Superband; February 13, 2009; Malarkey’s, Wausau

There’s been a push lately to find a better name for the group consisting of singer/songwriters Blake Thomas, Jeremiah Nelson, Josh Harty and drummer Chris Sasman. While accurate, Superband isn’t exactly the most ingenious name ever, so recently alternatives have been nominated and discarded. Rejects thus far include the Severed Levers and Chris Sasman & the Blackouts. I was a little partial to that last one, but my current favorite is the Forty Finger Circus. Anyone who thinks that name isn’t accurate hasn’t seen them in this configuration, especially at the end of the night.

Tonight though, they were known as Patchwork. A name usually reserved for Jeremiah’s music, it was used previously at Malarkey’s when he had the gig booked and no band to play with him. I’m sure the bar’s gregarious owner was a little confused as to why despite his encouragement they never said the name of the band, instead introducing each individually. The night certainly started respectably enough. Rather than having each songwriter front a set per usual, they opted instead to have each of them play several songs per set. Blake Thomas’s opening songs were typically gorgeous. This may not be his dream band (a group of guys he has only played with twice), but it may be my favorite band to see him with. “Tip of Your Tongue” can be monotonous solo, but it gained momentum with a band, while “Anyone Tonight” was slowed from its original peppy tempo to a more somber waltz.

Jeremiah’s recent shows with the four piece Mysterious Bruises have been some of my favorites. The violin and upright bass are the perfect instruments for his newest songs, a collection of smart, Dylanesque tunes. While Dylan’s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” was one of the songs he included in his set tonight, that’s where the similarity between the bands end. Most of the songs he chose were older, ones recorded under the Patchwork name, and they were anything but folky. “Spaceships” turned into a lengthy jam with Josh positively wailing on the electric guitar and Chris a force of nature on the drums. The screamed call and response during “Running from the Fuse” always seemed a little too aggressive for the Bruises refined taste, but it seemed perfect for this band.

Of the three, Josh’s songs are the ones that benefit the most from the band treatment. I’ve seen him with bands before but they seemed too assembled and didn’t do his songs justice. “What About You” has been reworked into something much more sinister than its original form, while the extra long instrumental intro and outro to “Home” make his last record’s best song even more intense. It may have been his well received cover of “Trudy” in the second set, or it maybe it was the whiskey, but somehow the third set turned into mostly covers. I was enjoying their original material even more than usual, so when they started the last set with “Superstitious” I knew it was trouble.

Blake’s “Billie Jean” and “9 to 5” are highlights of any Classic Tawnies show, but I could probably do without Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” just fine, at least until Josh learns all the verses. However, it was Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps” that led to the “penalty shots” from the bar. They all looked pleased about another round of shots, until Tyler informed them that they were tequila instead of the whiskey they were expecting. Apparently he was being nice, usually he pours rail gin. To be fair, despite the owner’s disapproval and Jeremiah’s annoyance, their last set had more people up dancing than any other point all night, and that had to make them happy, even if the tequila didn’t.