By Kimberly Caterino at Live Music Capital Radio
After seeing the film Echotone last week, a music documentary about Austin that features Bill Baird of the band Sunset (among many other artists), the next live band I stumbled upon was.. Sunset.
At the Pecan Street Festival, Sunset played, well, as the sun set—providing a perfect orange-gray atmosphere for Bill Baird’s gently haunting songwriting. Sunset had only two members tonight, each with guitar, singing in 2-part harmonies that lured me in. The essence of Bill’s songs are subtly magnetic, reflective in a both a contemporary and timeless manner. Especially when singing in the 2-parts, and this is meant in the most honorary way possible: they reminded me of an electric Simon and Garfunkel. I heard 3 songs before they closed—and one that caught me was “Civil War”, a personal identification with Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). I said timeless. (Click here for a solo version.)
Sunset was the crème brulee before the whiskey. The whiskey..
Black Pistol Fire lives up to the name. From the first crack of drum sticks against the skins, I was stunned.
They are a duo, which in itself is striking. No need for more. I would actually consider any musician trying to intelligently insert a third instrument in that conversation a brave soul, a talented artist, or a fool. Kevin McKeown (electric guitar/lead vocals) and Eric Owen (drums) have it together tight. Real tight.
They’ve been friends since kindergarten, and after playing in a trio in Toronto, Canada, they hauled it as a duo down here to Austin to.. kick our ass. In anything I read about this band, no one compares them to Led Zeppelin. Never in my life have I heard a kit player precisely and ferociously drive the music John-Bonham style the way Eric Owen does. (You don’t throw that comparison around.) It doesn’t come across in the recordings—you have to have your brain fluids shaken in person to understand. I texted to a music-loving friend after: “Raw southern Led Zep on speed in their 20’s. Wow.”
The intentional phrasing of McKeown’s guitar reminds of Jack White of The White Stripes, as does the flow of drums/guitar turn-taking. Throw in some Black Crowes raunchiness, some Black Sabbath urgency, even some slight Smashing Pumpkins dreamy-chord hypnosis..
So who would have guessed that their second song on the main stage would be the cover “I Shot the Sheriff”? It wrapped the crowd around their finger. Their version exampled their ability to fluctuate between focused delicacy and downright explosion. ..Not to mention their ability to rock the reggae.
Each half of the band articulates as clearly as the other, and it raises the question who’s driving, who’s following? The leader is ever-changing, because of the energy exchange, or simply due to the composition of the piece at hand. Yet together, they can turn the pace and direction of the music on a dime.
This band is so new, with their first CD released this past winter (called simply Black Pistol Fire), that names of songs are evasive. I’ll take a guess: two we heard were “Black-Eyed Susan” and the encore “You’re Not the Only One”. (Click here for a YouTube of this song, played a couple of hours later at a second gig. Is that electrified bluegrass in the middle?)
The players of Black Pistol Fire are clearly channeling every note to the point they can’t help but also be good performers. When not singing, he’s dancing or jumping—and when McKeown turns his back to the audience to play at the shirtless, thrashing Owen, which happens quite a bit, as an audience member you feel not annoyed, but honored to witness such severe symbiosis. If you are a rock fan: Run, do not walk, to see Black Pistol Fire in person. These guys are the bomb.
No comments:
Post a Comment