The Daily Pravda started the night off at the fine establishment known as Great Scott. Deriving their name from a Communist Party Newspaper known in the 20th century as the voice of the Soviet Union, site the band’s vibe fits in with the obscure, ambulance dystopian reference. David Jackel handled the vocals, and moving around the stage in sweeping dramatics. The group projected some sepia film clips of mustache bearing men to give the show a little extra spice. Jackel’s bravado provided the film with an alien invasion of a soundtrack. It was a strange mixture, since Jackel has the kind of Ziggy Stardust vocals you’d expect to see laser beams shoot out off. The band’s self-proclaimed Bowie fetish is evident in Jackel’s voice, which mixes in with a stellar array of influences from Suede to the Pixies. To put it another way, they sounded like a glam band without the glitter. Overall, The Daily Pravda kicked the night off right, before I faced the musical version of an existential crisis known as the Drowners.
Little did I know that in attending the show, I would be faced with some of the great philosophical questions of our time: what is a poser? What role do they play in society? And do they truly exist? Questions like these arose because I found myself skeptical of whether Drowner’s had substance beyond Matt Hitt’s cheekbones and their matching leather jackets. The fact that I ended up surrounded by a heard of Alexa Chung worshipers, trying too hard to feel edgy, did not help the band’s case. Yet, with all that said, in order to give Drowners’ the poser equivalent of a polygraph test, one must focus on what is real—the music.
The Drowners’ sound could be described as post-post-post punk with influences from the Buzzcocks to The Strokes. Based out of New York City, the band released their self-titled debut early last week. They played the album from start to finish at the show. With jangling hooks and quotable choruses, they may not have the most original noise, but the songs are catchy and played at a law-abiding speed appropriate enough for radio play.
Lead singer, Matt Hitt, and lead guitarist, Jack Ridley III developed a nice banter between songs, joking with the crowd. They even made sure everyone at the show was of age, before deciding to hit the bar afterwards for some song inspiration. Drummer, Lakis Pavlou, and bass player, Eric Lee Snyder finish off the group’s lineup, jamming in a too cool for school slash wearing sunglasses at night kind of way. The group drank as they went and seemed to still get a kick out of performing, which gave the show a sense of energy. The crowd shook along and cheered at socially acceptable moments, but wasn’t able to muster up a full on encore chant with the band still awkwardly in the room—not that they had any more songs anyway.
All in all, with no songs over three minutes, the set was quick in a one night stand kind of way, providing me with time to come up with the sappy moral of the story: be true to who you are. *single tear drop* Few bands are truly original. Drowners’ are a new band that is capable of developing their influences into a more definitive sound. In other words, they have potential. Their devotion to poserism will only be revealed if they end up caring more about their image than the music. As of right now, I don’t think it’s fair to call them posers; their sense of look supplements their solid music, not the other way around. So basically, what they lack in edge, they make up for in musical charm.