with American Aquarium, Stuart McLamb, and Gray Young
Motorco Music Hall & Fullsteam Brewery
9/1/2011
I could get used to to Deja Mi throwing all these free gigs. The first one in Raleigh was a larger, multi-day affair featuring a bunch of touring bands, but this Durham outing was more focused on our great local acts. And as an added bonus, there were a bunch of food trucks there so that I was able to stuff myself silly while rocking out.
The first act was Gray Young and they played inside of Full Steam. I mean, not inside of the giant beer vat or anything, though that might have been kind of awesome. I've been meaning to see them for quite some time, so it was great to finally be able to check that off my list. They were quite good, very much like their album...post-rock/post-emo or some such ridiculous descriptor. What I'm saying is they reminded me a lot of Appleseed Cast, and maybe some older bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Christie Front Drive. Since those are three bands I've loved for years and still to this day, being reminded of them is very much a good thing. And now I'll have to work on crossing them off of my list of "bands I need to see again".
Stuart McLamb from the Love Language was up next, playing a solo set in the garage of Motorco. He played a mix of electric and acoustic songs, mostly Love Language tracks from their first two albums but a few covers as well - I remember "Jealous Guy" was in there, and a Frank Black song that escapes me now. I remember Stu sounding particularly great on "Lalita" and "Blue Angel", but that's probably because those are two of my favorite Love Language songs. At one point he took his acoustic, sat down on the edge of the stage, and a played a few songs sans amplifications. Hell, if I had a booming voice like his, I'd perform in this fashion all the time - it's powerful stuff.
I missed the next band shooting the shit with friends and eating from the many food trucks always parked at these venues, but eventually I staggered back into Motorco, to the main stage this time, where American Aquarium were closing out the night. They play very straight-forward rockin' alt-country, a mix of classic mid-nineties local output like Whiskeytown, and singer BJ's obvious hero Bruce Springsteen. Catchy songs full of pedal steel and organ and vocals with a strong drawl, it's like they read my mind on what makes a good alt-country song. Well, to be fair, that's pretty much what everyone thinks a good alt-country song ought to sound like. Except maybe Howe Gelb, who thinks they should sound like a combination of long winded "King of the Road" covers and beat poetry. But that is another story entirely. These Raleigh kids play constantly, so if you've never seen them before don't worry, they'll be playing again very soon. And probably again soon after that. This is a good problem to have.
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