popwreckoning

The Cribs, probably the most famous band to ever come out of Wakefield, England, stopped by Washington’s 9:30 Club Tuesday night for a blistering performance of new songs from their latest album Ignore the Ignorant, as well as old favorites. The English four-piece was joined by Adam Green and the Dead Trees.

I’m not familiar with Adam Green’s back catalogue, or even the Moldy Peaches I’m afraid. What I do know: Green is a close friend of ex-Libertines, ex-Dirty Pretty Things Carl Barat, so by association, many of my Libertines/DPT friends have also become fans of his style of indie rock / anti-folk. He appeared onstage at the 9:30 in a metal-studded leather jacket and extremely tight blue jeans. Based on his look, I was expecting songs done in an over the top, Ramones-style performance, and we got exactly that in spades. Fueled by Stella, Jack Daniels, and bottles of water, the New Yorker ran back and forth across the stage during several songs, posturing and posing, and wiggling his hips. Behind me I heard delighted, appreciative squeals from his devoted female fanbase. Green prefaced the song “Broadcast Beach” with the following droll comment: “let’s do something…intellectual!” More squeals.

Instead of having two separate opening acts as I presumed, the Dead Trees provided excellent backing to Green’s shenanigans. Maybe this happens at all of his shows, but I say “shenanigans” because I think for nearly every number he sang, he jumped on the barrier and tried to launch himself into the crowd. A couple times he was successful; other times, not so much much. At one point I almost got a mouthful of shoe as he crowd surfed over the people behind me. When he finally removed his jacket (to more female squealing) and exposed an Ace bandage around his left elbow, a concerned fan asked what had happened. “What happened to my elbow?” he said in a sing-song voice. “I delivered a baby!” He used that opportunity to launch into “Baby’s Gonna Die.” It should be noted that Green provided much hilarity on this night; at one point, he decided to announce to the 9:30 Club’s kitchen (which has had emblazoned on it a cartoony “Food Food” sign for as long I can remember), “Can we place an order at the Food Food? Five veggie burgers for the boys. Tonight I’ll be a boy.” Other highlights included “What Makes Him Act So Bad” and “Emily,” both of which reminded me so much of really good ’60s songwriting. His latest album Minor Love was released in America on January 16.

The Cribs‘s latest album Ignore the Ignorant was one of my top 5 releases of 2009. I’ve also been a big Smiths fan for a while now (and am much appreciative of Johnny Marr‘s contributions to popular music), so when news broke two years ago now that Marr had become a full-fledged member of the Cribs, this was very exciting news to me indeed. I had been anticipating this gig for weeks, playing and replaying their new album, enjoying the addition of Marr’s virtuoso guitar-playing to the Jarman brothers’ masterful songwriting. Standing outside in the cold a couple hours before the gig, a friend and I were able to hear the band sound check “We Share the Same Skies,” “Hari Kari,” “We Were Aborted” and “Be Safe”, all four sounding amazing then, so that just fueled our excitement.

Once inside, amusingly, we were surrounded by Smiths-style goths and several people from England complaining about the lack of their favorite beer (Boddingtons from Manchester) but talking loudly at length about their love for Johnny Marr. One overzealous English fan felt the need to shout “Johnny Marr, wooo!” every five minutes. Uh, yes, we all know that Johnny Marr is part of the Cribs now. No need to shout, love. Before launching into older song “I’ve Tried Everything,” obviously used to the affection being regularly foisted upon his new bandmate, Ryan Jarman quipped with a knowing grin, “Yes, we love Johnny too. So hands off!” But who could blame the fans for their adoration? Certainly not me. Right in front of my eyes, Johnny Marr was playing the guitar riffs and lines that I had only heard beforehand on record. And every note was sublime. The man’s still got it.

I loved “We Share the Same Skies” the first time I heard it on BBC Radio, and I loved it even more live, the crowd shouting back the chorus to the band. Gary Jarman took lead vocal duties for “Last Year’s Snow,” the kind of song I expect to spur on massive showings of hand-waving for the band at home in England, the guitars and vocals just perfect together. Simply gorgeous. Crashing in powerfully was “Cheat on Me,” the band’s first single from Ignore the Ignorant, filed with a lover’s’ vitriol. “Save Your Secrets,” a gentler number, was achingly beautiful, with lyrics like “Oh, doleful girl / alone in the world / where did her true love go?” and “You are far more likely / to be devoured than empowered / your sense of romance.” Before the show, drummer Ross Jarman revealed to me that he particularly liked playing this one in concert because of its mellowness. I can understand. The rest of the night must have been murder on his previously injured wrist, the band attacking songs with furious intensity and feeding off the excited crowd, energetically pogo-ing with Ryan.

While I was disappointed not to hear my favorite from the new album, the cheeky “Victim of Mass Production,” the nearly hour-and-a-half set couldn’t be beat. Make sure you catch the band’s energetic show next they come to your town. They are also scheduled to appear at Coachella on Friday, April 16.

The Cribs Set List:
We Were Aborted
Hey Scenesters!
We Share the Same Skies
Hari Kari
Last Year’s Snow
What About Me
Cheat On Me
I’ve Tried Everything
Save Your Secrets
Mirror Kissers
Another Number
Our Bovine Public
Ignore the Ignorant
Be Safe
I’m A Realist
Men’s Needs
City of Bugs

Tour Dates:
Jan 22 – Granada Theatre / Dallas*
Jan 23 – Parish / Austin*
Jan 26 – Glass House / Pomona
Jan 27 – Bimbo 365 / San Francisco
Jan 29 – Wonder Ballroom / Portland
Jan 30 – Showbox / Seattle
Jan 31 – Venue / Vancouver
Apr 16 – Coachella Music Festival / Indio, CA
* with Adam Green and the Dead Trees

The Cribs: website | myspace | Interview with: The Cribs – North Star Bar, Philadelphia | The Cribs Announce New Album Details | The Cribs Rush Release of “Cheat on Me” Single | The Cribs Announce January 2010 North American Tour
Adam Green: website | myspace | Lissy Trullie with Adam Green – “Just a Friend”
The Dead Trees: website | myspace | King of Rosa review

In the show “Keys to the VIP”, a panel of four “pickup experts” sits back and watches as two guys are sent into a club and given seduction challenges. They might have to just get a sexy picture with a girl or they might need to get a phone number; stuff like that. If you haven’t seen it, it’s because it’s a Canadian show that plays on the Comedy Network (Canadian version of Comedy Central [Ed. note: similar to the US' "The Pick Up Artist"]). The beauty of watching the show is that every contestant who knows what he’s doing has a clearly defined style – or, dare I say, art – of seduction. Some of them are smooth and sexy, some are brash and aggressive, others are sweet and charming – whatever they know their strengths are, they play to them. As one of the members of the panel, Alen, writes about seduction on the Comedy Network website, “Your job is to capture a word in your target’s mind. For example … does she think you’re funny, mysterious, outrageous or sweet?”

In music, the best bands have the same effect on listeners. For example: The Beatles = poppy, happy, colorful; The Rolling Stones = bluesy, exciting, sexy; The Velvet Underground = arty, druggy, cool; and such. On King of Rosa, The Dead Trees deliver song after song of sturdy, hooky songwriting, but the band never settles on one solid identity and the listener is never given that word to hold on to. No, that doesn’t make The Dead Trees so good that they defy classification, in this case it means that their art needs finesse.

The first two tracks, “OK Standby” and the single-worthy “Shelter” are both based on a great repetitive bluesy riff. This presents the band as post-garage-rock-revivalists (don’t ignore the “post” bit, nothing here sounds like the Von Bondies or anything of that ilk) until the Elliott Smith-esque piano waltz “My Friend, Laura, She Never Asks” dismisses that notion. It’s a great song, but it destroys any unified feel the album could have had by just being too different from the tracks preceding it. The same could be said about every track that follows it. There’s nothing wrong with being eclectic, but when no clear voice emerges, what you have isn’t eclecticism but an identity crisis.

Even with the lack of an identity, the quality of the writing is still impressive. “Killer in Me” makes the band sound like an American version of British Sea Power while the moody “I Here, I Want” could pass for classic Pavement (albeit much cleaner) right before the neo-British-invasion-style “Loretta” shreds shit up. The band even tries the quieter, acoustic-er approach on “Let Me Sleep” and “New England Skies”. There’s no point on the album where they do not succeed at the style they’re attempting.

While the best bands and albums manage to fuse various influences into a congruent and definitive style, on their debut album, The Dead Trees play musical dress up, imitating different heroes on every song. While the performance is convincing and more than enjoyable, The Dead Trees need to grow a personality before anyone is going to take notice of them.

King of Rosa is available now from Milan Records.

Tracklisting:
01. OK Standby
02. Shelter
03. My Friend, Joan, She Never Asks
04. Killer In Me
05. Instrumental
06. I Have, I Want
07. Loretta
08. Let Me Sleep
09. Twin Cities
10. New England Skies

The Dead Trees: website | myspace

Written By Marc Z. Grub

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