Just a stunning billing at the Mercury Lounge this evening. I wish I had remembered to bring my goddamn camera, but alas, I’ll have to resort to my menial iPhone.
Kicking off things strong with Fare Evasion, “the MTA’s least favorite band”. But who could hold them to account for their lesser crimes when they’ve got that charm? I’ve been trying to see them for a while now, and they did not disappoint. You could have plucked their lead guitarist Rory off the stage and popped him in the middle of a blues improv jam and he would have fit right in. They played some of their classics mixed in with some new pieces, including one gorgeous instrumental that conjured up the image of roller skating in the sky (it was tentatively called Cloud something-or-other). “I know I said I’d have the lyrics by the next show, but I don’t, and we’re going to play it anyway,” Chris took off his glasses to get a good look at the audience, and with his infectious enthusiasm and charisma, I would have followed him off a bridge during that set. I wish I got to see more. A must see rising alt-rock act.
Up next was eve claret, visually filling the void in the post-screamo scene. Black leather bottoms, a high-neck white fur vest, long black leather gloves snaking up to their biceps, and the exact haircut that my mom wouldn’t let me have when I was 12 and obsessed with Black Veil Brides. This is a band with a goddamned aesthetic, black and white and scene all over. Their dynamic range made for dramatic pauses in a post-screamo set with a shredding guitar, and their singer came to life with larger-than-life expressiveness. A pleasant surprise from a band I hadn’t known before tonight.
Finally, Miss Teen America took the stage and delivered a deliciously melodramatic performance, with eye rolls and hand gestures and head bangs and hair flips and pouts and smiles and everything in between. Their lead singer TJ Coffino’s impressive vocal range included operatic singing and screaming and some gorgeous belts in between. Their bassist was an intense conductor with the most ghastly cheekbones, both the musical backbone and a looming backbone for the frontperson. .
Miss Teen America is for the theater kids who were a little too obsessed with the My Chemical Romance vampire lore. After an energetic performance from a band with a raucous audience, I could hardly believe when they told us it was their second performance together as a band. Their merch line was out the door for a reason. Catch them if you can February 13th at their free show.