Creative Ways to Interact with the Audience

I have to share a few good ideas that I recently witnessed at the Port O'Brien show at The Mercury Lounge on October 14th. Port O'Brien, a California acoustic/indie rock band recently came out with their third album Threadbare on October 6th and have been touring to support the album. The indie powerhouse that is M. Ward (part of She and Him and Monsters of Folk in addition to a solid solo career) recently named Port his 'favorite new band'. I would check out their new single 'I Woke Up Today' to taste the flavor and see if you like them.

Anyway, they brought Mad Libs to the show! The greatest vocabulary game of our youth aka hard evidence that we were all little perverts on the playground. In between songs Port asked the audience for nouns, adjectives, etc. to fill out a page that they read at the end of the show. They have been doing one Mad Libs for each show across the past few weeks. A few interesting notes - Boston was WAY more dirty and politically incorrect than New York was and there was way too long of a pause before someone tried their hand at yelling out a pronoun, it should embarrass every third grade teacher. Overall, Mad Libs was a really cool way to engage the crowd and fill time in between songs to allow band members to quickly tune or switch out instruments. They were kind enough to give me the one from the show, see photo. 

Another really cool thing that Port did was encourage a kitchen crazy end to their show. Before their last song, 'I Woke Up Today', they passed around wooden spoons, pots and pans, aluminum pie holders, and a whole bunch of noise making fun out to the crowd. It was a great way to end the showI am pretty impressed that they haul around a big heavy bag of all that crap from city to city.

The moral of this story is it pays to be creative with your shows and how you interact with your audience. It makes you memorable, it helps to show your personality as a band and it helps to shake things up from one gig to another.

Bonus - you can buy a whole bunch of different Mad Libs on this web site: http://www.madlibs.com

A fun little stocking stuffer or office present this year.

Finn Can Live in My House

- I peed my pants a little when he looked directly at me while I was taking this picture.

Have you ever seen a concert by yourself? I have come close a few times, such is the life of the avid music fan that always buys two tickets first and then finds people to go with later. My friend Evan once saved me from having to see Cat Power by myself at the 9:30 Club in D.C. - a fellow music fan, he understood and allowed me to give him the extra ticket as his upcoming birthday present (which kind of makes me sound like a selfish asshole now that I think about it). Anyway, I officially went to my first concert alone on July 30th - The Veils at the Mercury Lounge. You want to know what? It didn't even fucking matter I was by myself, Finn Andrews (frontman, songwriter) and Company were that good. I do have friends and there was a plan - my friend Jenny unfortunately moved to Chicago before we could see the band she loves so much and can be credited with bringing me into and my replacement friend bailed last minute - I am talking while I was walking to the venue I got the 'I have to bail' text. RUDE! (I am channeling Bon Qui Qui from Mad TV - 'Seccurrrityy!', watch it on YouTube, it is some funny shit.)

However, I sold my extra ticket, used bourbon for a little confidence, and marched right up to the front to watch The Veils. I had my camera and pen and pad and looked the part of the music journalist - take notes if you plan to go to a concert solo, this was a good idea. I was only a few feet from the stage because I wanted to see what Finn was going to do, he has a reputation for being a bit erratic onstage, singing with possessed passion and sweating his ass off. Here is the set list I ripped off the stage at the end:

My personal favorite going into the concert was The House She Lived In, because it is so much fun to sing. However, Calliope, Sun Gangs, and The Tide that Left and Never Came Back were killer songs live and have been solidly stuck in my head since. Here is a video of Jenny's favorite song - Sit Down by the Fire. To provide a little context, the video starts out while Finn is explaining that couples always think it is a love song (just like they do with U2's One or The Police's Every Breath You Take - I think these are the same couples that wear matching outfits on a vacation to Disney World childless). He always tells them it is explaining the death of a relationship, when everything is burning there is nothing left to do but sit down and watch it, get a little warmth from it when it is cold all around you. Good story, great song, but maybe don't listen to it when you are in that early post-breakup phase, might be kind of brutal for you.

Finn Andrews was born in London but spent part of his life in New Zealand, making him a Property of the Monarchy (POM) through and through. He has a thing for Sylvia Plath, the band name is said to have taken their name from the Plath poem A Birthday Present and has a song called Death & Co. which another poem title. The band members have changed a few times, I think for the better because the bassist Sophia Burn is hot and brings a good sound to the band. I would get their most recent CD Sun Gangs and work your way back, or download the songs from the set list. Either way, take note that this is a band du jour of mine.

Stay tuned for my tales from seeing the Kings of Leon at Red Rocks on August 9th! Here is a hint - it was from the 6th row just left of center - closer to the bathroom and beer tent.

The Pomegranates are in season

Let me first apologize Pomegranates. I think you guys are absolutely great; I thought this when I first saw you at The Bell House back in February when you played with your buddies the French Kicks. I see nothing but good things coming your way; which was evident by the scene of label scouts (I can pick those earplug wearing soda sippers out anywhere now but it took some practice!) on May 13th when I last saw you play at the Mercury Lounge (Houston & Essex for the you virtual visitors of NYC or the Upper West Side). So why have I waited 15 days to post my praises? I can only say this - I am an asshole. Sorry, life got in the way - my new nephew says hello though! Here is a short but sweet plug for you guys. Good luck finishing up your tour and thanks again for my 'Poms Not Bombs' shirt.

The Pomegranates is a Cincinnati quartet that  formed in late 2006 and just released their newest album Everybody, Come Outside! on April 14th, 2009; their debut album Everything is Alive came out in May 2008. I first heard them on my beloved online radio station Woxy.com, formerly "97X--Bam!--The Future of Rock & Roll" famously stated by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.

I think they got it right when they called themselves 'art-pop denizens'. The band consists of:

Joey Cook

vocals + guitar + keys + percussion + bass

Isaac Karns

guitar + bass + sampling + vocals + keys

Joshua Kufeldt

electric guitar + vocals

Jacob Meritt

drums + percussion

Jacob stays steady on the drums and has a style that makes me think he used to play in the house band down in Fraggle Rock. The other three are very active throughout their set, switching instruments, changing stage positions, singing different parts on different songs, picking up a loudspeaker here and a tambourine there. 

They kicked off their set with Sleepover, one of my favorites, then rolled into Coriander, the album's first single. By the time they got to playing the title track Everybody, Come Outside!, everybody was enjoying themselves, including the Pomegranates and that is the way to tell when a band is comfortable in it's own skin and has come into a groove of their own creation. The band explains their new release as "A conceptual album of sorts, weaving an interesting tale of a man who leaves home, only to be abducted by a time traveler... Each of the 11 tracks add to the mystique, as well as reveal a bit more about this unusual tale." Translation: creativity, art, and drugs are in abundance in Cincinnati.

Here is a taste of their sound. Check them out further on MySpace and look for them in the future, you will find them.