The Safes/The Motorz; November 13, 2010; High Noon Saloon

I was out of town for Halloween weekend this year, but if I hadn’t been I would have been treated to the odd sight of the four members of the Motorz playing a show wearing black, curly wigs and wrestling singlets. They were playing a set as the Dictators, and not knowing anything about that band I asked if that’s what they wore. Turns out they were all dressed as the band’s lead singer Handsome Dick Manitoba. Now him I’ve heard of. To finish their Saturday happy hour set tonight they played a Dictator’s song they didn’t get a chance to play on Halloween. Now that I know something about the Dictators, I might have to check them out. Admittedly, I’ve seen enough pictures of the band in their costumes that I am pretty sure I don’t need to actually see the Dictators.

Other than that song and another Dictators’ song during the set, it was a show surprisingly low on covers. Don’t get me wrong, they choose great songs, but I don’t see the Motorz enough to get tired of their songs. And that’s what I want to hear. They’re mostly about girls, (especially tonight, a fact the band even commented on) easy to sing along to, and ridiculously catchy- the perfect power pop recipe. It also makes them a perfect pairing for the power trio the Safes from Chicago. The band consists of a pair of handsome brothers and an adorable floppy haired bass player. I would have liked them no matter what they sounded like. Luckily they were pretty awesome. The brothers both sing and switched off on drums, with one singing the first half and then taking a seat behind the kit for the second half to allow the other to take center stage. All the while the bass player struck classic rock poses, yep, nothing but trouble. I will definitely try to see them again next time they come to town.

Not a bad way to start a Saturday night.

The Motorz






The Safes

Chris Smither; November 12, 2010; Café Carpe

I’m always looking for a reason to visit the Café Carpe in Fort Atkinson. I should take more chances with the shows they book, but it seems like the only time I make it out there is for a dependable act like Peter Mulvey or tonight’s featured artist Chris Smither. I first went to see Smither because Peter Mulvey had mentioned him many times during his shows. It’s easy to see why Peter is a fan, both songwriters have similar style and a matching sense of humor. He’s instantly likeable, from his persistent smile to his totally 80’s Gary Sandy feathered hair, and his voice (both speaking and singing) is a comforting croon.

It had been a number of years since I last saw him but many of my favorite songs which all come from Drive You Home Again remain in his set. The always amusing, gonna buy me a dog lament “Get a Better One” is a crowd favorite. After he’s wronged by several women with two names he decides he’s gonna get a better one, “one with one name that comes when I call.” The giggles ripple through the audience as it takes a second to realize he’s no longer talking about a woman, but is instead opting for loyalty and unconditional love from man’s best friend. Another perennial winner is “Got no Love Today” which is based on the song of the fruit vendor in his hometown of New Orleans. He runs through a list of his wares which includes “okra, enough to choke ya,” before he claims, “But this ain't what you came to hear me say, and I hate to disappoint you, but I got no love today.” These songs are always terrific, but I actually prefer that record’s slightly dark title track with its clever, snide line, “And if I drive you to distraction, I will drive you home again.”

I’ve probably seen more Bob Dylan songs covered at the Carpe than anywhere else. The café’s gruff but lovable owner Bill Camplin, who tonight delivered his curmudgeonly introduction lying on the floor next to the microphone that amplifies the piece of plywood Smither uses for percussion, is a huge Dylan fan and I’ve seen him play entire sets of his songs. So playing a Dylan cover isn’t only expected of a singer songwriter, it’s almost required at the Carpe. Smither chose well, his version of “Visions of Johanna” was gorgeous, picking out the songs’ subtle rhymes and emphasizing lines I’d overlooked before. There’s nothing cozier than seeing a show in Carpe’s pleasantly warm music room, cradling a cup of their cinnamon coffee and hearing a revelatory version of a song you’ve heard a hundred times before. Like I keep saying, I need to get to the Carpe more often.

Acoustic Instore with the Posies; November 5, 2010; Exclusive Company, Milwaukee

Brendan Benson/The Posies/Aquaduct; November 5, 2010; Turner Hall

Aquaduct


The Posies






Brendan Benson

Two Cow Garage/Franz Nicolay; November 4, 2010; The Frequency

You frequently hear that band members are like brothers, but even actual brothers couldn’t be as close as the boys in Two Cow Garage. Lead singer/guitarist Micah Schnabel and bassist/vocalist Shane Sweeney play every show like it might be their last together, leaning into each other as they play every song with a fevered intensity that few bands achieve. This tour was in support of their new record which had just come out. Unfortunately, I had no clue that it had, so there were a lot of songs in their seemingly too short set that I didn’t know. Even worse, they sold their last copy after the show before I got one. One thing for sure, you don’t have to know the songs to enjoy Two Cow, I found that out the first time I saw them at my very first Twangfest where they blew away nearly every other band that played that weekend.

It sounds like it hurts Micah to sing, his voice a ragged scream, but beautiful all the same. The emotion in every word is overwhelming, and you know that he has lived every word of every song, especially the ones about living hard and girls that are just too young. I’ve always been a sucker for Shane’s songs, his “Saturday Night” has been my favorite Two Cow song since their in-store performance at Euclid Records in St Louis, a quiet, introspective and completely different set than their both guns blazing show that night. Tonight Bill had asked him to play “Mediocre” from Three. Shane always says that he tried to write one type of song, “but ended up with a show tune.” If by that he means it’s catchy and makes you want to sing along, and is maybe the tiniest little bit cheesy, then he’s right he did write a show tune. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That wasn’t the only cheesy thing in tonight’s set, Shane’s pencil-thin mustache also qualifies. Referring to the opener act’s impressive handlebar, Shane claimed that he and Franz had a “mustache off;” “Franz won, and mine retreated.” Of course I still loved it.

The surprising opener for tonight’s show was Franz Nicolay, who spent the last five years playing keyboards in the Hold Steady. The pairing makes a little more sense once you know that Two Cow has played with Nicolay’s former band many times over the years. Nicolay’s solo material doesn’t sound much like Craig Finn’s huge choruses and Tad Kubler’s arena-sized guitar solos and he certain doesn’t harbor the same crush on Bruce Springsteen. Instead his songs are a lot like him- quirky, funny, and slightly discomforting. He turned out the be quite the story teller, and his tales of breaking his guitar climbing down a ladder and the trials of being an accordion player, for example, Wisconsin is one of the few places it is easy to find an accordion repairman.

After playing in clubs their last two trips through town, Shane promised they would “be back in Kiki’s basement soon.” I hope he means it, and I wouldn’t mind if they wanted to bring Franz with them.


Franz Nicolay



Two Cow Garage

Mumford & Sons/Cadillac Sky Band/King Charles; November 1, 2010; War Memorial Auditorium; Nashville

I’d never even heard of Mumford & Sons until Ha Ha Tonka bass player Luke Long recommended them to me. I still hadn’t heard a note when I saw they were playing at the Pabst Theater and figured I might like to go. Unfortunately the show fell right in the middle of our Alabama road trip, so I checked to see where else they were playing and found this show in Nashville the day after the Talladega 500 (yep, really, but that’s a whole ‘nother story), right on our way home. Somehow I talked my travel mates into going and I bought the tickets back in early August. Little did we know, Mumford & Sons were about to explode. The Milwaukee show sold out the Pabst so quickly it was moved to the much bigger Riverside, in Chicago it moved from the Vic to the Riviera. The show at War Memorial Auditorium sold out but didn’t move, and I felt lucky to be seeing them at all. In the meantime the rest of my group was trying to figure out how to sell their tickets for the $400 one of them had seen on Craigslist. And I was trying to figure out how a song that uses the f word so often and so prominently had gotten enough radio play to lead to this sort of frenzy.

It had been a rather exhausting trip thus far. The two nights before had been spent camping on the hard, and unexpectedly cold ground at the racetrack, the campfire smoke so thick it looked like the place was burning down, with rednecks driving around in pickups flying Confederate flags and whooping for no apparent reason all night long. I was tired and I didn’t have the patience for two openers. The first of these was King Charles, who looked more like the spaniel than any member of royalty. He had long black curly hair (see? spaniel), a fancy coat and very tight britches that left nothing to the imagination. And he played his guitar up too high to make sure of that. He may have been serious about his music, but to me it felt like Har Mar Superstar, the obnoxious, super cheesy alter-ego of singer songwriter Sean Tillman, except thankfully he kept his clothes on. The second opener was much better. The Cadillac Sky Band looked like the American cousins of Mumford- banjoes, fiddles, upright bass but with a lot more facial hair. This I liked. They had a sincere charm and they were all wicked good players. It turns out music runs in band leader David Mayfield’s family, and he brought his sister Jessica Lea (who’s currently on tour with Justin Townes Earle) out to do a song.

If you’ve seen the video for “Little Lion Man,” Mumford & Sons big hit, you can envision what the venue looked like, strings of large globed Christmas lights ran from the back of the balcony to the stage, with a few more strings behind them onstage. Except instead of an echoing empty venue, this room was filled to capacity with rabid fans who knew every word to every song. This should be where the backlash starts, they’re too popular, too mainstream, too flavor of the week, too pretty, too trite, but you’re not going to convince me of that. I may never see them again just because they are so popular, and I’m cheap and tend to stay away from large venues, but this is a genuinely talented bunch of boys, and yes they are pretty, but they put on a hell of a show. Of the four, Mumford himself was the only one who wasn’t attractive at first look. But onstage he was so sincere and charmingly snarky that I fell for him to. Though many of the debut record songs are drumless, for the new songs Mumford He told us the story of his first guitar purchased in Nashville three years ago, “It’s named D’Artagnan,” he added, “not that you care, but I have the fuckin’ microphone.” (Swearing is actually charming with a British accent) We took a moment to ponder the fact that he had just bought his first guitar three years ago and had already put out a hit record.

Turns out that wasn’t the only thing Mumford & Sons had found in Nashville, they’ve also made some friends. They’d already brought some of the members of Cadillac Sky out to play with them, but they blew the collective crowd’s mind by additionally inviting home town boys Old Crow Medicine Show out for a couple of songs. This resulted in a whole slew of musicians on stage, and a total of four banjoes, four! There aren’t many places outside of a bluegrass festival that you are going to see that, and it was pretty amazing. I hope I get another opportunity to see these guys, but if I don’t I’ll just be thankful to have seen them once.

War Memorial Auditorium

King Charles

Cadillac Sky Band





Mumford & Sons