Gram Rabbit on Easter Sunday in Chicago? What could be more cosmically perfect?
More than anything, Sunday night at Beat Kitchen (2100 W. Belmont, Chicago) provided an excellent nightcap to an otherwise typical Easter Sunday in Chicago. Fun is infectious and great music is addictive and when you have the opportunity to partake in the simultaneous presence of both, the result is genuinely resounding and palpable. To say that Gram Rabbit and Spindrift put on an amazing show would be too generic of a descriptive, when in fact, both bands literally tore it up and left Beat Kitchen in ashes.
Playing against a backdrop of spaghetti western and Russ Meyer film clips courtesy of Molly Rogers (Late Night Revel Productions), the performances were as visually intoxicating as they were aurally astounding throughout both sets. Both bands played selections from upcoming releases mixed in with veteran favorites and the result was downright sick. If I have one complaint it's that the sets were too short and that encores were prohibited by the venue.
Beat Kitchen is an amazing, intimate venue with great sound and allows fans to get close to their favorite performers. The crowd was warm and receptive and the head count was more than decent for a Sunday evening show, especially considering that Sunday was a holiday. Kudos to to the audio and visual technicians at this show for a truly wonderful experience.
Local band Rocket Miner, a melody-driven, post-rock/shoegaze band that is big on distortion and amazing instrumental holds kicked off the set at approximately 8:30 PM. Covering material from their debut release Songs For An October Sky, the band played an extremely polished set, offering a dynamic, free form and visual experience that was a pretty thrilling musical experience. Certainly, Rocket Miner is a band worth further investigation.
Relevant Links:
Remaining Tour Dates for the Gram Rabbit/Spindrift Tour:
- April 2, 2013 - The Cause Sound Bar, Minneapolis, MN
- April 3, 2013 - B& B Bar, Spearfish, SD
- April 4, 2013 - The Walnut Room, Denver, CO
- April 5, 2013 - Brewski's, Ogden, UT
- April 6, 2013 - The Garage, Salt Lake City, UT
- April 7, 2013 - Artiface Bar, Las Vegas, NV
Gram Rabbit
This was the second time I've seen Gram Rabbit perform live and their highly charged set was well worth the anticipation of seeing them in my home town. I had been planning for this event since January.
Gram Rabbit plays music that marries guitar driven psychedelia and alt-country. Lead singer Jesika von Rabbit provides a truly sexy fashionable front for the band -- be sure to notice her various kicks, her various lids and an array of superb sunglasses as she performs -- and despite the frills, this is no novelty act. In fact, their set was superbly tight and featured three songs from their upcoming EP Braised & Confused. Ethan Allen was positively electric on guitar through the whole set and Todd Rutherford showed me that he sings just as well as he plays bass, taking the lead for the song Wheels In Motion, and after having seen that live, it may be my new favorite Gram Rabbit song. Rutherford provided an ethereal and surreal front, discarding the bass completely in exchange for truly emotive vocals that played well against Jesika's keyboards. The guy can sing, no doubt.
But make no mistake, Jesika is the focus of Gram Rabbit and the newer songs show a more upbeat and electronic side to Gram Rabbit that will please supporters of their earlier works. Final Clap Fever and Big Deal are great songs but March Of Fools may be the best of the new songs they played. It's a hard rocker that's a little more guitar-driven and it cut through the crowd like a hot knife through butter. The band closed the show with one of my favorite songs, Bloody Bunnies and left the stage to a chorus of encores from those in attendance. All in all the show was sonically exhilarating, paced well and if anything, too short. I wanted a whole lot more Gram Rabbit, as did everybody else.
I picked up the new EP (currently only available at Gram Rabbit shows) and will have a review in a day or two. And that's one thing I dig about Gram Rabbit: they are constantly providing new material for their fans. I don't know how many CDs or digital downloads Gram Rabbit sells, but it should be thousands more.
Each year I follow one band on tour. This year my go to band is Gram Rabbit and I am looking forward to seeing them next in Los Angeles on May 5th.
Set List:
01. Waiting In The Kountry (from Cultivation)
02. Final Clap Fever (from Braised & Confused)
03. Cowboy Up > Cowboys & Aliens (from Music To Start A Cult To)
04. Big Deal (from Braised & Confused)
05. Wheels In Motion (from Miracles & Metaphors)
06. March Of Fools (from Braised & Confused)
07. Horses Can't Throw Up (from Miracles & Metaphors)
08. Bloody Bunnies (from Cultivation)
Band Discography (click cover art for more information)
Spindrift
This is a band whose sound comes at you like a herd of stampeding bulls. Just saying that conjures up amazing imagery and sensory perception. What you get at a Spindrift show is music that is certainly not short on speed nor aggressiveness, and the crowd at Beat Kitchen was treated to an evening of mostly instrumental songs that weaved seamlessly from one cascading crescendo into the next. It was an amazing amalgam of western and tribal sensibilities with booming drums, shredding guitars and one oozing with bravado and cocksurety. The best way to describe it is something that is spaghetti western in form that speeds like a Motorhead set without pause or break. No lie - a Spindrift set has an innate ability to elicit similar feelings to participation in Pamplona's Running Of The Bulls.
Spindrift is a veteran band formed by singer-songwriter-composer-producer-actor Kirkpatrick Thomas. Originally based out of Delaware, the band has found a home in Los Angeles and has honed a sound that burns in psychedelia and comes across as Ennio Morricone-inspired western film soundtrack music amped up to exponential levels. In fact, Spindrift has cited the Sergio Leone film Once Upon a Time in the West as a influence on the cinematic outlook for the band’s music and overall look. On this tour the band is featuring their latest addition to the group, Michelle Vidal on keyboards, who has been filling in for Sasha Vallely.
From start to finish Spindrift's set was nothing short of magnificent, cinematic-driven, grindhouse music. It is an incendiary experience to be part of a Spendthrift show if only for the sheer adrenaline rush that comes from listening to their set. The highlight was the closing quartet of Ghost Riders/Drifter's Pass/Indian Run/Showdown but equally impressive were songs like Roundup, The Legend Of God's Gun and Girlz Booze and Gunz. You may recognize Indian Run from the Quentin Tarantino film Hell Ride. The band's cover of Ghost Riders In The Sky was better than any I've heard and is as relentless and unforgiving as a speeding freight train. The same can be said of any of the selections they performed Sunday evening. Spindrift's show at Beat Kitchen was positively draining with no let down until the band started breaking down the stage.
Kirkpatrick Thomas is simply amazing on guitar but the whole band coalesces into a sound that, as I said, is pure adrenaline. Drummer James Acton performed the entire set standing up, which I thought was a magnificent touch, though I later found out it was out of necessity rather than anything pre-planned as his throne had disappeared somewhere along their current tour. Regardless, Acton never missed a beat and it was a cool visual experience. Vidal's performance was exceptional as well and she certainly fits in with the band's look and musical style.
If by chance Spindrift is performing a show near you, you have to make sure you get out to see them. It's refreshing to see something that is innovative yet capable of leaning on a sound that feels somewhat familiar. What a great way to discover new music and what an amazing evening at Beat Kitchen.
Set List:
01. Hellbound (from Classic Soundtracks, Vol 1)
02. Ace Coltrane
03. Roundup (from Classic Soundtracks, Vol 1)
04. Theme From Ghost Patrol (from Classic Soundtracks, Vol 1)
05. Kama Sutra Tiger Attack
06. The Legend Of God's Gun (from The Legend Of God's Gun)
07. Speak To The Wind (from The Legend Of God's Gun)
08. Girlz Booze and Gunz (from The Legend Of God's Gun)
09. When I Was A Cowboy
10. Ghost Riders In The Sky
11. Theme From Drifter's Pass (from Classic Soundtracks, Vol 1)
12. Indian Run (from The Legend Of God's Gun)
13. Showdown (from Classic Soundtracks, Vol 1)
Band Discography (click on image for more information)
