By: Andrea Myers
After hearing about the new band nights at the Fine Line, I couldn't resist going to check out a new band that I had heard about, The Trimmed Hedges, who were playing in a lineup of up-and-comers. The Fine Line is doing a great thing, inviting bands with less experience to play on a bigger stage and offering comp tickets online for those who want to scope out new talent. As soon as The Trimmed Hedges finished their first song, however, it was clear that they are not a band that you would see every week.
From the first note, the band distinguished themselves. Lead singer, Darren Davis, appeared at center stage, dressed in a pair of jeans that had one leg chopped off with black leggings underneath and a red Bowie-style fat lightening bolt running across his face, and began to sing softly into the microphone. As the bass and drums kicked in and the music revved up, Davis started dancing spastically around the stage, making dramatic facial expressions and grooving theatrically to the music. The songs bordered on atmospheric noise at times, while at others they kicked into funky jams and shifted tempos and structures with impressive maneuverability.
During one of the more rambunctious moments, Davis jumped down off the stage and jerked around the open dance floor, running from one end to the other and doing a sort of jazz/ballet dance, collapsing in a pile, and then sitting calmly in a chair in the front row as the other three musicians took control of the show with a slow, melodic groove. Mid-set, it seemed that an entirely different ensemble had taken the stage, as guitarist Andy Juhl picked up a banjo and bass player Brian David traded in his rig for an acoustic guitar. The two played a quiet piece that conjured up images of Quakers harvesting fall fields or something equally serene, while Davis sat in the middle of the stage and made sad, theatrical facial expressions.
The set wrapped up (keep in mind, all of these things happened in under 45 minutes) with Juhl picking up a double-neck guitar, strumming power chords on the top neck and playing slide guitar on the other while that band whipped themselves back into a frenzy and Davis returned to more spastic dance movements. The last song, called “Spaceship,” featured a long whirring tube that Davis whipped over his head, instructing the audience to scream in response to the whirring to help his spaceship prepare for takeoff. Where else but new band night can you see a theater/rock/ballet performance that ends with a launch into space?
Photo by David de Young.
Location Info:
Fine Line Music Café
Artist Info: The Trimmed Hedges
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