The Wars of 1812 at 331 Club on 9/11/07
By: Jon Behm
If anyone chose to beat back the recent temperature drop with the 331 Club’s $2.50 margaritas last Tuesday, you may have noticed a relative newcomer to the Twin Cities music scene. The Wars of 1812 are an interestingly named band of Sconnies who came together in St. Paul in 2006. Though there was no shortage of international conflicts in 1812, the plurality of their band name is somewhat of a mystery. In addition to the self-titled war, my opinion is that they reference the war that Mother Nature waged on the people of Missouri that year with one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded, proving once and for all that Missouri was a mistake that nature was attempting to correct. Or maybe it was Napoleon.
Regardless of the origins of their name, The Wars of 1812 are pretty good. They are a four-piece alt-country band, and though they have only been together a short time they have already released two albums independently, Status Quo Ante Bellum and Here Are My Black Clothes, which I plan to check out as soon as I can figure out where to find them.
Tuesday night’s performance was a sparsely attended, low-key affair. Lead singer and guitarist Peter Pisano warmed up the crowd a bit by cracking some jokes, but it was fairly obvious that nearly everyone that was there was a friend of the band. This is a shame because I think that they have a very palatable sound that would be very appealing to a broad range of Twin Cities’ music lovers.
Most of the tunes are Americana-inspired country rock—a little more rootsy than your Wilco or Jayhawks style indie-country. To me their genre seemed more reminiscent of Depression era blues and hillbilly boogie, though with a definite indie-rock base. Ken Rosewell on the keyboard, I think, is they key to their sound, adding a little organ to what otherwise would probably be an unremarkable guitar and drum sound. Not that the others in the band don’t play well, it’s just the keyboards that really bring everything together.
I enjoyed several tunes during the set, including “Drifter,” “Radios Unsigned” and another song whose name I can’t remember, but was accompanied by a lengthy story by Pisano of how he met Elvis Costello and was inspired by seeing “Bedlam” performed live. Whatever that song was called, it was good.
The Wars of 1812 - Photo by Jon Behm
I could not stay for the entire set, as I had to hurry over to catch Michael Yonkers at the Turf Club, but I definitely enjoyed what I did hear, and look forward to seeing them around the Twin Cities’ more in the future. The Wars of 1812 appear to be pretty young, and possibly have yet to come into their fully fledged “sound.” However, what I have heard so far seems very promising, and I think they have the potential to become a great band.
Location Info:
331 Club
Artist Info: The Wars of 1812
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