Motorboater is Dan Eaton, a musician who also plays in KC’s Queen’s Club. With his solo project, Dan trades in the guitars and pop rock jams for his Macbook and electronic-dance tunes. The music was like Passion Pit meets Yeasayer meets Metro Station – I’ll let you decide if that sounds like a good combination or not (and to make the genre even more confusing, Eaton left everyone with a Taylor Swift remix). Hunched over his computer monitor, shoulders bobbing to his tunes, I could see how Motorboater could really take off in the proper environment, but in the low key Record Bar where the majority of patrons would rather chill in a booth with beers than get up and dance, Motorboater got a little muddled.
“We’re a new band called Black Man Running,” quipped Marty Hillard after his band had already warmed the crowd up with a couple songs. In reality, Hillard is part of the very popular Lawrence three-piece Cowboy Indian Bear. This band draws in listeners with cool vocal trade-offs between Hillard and CJ Calhoun, but then blows fans away with bombastic drums not just from backbone drummer Beau Bruns, but from all the members. It’s serious music, but as Marty’s quip proved, there’s also a light-heartedness to it as well.
Since the showcase was all about Soft Reeds and the band’s new album Soft Reeds Are Bastards, the band did a few things out of the norm for a typical local band show. They began with the premiere of a music video for “This Affair,” made by Gnarly Productions. It wasn’t only the first time fans were seeing the video, but a first for the band as well. The band began their set with album opener Brave New World, a catchy rock tune with a bit of a garage rock edge. Though a bit out of order from the album, as can be expected at a CD release, Soft Reeds played through most of their songs on Soft Reeds Are Bastards until the bar turned on the lights to kick everyone out. The songs have a classic, jangly upbeat sound that make this release perfect timing to catch the tail end of the summer bbq season. Just be warned, for as happy as the major chords and and staccato key notes make it sound, lyrically and vocally, the music is juxtaposed with a gritty edge. One of my favorite Soft Reeds songs both live and on the album, “The City and the Stars” has a chorus that says, “I”m torn between the city and the stars: open spaces and lived-in bars.” Kind of fascinating sentiment if you really think about it, but a good metaphor for the type of feeling I get from this album. Yeah, you can have the cliche openness of the countryside and the stars just like you can have the clean cut cheery sounds of music like the Beach Boys or you can go with something more true to how life is – it might be a little worn-in, but it is familiar and interesting at the same time, much like the sounds of this album: familiar, a bit worn-in, but very interesting.
You can stream the new album at the Record Machine here. It is officially released July 13.
Soft Reeds Set List:
Brave New World
Bleeding Hearts
The City and the Stars
Thick of Thin Things
Wasted Time
Baby’s on Fire
Hemel Dalingen
The Sirens of Titan
This Affair
Why must good things always come to an end and why is that when it rains it pours?
The same week that late night TV fans had to bid adieu to CoCo, Kansas City was bidding farewell to JoCo.
The Beaumont Club Saturday night was as packed with people as the line up for the final Josephine Collective show was as packed with bands. In what might be a Kansas City first, people actually showed up early to see all openers, which might have been in part to most of the openers being the new projects of Josephine members.
Though all information listed 5 p.m. for the show, the first band actually started at 4:45 p.m., so showing up at 5:10 meant I missed Holy Mountain, but based on the size of the crowd and hum of kind words about the act when I arrived, it seems like it would have been a great set. They’re local to KC, so I’m sure I’ll get another chance to review them.
The first act I did catch was amazing and set the bar high for the rest of the groups. I had no idea this sort of group-this sort of music-existed in Kansas City. The group seemed to have the recipe for awesomeness down. They had the basics: drums and guitar. Then, they made it a little unusual by rounding the foursome out with a violinist and a cellist. But what really made them unique was what the drummer, Jared Bond did on the first song.
Jared already had me excited when he came out on stage because he is also the drummer for Josephine Collective and his group was the first of the offshoots that I was seeing. I guess he was inspired by the string players in his new group and he thought, ‘Hey, why not bow the drums.’ Can you imagine the shock of seeing someone whip at a bow to run along the cymbals? That’s something you don’t see every day.
The group’s sound, abetted by the Americana folk-style vocals and the driving riffs on the cello, was reminiscent of Murder by Death. They were all very skilled, but perhaps too much so — Chaski Zapata: loosen up. This isn’t a school orchestra concert. Granted, the group has only been together since fall 2009, so stage presence has room to grow, especially when the musical talent is already there.
The only real problem with this act is that they’re a little difficult to track down on the webs. At this show, all the promotional material billed them as Dolphin Lounge, but on stage it sounded like they kept introducing themselves as Root & Stem and then when I tried to track them online, they appeared to be known as Casa Real. I could understand being confusing and hiding if you are a shitty group, but these guys are good and I’m trying to shout about them from the mountaintops…well shout about them from the laptops at least. I’ve tried to contact them about their real name, so hopefully I’ll be able to update soon.
The indie pop trio Sailor Sequence followed the mystery band name group. I’ve talked about these guys before, but that show was colored by a drunken interference. It was kind of exciting to go from the folk rock into their cool piano melodies with crashing cymbals. They played five songs with each song better than the last. They’re like Explosions in the Sky meets Postal Service meets Twilight Sad.
They group glided through their five songs, taking just a few brief moments for singer Noffy to thank the crowd and sadly say that this would be the last in Kansas City, for awhile at least, while they adjust as some members move to Nashville. This group is fairly new to the scene, and already one of its greatest rising acts, so I’m sad to see them go. I look forward to seeing where the future brings them though.
The show was about midway through and it was time for two of the most anticipated openers. Ninety-Four and Black Oxygen. These two groups are the side projects of Josephine’s two lead singers, Alexander Sandate and Dillon Devoe, with Alex leading the Atlanta-based Ninety-Four and Dillon helming the Kansas City-based Black Oxygen.
Watching both groups, it was pretty obvious that the Josephine spirit would at least live on. Heck Ninety-Four practically looked like they were Josephine with six members swarming the stage. The same sort of energy and crazy intense rock was present in the acts. Ninety-Four leaned a little toward the harder metal with screaming more prevalent in the band’s first few numbers. Black Oxygen has been around for awhile, but they’ve gone through a minor rehaul since Dillon has joined. Regardless of their changes, I think they’ll still leave metal fans gasping for more. I felt Black Oxygen had a bit more consistency and control than Ninety-Four, but I think any Josephine fan will easily be pleased with what will come out of either band’s camp in the near future. At least the audience at this particular show seemed equally pleased with both bands and responded with appropriate fist pumps, moshing and claps to the beat.
After the taste of Josephine given by the side projects, the audience was geared and ready for JoCo, but while the singer’s got a rest before their final performance (and time to change their shirts), a final opener took to the stage: Kansas City’s popular alternative rock group Queen’s Club.
This is about the third or fourth time I’ve seen these guys and I just didn’t get it. To me they’re like the KC Nickelback if Nickelback added a dance beat to all their tunes. What I mean by this is that I just don’t get why the music is popular and yet it inexplicably is. The kids just ate that shit up. They danced, body surfed and I was in disbelief over the amount of fists pumping the air. Seriously? I want to like these guys. My friends say I should, but I just don’t get it and this is one club I won’t be joining.
I love getting more bang for my buck and at $5 a ticket, this show easily gave buyers their money’s worth, but all these bands later and I was getting extremely anxious for the headliners. When the full Josephine Collective (including Bond) finally came out, it was complete chaos, but in a good way. The band already has a bajillion members, but their close friends and the other bands surrounded the group as well serving as cheering sections. If you’ve ever had the privilege, it was like being at Girl Talk show minus the toilet paper and instead of electronic remixes, it was heavy rock tunes in the vain of The Used, Say Anything and Taking Back Sunday that got the bodies moving. Even during some of the band’s few slower numbers, moshing and crowd-surfing ran rampant.
Josephine Collective know how to throw a going away party. As they blasted through songs from their Living EPand We Are The Air, crowd-surfers ran rampant causing security to sweat, but Josephine to smile as Alex and Dillon hardly missed a beat as they dished out hugs and high-fives to the kids landing on stage.
One of the highlights of the set came early with the popular single, “Living.” When the guys sang, “It just stops,” the entire mass of bodies intensely moshing, surfing and singing froze before jumping back into the chorus as raucous as ever. Other great moments included an impromptu and jokingly sung tune about this being the band’s final shows that included mentionings of mustaches and other things. I also loved when one of the Sailor Sequence guys joined for a tune, and of course, I loved the colouration that the softer “Lye,” brought to the set.
“Josephine, Josephine, get back together,” Alex and Dillon quipped back and forth. But then they pointed at that much like an ex-girlfriend, you can get back together and, “Yeah, the sex is great, but then you start dating and you remember why you broke up.” Sad, but understandable.
We wanted the show to keep going, but with their entire catalog pretty much done, the boys had to let the final tune fly.
Yes, the group began to play “Freebird,” but sans special appearances of Will Ferrell and co. It was all in good fun before they began their final song of the evening and of their band’s lifetime: “Pray for Rain.”
January 23, 2010 – Josephine Collective reunited and ended it the way it should have ended. They will be missed, but with Dolphin Lounge/Casa Real/Root&Stem, Fire for Effect, Ninety-Four, Sensational News Commentary Groove and Black Oxygen, we can all still continue the JoCo love for years to come.
My parents had strange rules about concerts. Due to their fears that I would fall prey to drugs, sex and alcohol or die in a mosh pit, I was not allowed to go to a music concert until I was 18. Even once I turned 18, I was nervous they would not let me go to a show until I was out of the house. A month after my 18th birthday they finally found a show they approved of for my first concert. It was a band called Relient K. They approved because of the band’s positive songs and Christian influences. I approved because I simply liked the music. The day of the show rolled around: February 14, 2005.
When I awoke that morning, I sat up in bed only to immediately fall back down as a wave of blackness crept into my vision. My head was warm. The day of my first concert and it looked like I would be too sick to attend. Young and naïve, I worried that if I didn’t go to this show, I would never get to go to another show. I took lots of medicine and reassured my parents that despite my looking like a zombie and barely being able to stand, I was perfectly fine to go to the concert. Sick and delirious, I went to my first Relient K show and first concert ever. Hopped up on medicine, I don’t remember much except being really happy. That was four years ago. I now attend concerts on a weekly basis. And amid my many concerts, I kind of forgot about Relient K. They weren’t regularly on the radio and thus they weren’t regularly on my radar. I also think that like so many, I kind of brushed off the Christian rock genre, and in doing that, brused them off as well. I now regret that.
Four years later, I again found myself at a Relient K concert. Though I had aged and the band had as well, the majority of the audience had not. The crowd was still comprised of high schoolers like the last time I had seen them. Those of their over 21 fans that were not afraid to admit they still loved this band just as much as when they were young, stood toward the back. Greatly outnumbered by screaming teens, I think these “old” people, myself included, felt a bit awkward.
As the first band, a local KC group called the Queen’s Club played their set, the young girls up front gushed. And it did seem a bit silly and I did feel out of place as the teensters fell for every strange gesture of the band. I, on the otherhand, thought their constant “Oh oh ohs,” long hair, mustaches, and partly open mouths combined with constant hip thrusts against their guitars made them look like porn stars. As they played into the extreme hormone levels of the pubescent kids up front and the only people confused enough to actually enjoy them, I think anybody older knew that actual sex would have been a better use of time than actually watching this band. Perhaps, I’m being too harsh, because this band does have a large following in KC, but I was not impressed.
The next group, Owl City, was a bit more my speed. These Minnesotans were almost too fluffy as they played in front of a screen with clouds and other images projected on it, but I still really loved them. As the three musicians played their synths and drums, the audience danced around to their electronica pop. I think with this singer’s voice and the music style, it was like if Early November’sAce married Lights and their child was Owl City. Relient K’s Matt Thiessen joined the band for “Firefly” and I think all that was missing was Zac Efron before you had every young girl’s dream on stage.
As the typical championship music blasted over the speakers, Relient K finally took to the stage. Matt Thiessen’s curly blonde hair bounced back as he jumped on the drum stand and back down causing young girls to screame But Relient K is so much more than a band with an adorable frontman. They are really skilled and clever musicians, who don’t get enough credit for their craft. Perhaps, this is why the 21 and over crowd had to feel awkward that they were so outnumbered. At some point, the music scene starts to put pressure on music lovers and if you are expected to love darker, experimental bands that nobody has heard of to be cool as you get older. You can’t like “cute.” And yes, Relient K is “cute” in both the physical and musical sense. And as they sing songs about high school dances and sunny days, I can see why a person might feel like they have to “grow up” and “grow out” of Relient K.
Yet, as a I watched them perform after I had “grown up,” I realized that reasoning was stupid. Relient K is really talented and deserves more credit and more proud support from their older fans. Matt Thiessen juggled vocal duties with gorgeous piano melodies, guitar, and the occasional trumpet addition. The band backed him up with powerful chords, harmonies and lots of energy. Though Thiessen really is the star of this band. He has a distinct voice with great control. One moment he was intensely shouting during “Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet” and the next he was singing in a near whispher as he crooned “Let It All” in a cathartic moment. The songs off the next album (Thiessen suggested Oct. 6 as a release date), also showed a more mature sound like the piano heavy title track “Forget and Not Slow Down.” Then, of course, you have a song like Relient K’s brilliant story of a man in his final moment in the nearly ten minute “Deathbed” that they played for an encore. They run the whole gambit of emotions and styles in this song and the lyrical construction is an astounding presentation of a man’s life story and acceptance of his death. If you haven’t heard this song, I suggest you check it out immediately and then try to deny loving Relient K.
Of course, it is nice to let loose and just enjoy how silly Relient K can be sometimes. That’s part of their charm and what makes them so fun.
They played up the goofiness of “Sadie Hawkins” and when it got to the final line,“Do you like my sweater,” Thiessen gave it new meaning by shaking his head in the middle and sending perspiration flying as he broke it down to, “Do you like my sweat…er?”
“You guys watch that show The Office?” said Thiessen at another point in the show. “It’s good. It’s about paper. We wrote a love song about it.” Then the band busted out a hilarious ditty that included lines like, “Angela, you are too cute to hang out with somebody like Dwight Schrute.” The song concluded with the actual theme song from The Office.
Then of course you had their great covers. They announced a cover of Cake’s “The Distance,” which was fun and different to hear them rap and play so much trumpet, but the best cover of the evening was a complete surprise. They started off with a nice instrumental jam that had audience members nodding a long and thinking, “Ok. This is nice, but what is this?” The answer: “Five. Five dollar foot loooooong.” That’s right, Relient K was covering the Subway commercial.
It made me sad when I realized the show was almost over. They ended with another new song, “This Is the End,” which Thiessen pointed out was “strategically placed.” It was an absolutely beautiful song that had Thiessen alone on the piano. As I watched his hands fly over the keys and listened to his voice, I can’t blame any of those girls in attendance from crushing on him.
It was impossible to not smile and be happy watching this band. I regret that it took me four years to see Relient K again and this show reminded me why I loved them so much in the first place. I think the band knows they have a young following, but I really would like to see the age range of their audience grow. I think what makes them so great is they have something for the teenies to enjoy and the parents. But I think the middle age range, those in their 20s and 30s, is really lacking in attendance and those people could do well to listen to this band more. They need music like this in their lives. I’m proud to say they were my first concert and that I’m still going to their shows.
So if you have brushed this band off in the past, de-hipster or do whatever you need to do to get Relient K in your life. Relient K is like Campbell’s Soup. They’re good for everyone’s soul.
Set List: Chap Stick
Who I Am, Hates Who I’ve Been
High of 75
Forget and Not Slow Down
The Office
Mood Rings
$5 Foot Long
Sadie Hawkins
Lining Is Silver
The Thief
Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet
Let It All Out
I Don’t Need a Soul
I Need You
The Distance
Be My Escape
This Is the End
//
Deathbed
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
One of my favorite Soft Reeds songs both live and on the album, “The City and the Stars” has a chorus that says, “I”m torn between the city and the stars: open spaces and lived-in bars.” Kind of fascinating sentiment if you really think about it, but a good metaphor for the type of feeling I get from this album. Yeah, you can have the cliche openness of the countryside and the stars just like you can have the clean cut cheery sounds of music like the Beach Boys or you can go with something more true to how life is – it might be a little worn-in, but it is familiar and interesting at the same time, much like the sounds of this album: familiar, a bit worn-in, but very interesting.
