Just when I thought I had finally found a band to fill the power pop-sized space in my heart left by the Motorz, I found out Archie Powell & the Exports had moved to Chicago. Formed from three-fourths of the much-loved, but decidedly heavier Box Social, the Exports substituted a keyboard for the second guitar and started cranking out the catchy. My first two encounters with the band had been brief (a smidgen of a tune caught from outside Montmartre when I was leaving after an August Teens show) or drunk (a High Noon happy hour which I saw but didn’t really remember, as happy hours tend to go). Tonight they were the band I had come to see, but first we had to get through Gay Witch Abortion.
As names go, it’s one of the worst I’ve heard, sounding like they were going for both offensive and ridiculous. But the choice might have been a little bit of genius, we certainly remembered their name. Musically they were actually pretty good. The mostly instrumental duo was noisy but somewhat melodic. The drummer was a powerhouse and the skinny guitar player was cute, and sometimes that’s enough.
We had worked pretty hard to talk our friend Bill into coming to the show. Since he’s the biggest power pop aficionado I know, I knew he would like the Exports. We were right. The set contained all the original songs from their terrific recent EP Loose Change that’s available for free download from their website (check it out!). The title track is a perfect slice of power pop deliciousness, a bouncy romp through the streets of Chicago, while “Piggy Bank Blues,” with its brilliant line “It doesn’t really matter if you went to college or not, ‘cause rock & roll is just a pyramid scheme,” leans more heavily on the keyboards. While keys often come off as cheesy in rock bands, in this case they are the magic ingredient.
The only song from the EP that didn’t make the set list was their excellent cover of Bobby Freeman’s “Do You Wanna Dance?” But that was OK, since they seem to have an entire arsenal of awesome covers and they ended the night with two of them. The second was the timeless hit "Gimme Some Lovin'" but it sounded very different from the Spencer Davis Band version. It was cool, but I'm pretty convinced Nick Juncunc (otherwise known as Archie Powell) only knew the chorus.
It’s hard to imagine a more adorable band. Juncunc is the kind of nerdy adorable guy you expect to see working for a software company, not fronting a band, while keyboardist Ryan Export looks startlingly like Jay Farrar. Bassist Adam Export is easily the most crush-worthy, tall and thin with a disarming smile and too much facial hair, though it is a little disturbing that he looks almost exactly like my cousin. Unfortunately this is going to be their last show for awhile as they hole up to record their first full-length. Now that I have really seen them, I will certainly miss them. But then again, I can’t wait to hear that new record.
Gay Witch Abortion
Archie Powell & the Exports
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