Night out

[urbpan]

I guess I could have gone to see Neil Gaiman or Neil Diamond tonight (both are appearing in Boston venues this evening) but instead I went and saw Firewater.

I'm not sure when the last time I went out to see live music was; perhaps my friend Carrie's wedding. I seem to only dance at weddings these days, and as most of my friends are hitched, I'll need to find a new excuse to dance. I danced tonight--my entire range on display, from shoegazing swaying in place, to ska skiffle, to outright pogoing. Everything but dancing with a partner. Alexis and I dance at weddings, and we're usually one of the first couples out there.

Firewater played songs from their new album almost exclusively--there were two songs from previous albums, which the band excused by saying that the crowd liked them, but they always messed them up. The highlights involved a trombone player (whose birthday it was) and a hand drummer (actually, the best songs were those he played with a single stick on a hand-held drum. I don't know what you'd call that---EDIT---appparently it was world-famous Indian Dhol player Johnny Kalsi). They took an material from an album which I found a little gimmicky ("hey look, I took a trip to south asia") and brought real passion and excitement to it.

Until I bought the new album, "The Golden Hour" I'd forgotten how dark and dour the lyrics of this band were. Each song speaks of a determined loneliness, of a persona who spends too much time thinking about what his cigarettes look like, and was too influenced by Tom Waits. After the birthday cake was brought out, complete with candles and a mylar monkey balloon, and the audience sang the birthday song, front man Tod A said, okay here's another depressing song." But the live treatment was so buoyant, that the lyrical content couldn't bring you down. Two anthems, clad in the thinnest veils, about how much we dislike the Bush administration, were big singalong hits.

The opening act, Harris, is apparently a local group. I would have loved them 15 years ago, but would have begrudged the fact that they have a keyboard player who mostly adds texture. Indie rock doesn't appear to have changed too much, and I still find it kind of charming. I'll bet you anything that at least one of these guys works in the Newbury comics warehouse, or at Herrels Ice Cream.

Best of all was that I rode my bike to the show, and didn't have to wear my coat. I forgot how beautiful it is to ride a bike in the city at midnight.

Comments

[shadowofadoubt.livejournal.com]

YEAH! Firewater!!!!

We have tickets to see them in June and I am super excited!

[harrietbrown.livejournal.com]

I think the hand-held drum with the single stick may be the Irish bodhran, especially if the player was flipping the stick back and forth between his thumb and forefinger. Just a guess.

Glad you had a good time - and dancing and biking, too! Yay!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Almost!
It was an Indian Dhol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhol

[harrietbrown.livejournal.com]

Well, now, that's different, isn't it. I'm saddened to read it's being replaced by synthesized beats, but it's still popular in North America and other places, so that's good.

I'm curious to hear one.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

If you have iTunes, search for dhol foundation, the track named 'drummer's reel' from the album 'big drum small world' displays the dhol's sound front and center.

If not, you can hear it on Amazon, too.

Nothing like having there in front of you, though.

[harrietbrown.livejournal.com]

Just to let you know, you created a monster. $50 later ... no dhol, but plenty of Bombay and International Chill/Lounge. I'm a musical sicko. There's some Carole King and Edgar Winter in there, too. A girl's gotta have a little "Frankenstein," ya know.

The dhol was plenty impressive, though, from the few seconds I heard it. Definitely NOT TO BE confused with the dinky little bodhran. (Ssh! Don't tell the Irish people I said that!)

Oh, well, back to shopping!

[g-weir.livejournal.com]

You know what? I bet Neil Diamond could do some fantastic covers of Firewater songs, and maybe vise-versa, but that album of covers they did was a bit labored.

--G

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yeah that covers album was pretty weak, and that's saying something coming from me. I love covers, and I love Firewater. Sorry you couldn't make it last night--let's hang out soon before you know what!

[g-weir.livejournal.com]

My dream cover albums? Rush covers TMBG, and TMBG covers Rush. Also, Elvis returns from the dead to sing the hits of Billy Idol.

Maybe we can get a beer this weekend- I'll give you a call.

--G

[iainzard.livejournal.com]

We're going to see Firewater this coming Monday, who are being supported by one of my favourite bands in the world, Skeleton Key. Until I heard about this gig through Erik (SK's leader/bass player) we'd never heard of Firewater but having checked out some of their music we're really looking forward to seeing them.
Far from being gimmicky, I think the new album stems from an honest interest in presenting a broad worldview. I have no knowledge of the band's older efforts though.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Have a great time! I could have called it a gimmick or a theme, I suppose. If you listen to their other records--I recommend The Ponzi Scheme and Get off the Cross--you'll see that the south asian motif comes out of nowhere. Not that I didn't like it.

[ursulav.livejournal.com]

I have tickets for June, and man, I can't wait!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Hopefully Reut Regev and Johnny Kalsi will still be in the line-up. They were so hot! I forgot to mention in my review that Regev plays the flugabone, too, which I just wanted to mention so that I could use the word 'flugabone.'