Sinizine.net

Friday night brought three bands, a bunch of my friends from Alabama, and myself to the End for a night of up-and-coming indie rock in the form of Big Surr, Yuck, and Smith Westerns. I had never seen any of these bands, I hadn’t been to the End since the epically fun New Years show, and I was excited to hang with some people I hadn’t seen in months.Walking into the already crowded bar, Big Surr was underway and, while I knew they were local, since I had never seen them, I had never realized that several of the members of Diarrhea Planet are also in BS. Unfortunately, not being an overwhelming fan of DP, this was not the best of news. However, BS was a smaller band with a female vocalist that brought a little more surfy poppiness to their set that for me at least is preferable to the generally over-complicated songs of DP. (And can I note that both initials of these bands could stand for other things, and I wonder if it was intentional?) Nevertheless, even though I only managed to catch a couple songs, I found myself bored and waiting for the one band I had heard of and knew I liked, which is Chicago based Smith Westerns. But it seems to be the curse of girl-fronted bands because unexpectedly, I found myself missing the antics of frontman Jordan Smith in DP whose live show performance is the one thing that makes DP worth going to see.

But then Yuck started to set up in what was one of the most unnecessarily long breaks I’ve seen at a show in a long, long time. Maybe I’m used to house shows that force efficiency and fifteen minute set changes, but hearing the complaints of other drunken show goers, I know I wasn’t alone in feeling like Yuck was moving just a little too slowly for a Friday night in Nashville. I had listened to a few songs off their self-titled album in preparation for the show, but again, that 90’s alternative rock flavor was omnipresent, and I found myself turning it off after only a few minutes. Hearing them live, they reminded me of an almost new wave, almost shoe gaze (shoe wave, if you will), indie alternative noise rock kind of thing. And to me, all of that translates into a watered down version of punk, and I prefer my music straight like I like my coffee, whiskey, and men. Their songs went on just a little too long, they had way too many pedals, and the male BGV was too loud and out-of-sync with the rest of the stoner music they were trying to produce. Granted, if I had it my way, they’d probably just sound like some other garage pop band, and well, I think that market’s getting pretty saturated with carbon copied, 60’s throwback bands.

For only three bands, the show went on late, and Smith Westerns finally started playing around midnight. They were sufficiently styled and attractive, making them one of my picks for 2011’s bands to blow up, following in the footsteps of other indie garage like Best Coast. But while their first self-titled album was one of the reasons I got into this scene, their latest sophomore effort, Dye It Blonde, found me underwhelmed with a couple songs with all the right hooks, but the rest sounding like every Girls song that I don’t like. Moreover, their attitude towards the show left a bitter taste in my mouth. While SW might want to think they’re already rock stars, this is Music City, and even the most seasoned of musicians can still feel the stage sweats in this town. So to hear things like, “We’re just here for the hits” and “We don’t play encores,” I was sorely disappointed by what used to be a band I loved to tell people about. And with newer, fresher bands popping up every day, it’s not hard to find someone else to hark about.

But it was a Friday night with good friends and cheap beer so regardless of the bands, I would have had a fun time. And perhaps my dissatisfaction with what would have been an amazing show by Alabama standards is simply testament to the fact that Nashville has developed an incredibly diverse and talented scene, drawing known and unknown bands to tour through and even sometimes move. Every night has an amazing show, and making a good impression is becoming more and more of a challenge in what was already a difficult market to break into.

Reviewer: Rebecca Seung

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website