By: David de Young
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Bassist William Muller (left) looks on as vocalist Kermit Carter belts out another new, fresh Midwestern rock hit at Big V's on Friday night - photo by David de Young (click for full size)
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After an under-whelming set by the Rapture at First Avenue and a bunch of scenester milling around by the upstairs bar, I did a hard sell of Superhopper's CD Release at Big V's to a couple of friends. It was tough going since the equally deserving Idle Hands were appearing at the Uptown Bar during the same time slot; but finally I struck the deal by volunteering to pay for the cab.
We got to Big V's about midway through a great set by Malachi Constant. The club was jam-packed, and the energy was sky-high.
I was glad to arrive early enough to get a feel for Malachi Constant. With energetic instrumental-heavy songs and occasionally frenzied lyrics, Malachi Constant is a band I hope to check out a full set by soon. (You can find a few of their MP3's here. )
If you've read any of my show reviews before, you may have noticed they're typically rather detailed. I've practically trademarked using in-between-song stage banter and running through the set list song by song. But any ability to do either of these things for the Superhopper show is just not in the cards. Superhopper was the fifth band I'd seen in 5 hours on Friday, and I'd been drinking whiskey for an hour longer than that by the time I burst into Big V's with my oversize cowboy hat and entourage of two. With no notes and looking backwards two days by the time of writing, I'm surprised I'm doing as well as I am at reassembling the night. The place was so damn crowded and crazy the show was more of an over-the-top party than a concert anyway, and note-taking was not a viable option.
The party atmosphere was part of the point I wanted to make anyway. And I'm glad I was stoked enough on whiskey myself to avoid feeling claustrophobic or even concerned when about four songs into the set, some sort of disturbance rolled through the crowd like a wave and eventually found the perpetrator being dragged out the back door of the club flopping around on the floor like an Asian carp by bouncers and audience members. The energy on stage being what it was, this incident seemed minor or just part of the show, and my only reaction once I'd assured my own safety was move closer to the stage to get some more pictures.
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The crowd swelled right up against the stage at Superhopper's CD release party
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My seeming digressions in this review closely mirror my difficulty doing research for this review. Every time I look at Superhopper's website, some new link there catches my eye and sends me off on a wild tangent reading conspiracy theories about September 11th, watching crazy flash videos set to love songs for the moon, or stories about bees flying into your mouth while driving your car and making you crash while singing Justin Timberlake songs. I shit you not. I dare you to go to the Superhopper website and not get sucked in for hours by the links alone.
(Putting the CD back on and closing my browser served as much better inspiration.)
I'd heard the opening track of the new CD, "New Fresh Midwest" a couple of weeks ago on Minnesota Music, and I remember feeling typical new-CD-envy as Jason Nagel said, "this came in the mail for me this week." My envy turned out to be unfounded when the next day I stopped by the howwastheshow.com PO Box, and there, along with the new Hangups CD and a DVD of the new Tried For Fine video, was the brand new Superhopper album "Does This Sound Exciting Yet?" (Guiltridden Pop) along with a couple of pages of green astrobright paper with a self-described "cliché filled pitch" and an invitation to Friday's CD release party.
The CD is better than just a good listen. It's a catchy, fun, well-put together pop/punk record, equally inspired at times by the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, (I Am Scheming), the Clash (Something Real Cool), the Sex Pistols and few echoes of local heroes Husker Du and the Soviettes. Superhopper purveys some of the best stuff about so-called pop/punk before it leaned too far to the pop end of the spectrum and emptied itself of 95% of its soul in the process. Even if vocalist Kermit Carter sings, "nobody listens to the words anymore," (on I am the Hermit) Superhopper's lyrics are clever and cool, and half the hooks are in their well-chosen phrases themselves, like the repeated "It's not new / It's not fresh / It's the Midwest" on the opening track or the "Doo doot / Doo doot / Doo doot / doot doo doo doo" on "Hoodoo Voodoo and the Paranoia." Also check out the song "Laraine Newman," that pays homage to the SNL comedian from the show's early days with its repeated "blame it all on Chevy Chase" line. (One last tangent: did you know Laraine Newman studied under mime artist Marcel Marceau?)
The energy of Superhopper's new CD translates well live, and this was only amplified by the cramped and crowded Big V's. If it weren't for the fact that Superhopper is a St. Paul band and perhaps wanted to celebrate their CD release on their home turf (no pun intended when speaking of the club that's just a hop, skip and jump down the street from St. Paul's Turf Club), perhaps the Triple Rock would have been a more appropriately sized venue for this show. But being all crammed in like that was part of the fun. And as far as I know we all got out alive.
Location Info:
Big Vs
Artist Info: Malachi Constant, Superhopper
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