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Review Mon Oct 26 2009
Live Review: Drummer @ Schubas
"Dan (Auerbach--vocalist/guitarist for The Black Keys) was leaving on tour to support his solo record, and I wasn't going to have anything to do for a while," Patrick Carney (drummer for The Black Keys) says about Drummer's inception. A band of drummers, with only one playing drums. Carney first got in touch with friend Jamie Stillman (drummer in Teeth of the Hydra and Harriet the Spy) and they brought on Jon Finley (former drummer for Party of Helicopters) as lead singer/guitarist, Stephen Clements (drummer for Houseguest) on keyboards/vocals, and Greg Boyd (drummer for Ghostman & Sandman) held the helm on drums. Carney himself picked up the bass, and Stillman, guitar.
Feeling Good Together is their M.O., as well as the name of their debut album, and that's just what they did on Friday night at Schubas. With the comfort of watching your friends' band play a house party, they took the stage and continued banter with the audience throughout the night. "Anybody down to kick it tonight?" Finley asked at one point. Their goal was to have fun and make sure the audience did too. And boy did they. The room was filled mostly with drunk dudes in ball caps and jumping up and down with fists in the air and shouting out random comments--mostly about Ohio, but there was one curious "I LIKE PIZZA!" towards the end of the show (there was no doubt that most of these guys would be behaving much the same in front of a college football game on Saturday).
They had a riff heavy late 90's punk rock vibe and at times they reminded me of (I can't believe I'm about to say this) the Goo Goo Dolls--not meant as an insult at all, it really describes their hook-iest, most melodic parts. Carney kept quietly to the back of the stage for most of the show, but over to the right Clements was the most interesting to watch as he had two mics and manipulated his voice on the keyboards. While lively on stage, Finley's vocals were sometimes harsh or out of tune (making me wonder if he really was the best vocalist of the five of them).
During one song, Finley broke two strings, afterward saying, "I'm not so good at guitar," when describing how after the first one broke he was able to hold it together, but when the second string broke, he didn't know what to do. This is the point when I realized that while I was entertained, they really did have a "house party band" sound--not really bad, not really good, but loud and with conviction.
Bottom line is if Pat Carney wasn't in this band, the show surely wouldn't have sold out. It's clear that the connection to The Black Keys (along with the drummer shtick) brings so much attention to this group because while they're not terrible, an equal group wouldn't be selling out shows outside their hometown. (Insert your own "maybe they should stick to playing drums" joke here)
