Kings & Tir Na Nog
9/29/2011
This was a night of two free shows - one at Kings, the other at Tir Na Nog. The only thing better than a free show is two of them withing short walking distance of each other.
First up was Naked Gods at Kings. I'd heard of these kids for a while, but this was my first time seeing them. Boone hasn't exactly produced a ton of great bands, and growing up near there you automatically assume most anything leaving that town is going to have a strong hippie stink to it. Luckily, that was not the case here - to put it in simplest terms, the group reminded me of a southern rock version of the great British band Doves. The singer had a nice voice, reminding me at different times of David Bazan and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. I didn't love every single song they played, but I liked enough of their songs to recommend them to others and try to see them again myself.
I made my way down to Tir Na Nog after that, hoping to catch Cellar Seas, but things seemed to be running behind here and The Toddlers were probably in the middle of their set. I'd never even heard of this band, but from what I could gather they are a fairly new act out of Chapel Hill. The singer had a really deep, interesting voice, a voice that colors their songs more than most voices do. When they played slower songs they had a resemblance to the Doors. When they played more upbeat songs, they had a Joy Division feel to them. Now I'm no Doors hater, but I'll let you guess which tracks I found more appealing.
Cellar Seas closed out Local Bands Local Beers at the Nog. Now I can try and pretend to write about these guys (and gal) from an objective point of view, but let's be honest - I'm friends with three-quarters of the band and this is being written for my shitty website so I don't see any reason to fake it. They play a catchy, pleasant brand of country-tinged roots rock, and I like it. I don't just "friend rock" like it either - songs like "Nightshade" and "Carousel" would be damn fine songs even if I didn't know most of the band (and woulda know all of the band if D-Mike hadn't up and moved to Austin). Also, they just released a free EP for download that has the two songs mentioned above and a couple of other gems. Grab it here.
I made my way back up the hill to catch most of TOW3RS set. I'd been hearing about them a little bit, and I'm always game to check out the newest local buzz bands. Smart decision on my part - this is a young, powerful band. The songs are catchy, the music is big, the band members are cute and if there were a betting pool I'd put my ten cents on these cats being the next local break out artist. The best way I could describe their sound is early, pre-disco Of Montreal, a little bit of Lonnie Walker's jangle and a dash of Danielson Famile's quirkiness. To top it all of the gig was being entirely lit by a showing of the film "Independence Day"...nothing like a little indie pop while Will Smith is being projected on the side of the band. I will be sing this band again very soon, and very often, hopefully.
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