Jake Ewald has come a long way since his days as a member of the beloved emo-rock band Modern Baseball. After over five years of successful records, world-wide tours, and a growing fanbase for the Philly-based rockers, the band went on a hiatus in 2017, which turned Ewald’s focus on his solo project, Slaughter Beach, Dog. The band stopped by Roadrunner on Thursday for a killer set in support of their new album, Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling, which was released in September via Lame-O Records.
Singer Erin Rae put in some serious work throughout the night. She opened the show with her solo performance before hopping back on stage to sing background vocals for the headliner throughout much of their set. The Nashville-based singer-songwriter quickly grabbed the attention of those shuffling out of the cold Boston night into Roadrunner’s warehouse-style concert hall. Backed by only her acoustic guitar, she had to battle for the crowd’s attention and eventually her beautiful, twangy voice won-out. Rae played a set of intimate folk songs that seemed to span the entire world of love and heartbreak, having the vast venue all-ears by the time her set was over.
Detroit-based indie rockers Bonny Doon provided the second dose of music for the night. The four-piece band was cut down to just original members Bill Lennox and Bobby Colombo, each sporting only a guitar and their own voices (except for the addition of a pre-recorded drum and bass track on their closer, 2018 title track, “Long Wave”). Over the chatter of show-goers, the two played a stripped-back set of warm, jangly rock tunes spanning their output over the past nine years. The majority came from Let There Be Music, released in June of this year. The band’s performance can be defined by their two catchy, confessional tracks from their 2017 self-titled album, “Summertime Friends” and “You Can’t Hide,” which translated perfectly to the dual-guitar performance. The best song of the set, “A Lotta Things,” is a witty, Neil-Young-esque banger which saw some Doon devotees sing along in the crowd. Bonny Doon’s extremely laid back sound and simple songwriting was nice on the ears and a great listen.
Slaughter Beach, Dog put on a show. I was skeptical of how Ewald’s quiet, conversational records would translate to a live show at a fairly large and open venue like Roadrunner (one that the singer himself took note of about halfway through his set – “Wow, this room is kinda big!”). He set the vibe early by playing roadie – coming out and tuning up his equipment all by himself before the show started. He said what’s up to a few fans and even hopped off stage to interact with some fans in the front row. He made it clear that the wall between performer and crowd was knocked down and for tonight, everybody was going to be friends.
The band opened with “Bobcat Club,” a storytelling folk song characterized by its fingerstyle guitar playing and strong harmonies, as he was joined by opener Rae for its performance. He kept the groove going with “Strange Weather,” which introduced the loud, piercing slide guitar played by Adam Meisterhans that propelled much of the band’s set. The rhythm section, made up of bassist Ian Farmer (also a Modern Baseball alumnus) and drummer Zach Robbins, held down a captivating groove that strung the songs together and kept the show flowing nicely.
The crowd picked up with “Birdie” and “Gold and Green,” two tracks off of 2017’s fan-loved album, Birdie. Chased down with 2020’s “Are You There,” the energy began to rise with the addition of light synths and dance-worthy drum beats. The crowd let out a big cheer and began belting out the lyrics to the confessional, personal record “Black Oak.” With the crowd buzzing and captivated, the band brought it back to their new album with the nearly nine-minute cut, “Engine.” The band’s experience showed through with this one, ending with a cohesive, psychedelic jam that could only be executed to a level like this after years of road-dogging and honing their craft.
The band starkly shifted into “Henry,” a proper folk song about a young boy’s coming-of-age, before bringing it back to an emotional crowd favorite, “Phoenix.” With lyrics so personal and intrusive, I found the word-for-word recital from a good portion of the crowd of late-teens and twenty-somethings quite impressive. The band took the energy up with their performance of “Do You Understand (What Has Happened to You),” which was made up of pure talking during the verses before an epic, harmonized chorus. The band then jammed out with poppy, up-beat “Float Away,” sounding like it could be picked right out of a Wilco record with its quirky lyrics and Americana instrumentation. The band then began closing out their set with the polished new track “Summer Windows,” a sure highlight of their new record driven by country leads and sunny lyrics. They finished with crowd-pleaser and certified hit “Acolyte,” before piling on with an encore of their head-bopper “Your Cat” and the poetic “At the Moon Base,” leaving the crowd with not much to be desired.
The skilfully crafted songs of Slaughter Beach, Dog were most certainly brought to life through an electrified performance and a great response from a devoted crowd. Ewald noted this himself about two thirds through the performance, remarking that, “It’s weird playing music… a lot of times it feels like you don’t know what you’re doin, but we feel like we know what we’re doin tonight!” While part of me was expecting a following of emo fans still kicking their hangovers from MOBO hits like “Your Graduation” and “The Weekend,” Jake Ewald is clearly cutting a new path with intimate folk songs and gaining a fresh set of young fans along the way. His songwriting has never been better than on the new record, and the live performance has presented me with one of my new favorite records of the year.
Check out all of Wendy’s photos from the show below.
