I’ve seen this trio of songwriters many dozen of times each, but this was my first encounter with the Superband. While Chris Sasman sits behind the drums, each takes a turn at the mike while the other two take over bass, lead guitar and backing vocal duties. . I’m not sure what prompted them to start playing in this arrangement, but it works surprisingly well for each of them. Perhaps it was an offshoot of the Classic Tawnies who Jeremiah has sat in with from time to time, or perhaps just a logical progression from the time all three have put in down at Mickey’s every Tuesday.
Jeremiah started the night with his Mysterious Bruises to get the crowd warmed up. One of the many combos he has put together since I have known him, the Bruises have become my favorite simply because they are the vehicle for the flood of new songs he has written recently. More folky and specifically more Dylan-y, the songs definitely flourish with the addition of upright bass (Matt Donoghue) and violin (Shawn Drake). Fox Valley resident Willy Schultz, a jazz guitarist, also joined them tonight, adding a new element to the mix.
Blake Thomas was first up. Unless this is your first time here, you already know that I have probably seen Blake more than I’ve seen anyone else and it is very possible no one has seen Blake more than I have. Yet this was one of the best sets I’ve seen him do. With Josh on lead guitar and backing vocals and Jeremiah on bass, the songs sounded as good as I have ever heard them, aside from perhaps the time he played Chris Waggoner and Mary Gaines’ Mad Toast Live with Adam Davis and Shauncey Ali alongside him.
I’ve always preferred Josh’s songs solo where I can appreciate his phenomenal guitar playing and seriously amazing finger picking, things which tend to get buried under a band. But now it would seem that I have never seen him with the right band before. Jeremiah is a killer lead guitar player; in fact, I had no idea he could play like that, and Blake knows these songs almost as well as his own. Probably not coincidentally, this was also the most fun I’ve seen Josh have playing with a band.
Midnight marked the start of Jeremiah’s birthday, and despite the fact that he started celebrating before its official beginning he also had a really good set. Since the new songs have become the domain of the Mysterious Bruises, and rightly so, the material under the Patchwork moniker is now covered by this band. This is definitely a good thing, as much as I adore new songs like “Daisy Chain” and “Floodplain,” I would miss the songs from Carry Me Down the Interstate with its Stone Temple Pilots homage “Interstate Love Song 2,” and his debut EP Work and Worry. Sure it was getting a little sloppy toward the end, but since we were bumping up against bar time by this point, who wasn’t getting sloppy?
I see these guys all the time, but it was worth a drive to Oshkosh to see the Superband.
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