I hadn't seen We Are Scientists in 2009. Heaven's to Betsy, how can I go that long without seeing them in live form? I'm slipping going into my fifth year of blogging.
Once again, this space chronicles the further adventures of Keith "EPMD" Murray and Chris "Young Guns" Cain. They are still in duo form with a rotating array of drummers. For this show, they have Danny Lee Allen of Youth Group on the sticks. On the new album, Andy Burrows of Razorlight fame does the heavy lifting on drums. This makes you think that Burrows likes to play for handsome fellows.
As they have done in the past, the guys book a few small shows to road test new material for their almost completed third album. The majority of show was dedicated to the hit singles and fan favorites. The couple of the new songs were very much in the W.A.S. vein. I was hoping they would go into industrial metal or zouk, but they are sticking with the indie rock thing.
If you haven't been to the We Are Scientists Experience, you know that they like to chat it up between songs with stage banter that would rival Prairie Home Companion. They revealed on Saturday that "Chick Lit" was written about the far off world of the Na'vi. For about five minutes, Keith and Chris went into a long dissertation about mistaken somebody's shout for "Freebird" as "Freeball." I'm ready to take side bets as to how long they banter between songs.
Joking aside, there's a reason I've traveled across the globe for these knuckleheads. They crank out catchy, up-tempo songs one after the other. Whether they are playing for 10,000 people in Madrid or filling in a room of 200, they're going to make the place rock. Although, I do admit that seeing them opening for R.E.M. and seeing them share a stage for an encore is never going to be topped. Keith did try to end it with a bang, by jumping into the crowd and making a running leap over their drummer.
As a side note, it must have been kid's watch free night because the average age of the crowd might have been 11. I saw a dad standing in the back as their kids rocked out up-front -- completely un-enthused to be there. "Like dad, can you not stand near us."
Taking opening duties are my new buddies Bad Girlfriend. Keith filled-in as the drummer for the night. The local ladies kick out some classic 50s rock chick tunes with echo effects galore. Girls, guitars, twangy classic rock -- I declare this band full of win. The nice thing that three did was invited the crowd on stage to jam out on some toy tambourines.
Could have used more pictures of Bad Girlfriend- they look great!
Posted by: CB in NJ | January 25, 2010 at 05:03 AM
Holy shit, we looked SO hot! Hey music snob-- that was a blast! Wouldn't have been Jersey wichout chya! XOXO
BGF
Posted by: CO | January 26, 2010 at 02:00 AM