanna live like this no more.” The end of the live version of the song facilitates similar cathartic release to the “There is no love in this world anymore” part from the end of “I Believe” by the Buzzcocks. If you scream it out a bunch of times and you’re almost guaranteed to feel better.

Devaney played nearly every song from his new 11 song disk over the course of the set, including a souped-up, more rocking, more mature of his early song “The Landlords Daughter” that ended with a drawn out, reflective “I’m in love, I wish I was in love” part at the end.

Towards the end of the set guitarist Steve McPherson joined the band on guitar for a cover of Neil Young’s “Downtown.” With Josh Peterson, McPherson and Devaney all on guitar if everyone wasn’t already paying attention (which they were) this three guitar attack from the Turf Club stage surely took care of that.