I initially began this night waiting around Richards for the Subways to play. The Subways are a young British trio with a heap of potential, mounds of energy. They've got a great rock sound and the mad vibe on stage is showcasing them to be an engaging act right out of the gate. They've got a lot of wriggle room for growth, which is great, but they have all the ingredients right now to nurture that growth. The show was running very late unfortunately, but the part of the set I did see before taking off to the Red Room was pretty nuts. Lots of leaping off drums, and the spotlight shone on Mary-Charlotte Cooper, who raged and whirled and danced about with her bass guitar, blonde locks flipping and legs flying about. Wild!

Now off to the Red Room! We Are Scientists is one of those odd bands that play rather serious and modern music, yet is comprised of people who are monumentally hilarious. It’s like moneen or the Foo Fighters. After an interview that left me nearly bleeding and dead from laughter, I couldn’t wait to see what they had in store for me live.

Wow, the show was sold out. Really sold out. I didn’t expect that with the band’s first time through, but I guess buzz is everything. So in I went to a stuffed and hot room, to catch the last two songs of the Grates’ set. Only, it turns out it was actually within the last 4 or 5 songs. Every time they would finish a song, Patience (the singer’s name. No, I’m serious) would say “this is our last!” only then they’d go on to play another song afterwards. Now maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace, because everyone else seemed to like them, but I didn’t really dig the Grates. I thought they were flagrantly noisy and annoying, with a screeching banshee of a vocalist, a plunky drummer, and not much musically going for them. Patience bounded around the stage like a wildcat though, and one thing I will give her is that it was very impressive how she was able to keep up her singing so evenly despite her whirling-dervish antics.

Once that was over, and excruciatingly long set change occurred. I nabbed a sidestage spot since the front was impassable by that time. Interestingly, the fellows from Hot Hot Heat were kicking around, and I say that’s interesting only because a few of the WAS songs sound astoundingly like HHH creations. Had I not known either’s material to actually be their own, I likely wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.

On stage, WAS impresses as well. Nothing out of the ordinary really, but simply a solid live show. Between songs, the banter became humorous, true to character. Everything from conversations about Chris Cain’s fancy goggles to a lengthy diatribe between Patience and the WAS guys about taking off their pants and/or doing the splits came out to play. Doing the splits, exclaimed Cain, in America simply meant holding your arms out straight. Har Har. Cain wanders back and forth, facing drummer Mark Tapper a lot of the time. He’s fairly calm on the whole. Keith Murray, however, guitar not always in hand, is a much more vibrant force on stage. Back, forth, up, down, bent over, shuffling feet – he’s very active and very entertaining to watch. He seems to get deadly serious while playing his songs, pushing his mouth and face sensually and deeply into the microphone while singing. And joyfully, the Hot Hot Heat boys were spotted dancing up a storm behind the stage. How sweet, like proud parents.

The show seemed long, thank goodness. I left a bit early, but I think I gathered the scope of things. Looking forward to the next one boys. Skittles and beer.

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : April, 2006.