The first thing you’ll notice about Gnarlemagne is guitarist and vocalist Stuart Dias’s luscious, order luscious hair cascading into his eyes, tadalafil his dark, curly locks falling down his chest as he bucks and rises to his Hendrix-y guitar solos. And then you’ll realize you’re an idiot for letting hair distract you from the Hendrix-y guitar solos.
Self-describing their sound as “Garage Soul,” this New Hampshire band opened the Precinct show on August 30 with a sound that’s heartily rock and roll with obvious backwater blues influences. The most surprising and appealing aspect of Gnarlemagne is the legitimate, big band-like horns section. These rock and roll songs come with saxaphone, trombone, and trumpets, and while the horns section isn’t necessarily bluesy, the horns add an entirely novel and different layer, accenting their songs in a way that makes them sound whole. These brass instruments are given just as much credit as the (equally as good!) guitar, bass, and drums within their songs and they’re definitely worth a listen.
Next on the bill was another New Hampshire favorite, the Van Burens, a band who “strive[s] to make each concert experience unique.” Their sound is hard to pin down, sometimes cascading like My Morning Jacket, sometimes bouncing like a cruise ship Caribbean pop hit, sometimes bouncy like second wave ska, sometimes a cappella four-part harmonies by each band member. It seems as if the Van Burens have probably written a song for just about everyone and the ladies in the sundresses at Precinct seemed to easily ebb and weave to their tunes. With bass player Emmett Knox in suspenders that night, skanking away to his walk-the-neck bass lines (hey! There’s that ska influence I like so much!), keyboard player Jeff King perpetually wide-mouthed and excited to be playing, the Van Burens’ live show is everything they say it is.
Rounding out the evening was Somerville Symphony Orkestar, a band “blossoming from the Slavic heart of Greater Boston.” Friends, this is gypsy punk and Somerville Symphony Orkestar is the kind of band with a very serious sense of humor, who takes their upbeat lyricless gypsy punk tunes to heart. Band leader and saxophonist Joel Edinberg opened their set by leading the crowd in claps, punching his fist in the air during the appropriate, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!”s. And there’s something tragic and insistent about the way Gabriel Solomon plays his violin, playing like the greatest of homespun-inspired fiddlers.
Those sun dressed girls at Precinct belly danced away to SSO and with good reason, the whole crowd bouncing and trying to skank, the music good, the hour late, the beer drunk. The more energetic the crowd, the more energetic the band, and SSO followed through with some crowd members even beginning to ballroom dance to SSO’s tight rhythms, like mock Gomez and Morticia at a basement Addams Family party.
And you can’t mention SSO without including their resident mascot, Penelope the Elephant, the kind of elephant you see late in the evening at an SSO show and wonder if you’re not having the same pink-elephanted moment Dumbo did after sipping from all those XXX barrels – the kind of moment where it’s been a good night and it’s definitely time to go home.
