Things heated up January 23rd at The Sinclair as King Dude and Chelsea Wolfe took the stage for a night of Luciferian/American Folk music. The venue was satisfyingly toasty, considering the fact that the 12 degrees outside felt more like 5. The audience patiently awaited as King Dude walked out to a beaten up opaque American flag, with what looked like a burned hole through the upper right side. King Dude consists of TJ Cowgill, Emily Denton, Nicholas Friesen, Joey D’Auria & friends. However only Cogwill (guitar, vocals) and Friesen (drum/vocals) were present. Their performance consisted of songs off of Love and Burning Daylight.
By introducing the set with songs like “Lucifer’s the Light of the World,” “Spiders in Her Hair” and “My Mother Was the Moon,” first time listeners such as myself mislabeled King Dude as a bunch of Lugubrious Larry’s. Their Gretsch G6122 and G6120 acoustic-electric guitars provided the perfect tone for their folky performance. The set contained smatterings of pagan lyrics and vibrant chords, which supplied an enjoyable contrast for listening purposes.
Chelsea Wolfe courted the stage, and she began tuning her Taylor acoustic as the transition music set the ambiance with an ominous opera sample. Her live band consists of Ben Chisholm (synth/bass), Kevin Dockter (guitar), Dylan Fujioka (drums) and Andrea Calderon(violin). However, for this performance Fujioka was not present. Wolfe did not introduce herself or the group, giving the impression that the performance was less about recognition and more about the music.
Wolfe played songs off of her acclaimed Apokalypsis and The Grime and the Glow. Her live set was a large collection of minor chords, which displayed an offset serenity that captivated the audience throughout the performance. Structurally, almost all of her songs consist of chord variations that transition from the root to the fifth. Wolfe’s light show illuminated her face constantly throughout her set, creating a juxtaposition against her dreary tones. Chisholm utilized various samples which created an enigma of rhythmic half notes of loud bass sprinkled on top of Calderon’s soothing violin melodies during tracks like “Moses” and “Movie Screen.”
During the middle of her set, Wolfe invited TJ from King Dude to the stage to help out on backing vocals. During Wolfe’s short conversation with the crowd, I noticed that her voice is incredibly resonant and gentle for the dark music she plays. The group introduced a new song, in which Chelsea portrayed times of adversity and heartbreak through Calderon’s melodic violin tunes and Wolfe’s strong sense of imagery. This lineup was perfect in that both artists and genres complemented each other very well, which can be seen by TJ’s ability to adapt smoothly to Wolfe’s set. Although I was a first time viewer of both King Dude and Chelsea Wolfe, I thoroughly enjoyed both performances. For those of you on the East Coast, be sure to check out Chelsea Wolfe as she heads south to Chapel Hill over the next two nights.
Photo Credit: Sam Sarkisian