The four bands performing were Wolves, Nico's Gun, Yip Deceiver, and Chappo.
Wolves is an Atlanta based, self produced alt-pop band made up of Kyle Dreaden and Zak Ray. Their debut album, "Youth" was released in April, and is available for free here. It includes eight songs, one of them is called 'Twenty Something' and I have had it playing in my head since the show. Wolves has a unique sound that I can only describe as something to the tune of dance-rock.
Nico's Gun played a set of mostly funk, but ended their time on stage with two very different songs that had an almost metal feel. Talking to them after the show, I asked them about why that was, and they said that, had they had enough time, they would have played some of their punk stuff. Nico's Gun is great to watch live, if not for the music then for their look. Barney, the singer and guitarist, wore glittery fake eyelashes, the keyboardist was in a blue fur jacket and had his hair in a topknot. The bassist looked like he could have stepped right out of a hard rock band. With their unique mix of people, massive amounts of talent, varied influences, and general want to have a lot of fun, it's hard to tell just what Nico's Gun will do from one song to the next.
Yip Deceiver was definitely a surprise for me. I had listened to their music before the show, but that didn't prepare me for the fact that the two piece electronic dance group is made up of Davey Peirce and Nicolas Dubbratz from of Montreal. Having missed seeing Of Montreal earlier this year, I was excited to see Davey and Nicolas's side project. They did not disappoint and had the small crowd dancing from the first song.
"Get Strict" - Yip Deceiver
Chappo was amazing, as always. I had a chance to talk to keyboardist Chris before the show. We didn't really talk about anything important or interview-ish. It was actually a lot like old friends just chatting, which was a good change from the normal "I have a blog, let's talk business" type conversations I've had with bands. By the time Chappo went on stage, I had talked to the whole band. Living in New York, they were lucky to have sustained little damage from hurricane Sandy and managed to be one step ahead of the storm while on tour. Their set went by entirely too fast, but was very theatrical and very intimate. Frontman Alex Chappo requested tht everyone in the audience form a semicircle around him and made sure to touch everyone at least once. In a later song, he opened a bottle of water, poured part of it over his head, part on the floor, and the rest on the audience. I definitely enjoyed the close quarters of their show, and preferred seeing them in a small venue opposed to outdoors.
(CHAPPO on stage at The Basement)
