By: Jim Brunzell III
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Statistics performing at Big V's - Photo by Jim Brunzell III (click for larger version)
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Bassist Dan Maxwell and drummer Oliver Morgan were already in their places, taking healthy sips from their drinks when Denver Dalley, the towering 6’3 singer/guitarist for Omaha, Nebraska’s Statistics stepped on stage at Big V’s. Assessing the crowd, Dalley lifted his guitar, plugged in , and began playing “Sing A Song,” the opening track from Statistics first album, Leave Your Name (Jade Tree, 2004.) When he hit his distortion pedal about 45 seconds into the song, just about everyone in Big V’s took note of the ear-shattering music. The people seated at the bar stools nearer to the front of the room got up and made their way back to the stage to watch.
After the song, Dalley brushed his shaggy, brownish/blonde hair away from his face and thanked the crowd. He changed the tuning of his guitar before start into the band’s second song, “Say You Will,” a track from their most recent release, Often Lie. “Is everyone ready to party?” Dalley asked after finishing the song. It was evident he liked to talk between songs, whether it was with the other band members or with anyone willing to say or ask him something. He volunteered that, “If anyone wants to buy us drinks or shots, we’ll do them up here,” and someone almost immediately fulfilled his request.
Towards the end of “Final Broadcast,” probably the nearest thing to a “radio friendly song” Statistics have, a fan brought four shots up to the stage. (A second guitarist had joined the band on stage since the beginning of the set.) And at the end of the song, the four raised their glasses in a toast, tapped their shots on a drum cymbal and downed them.
As Statistics delved further into their set, the songs kept getting louder, and things got wilder. Members of Little Brazil had jumped onto the stage then off again and started giving piggyback rides to each other. Dalley and Maxwell might have been a bit taken aback by this behavior because they played almost an entire song with their backs to the audience.
What really surprised me was that they chose to play “Mr. Nathan,” an instrumental, which could easily have been mistaken for an Explosions in the Sky song. But the song was about seven minutes shorter than any E.I.T.S. song, which normally clock in close to ten minutes. It was also the best song in their short set. “Mr. Nathan” is a beautiful and tragic song that experiments with sounds, from quiet guitars blending into noisy chords, to a simple drum beat becoming a complicated collision of cymbals and snares getting beaten to hell.
If anything disappointed me about the show, it was the vocals. The music was as loud as anything I’d ever heard, but the vocals seemed muted or at times even impossible to hear. I don’t know if the microphones were turned down way or if that was by design.
Statistics have been operating under most people’s radar for a few years now, as has Dalley himself. Though he may not be a household name, the man stays busy. Not only is he the architect behind Statistics, he also plays guitar in the highly underrated punk band, Desaparecidos with Conor Oberst. And if that wasn’t enough, he recently toured with Maria Taylor playing lead guitar this past summer in support of her recent solo release, 11:11.
After the show, I asked Dalley what was going on with Desaparecidos and he graciously shared that they’ve recorded six songs and are just waiting for Oberst to come into the studio and record his vocals.
I stuck around to see Little Brazil play about five songs, and what I can tell you is this: I will be seeing these guys again. But I’ll make sure to bring my earplugs next time. Dan Maxwell singer for Little Brazil, sang or rather yelled most of the time but the music is similar to Desaparecidos. And Dalley joined the band on guitar for two songs too. Little Brazil recently released their first album entitled, You & Me out on Mt. Fuji Records.
STATISTICS SET LIST
1. Sing A Song (Leave Your Name)
2. Say You Will (Often Lie)
3. Begging to Be Heard (Often Lie)
4. Final Broadcast (Often Lie)
5. Hours Seemed Like Days (Leave Your Name)
6. A Forward (Often Lie)
7. Mr. Nathan (Leave Your Name)
8. The Grass is Always Greener (Leave Your Name)
9. By(e) Now (Often Lie)
Location Info:
Big Vs
Artist Info: Little Brazil, Statistics
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