When Clem Snide’s Eef Barzelay played the house last fall for KHoRM’s 100th show I asked one of my favorite local musicians, Dietrich Gosser, to open. He brought along, as he often does, his avant percussionist Dan Kuemmel. Since the first time I saw Gosser and instantly became a fan a decade ago, I have also been a fan of Kuemmel’s. He’s an intuitive player, carefully choosing which of his myriad of noise makers to use next. Barzelay was similarly impressed, and the two have been working together ever since. This was the first chance I’d had to see the results of my unknowing matchmaking, and I would say the relationship is going pretty well. Kuemmel adds a whole new level to these songs that I’ve known for years, reinventing them and taking them new places. I think that’s just what Barzelay was looking for.
“Is it too early for this one?” he asked rhetorically about
the second song on his set list.
“Something Beautiful” has always been one of my favorite Clem Snide
songs (first hearing it in Barcelona with opener Andrew Bird accompanying will
do that), but tonight it became a different song. It was slinky and sexy before, the narrator’s
reckless behavior seems harmless, “You make me wanna fold the map
imperfectly.” Tonight I heard the darker
side, “Sip Lysol from a cup, so clean is hurts.” Without a full band waiting behind him, he
took the time to tell the stories behind some of the songs, whether we wanted
him to or not. He got slightly
scatological when describing the route of one of the small picks he used to use
after he’d accidentally swallowed one.
He claims he thought about retrieving it, but changed his mind when he
realized the whole thing might happen all over again. He also started using bigger picks. There were tales of conspiracy theorists, and
the battle of “Love Vs Death” in which “death always wins.” He ended the night with two great
covers. The first I’d heard before and
wasn’t surprised when he began Journey’s “Faithfully,” after all, Clem Snide
had released a record (a vinyl record that is) of Journey covers a few years
back. His second cover was the heartfelt
ballad “All the Way,” made popular by Frank Sinatra. Barzelay’s humor often seems tongue in cheek,
but both of these songs were sweetly serious.
I’ve been seeing Trapper Schoepp play for the last six
years, so it’s always a surprise to remember that he’s just 23 years old. Even so, he (with or without backing band the
Shades) have toured with the Wallflowers, Soul Asylum, the Old 97’s and a solo
Rhett Miller. Despite the time spent on
those big stages, he’s wanted to play at the house for years. He played most of tonight’s set solo, but
invited his brother Tanner up for several songs which may have been my
favorites of the night. A recent trip
out west ended with a broke down van in Ogallala Nebraska, a town name just
made for harmony vocals, and a great new song called, you guessed it, “Ogallala.” After playing “Dear Prospect,” a song he’d
written for a friend who had just been drafted by the LA Dodgers, Bill
whispered that they should play that song before the Baseball Project show in
August. They had the same thought, and I
look forward to having them back. They
also ended their set with a cover, this one as timeless as Barzelay’s final
selection. The Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye
Love” is a natural fit for these brothers’ harmony vocals. And it was gorgeous. I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole
night.
Trapper Schoepp
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