A Paper Cup Band, The Absent Arch, Bouncer Fighter & Sleeping with the Aviary @ Hexagon Bar

The record release show for A Paper Cup Band’s new Detroit vs. Farming CD was held Friday night and the band, along with a few friends, filled the Hexagon Bar for an evening of a great local music. The show went for a solid four hours and showed some of the great depth and variety of the local scene.

The first band I saw proved to be the biggest surprise of the night for me. Sleeping with the Aviary are a four piece band made up of guitar, bass, drums and accordion. They are fronted by Elliot Kozel, who also sings and plays guitar in A Paper Cup Band, so their great set proved to be a highly entertaining warm up for him. The first half of the set was full of Pavement-leaning, fractured pop songs that had both the band, and the crowd, bouncing along with smiles on their faces. Kozel was frantically strumming and singing to their songs that his glasses fell off of his face during three of the first four songs, with the last time resulting in a lens popping out. Not being able to see out of one eye was not nearly enough to slow down the uncoiling energy of this great band, and they spent the second half of their set playing unrestrained punk, bordering on hardcore—songs that were occasionally started with the Ramones style “1 2 3 4.” Their wildly diverse set was very strong and I am looking forward to checking them out again.

The next band was the well regarded Anti-Civ band Bouncer Fighter. More than any other band on the bill, their songs had no connection with any semblance of typical singer/songwriter structures. Their entexedent, highly spirited prog-country jams were as loose as they were fun, and the band seemed to take the tangled mess they were creating and turn it into something both engaging and entertaining. Lead singer Caleb Pease yelped in his Don Van Vliet sounding voice while the band played an upbeat set that was well received by the crowd (which by then had filled up the band wing of the Hex and was spilling out into the main bar).

After the frantic energy of Bouncer Fighter were The Absent Arch, who were playing to support their excellent debut album Keep Calm and Carry On. Lead singer and guitar player Will Markwardt was joined by band members playing viola, bass, keyboards and drums for the powerful set. Their songs, which have a restrained beauty on the record, were expanded in the live setting and the sonic meandering of the keyboards added an interesting touch to Markwardt’s sweeping sound. Although they were not as upbeat as the bands that played before and after them, they kept the crowd’s attention with their swelling instrumentation and emotionally packed songs. The only disappointment I had was that they played a short set, which I assume was because the show was running late.

Last up was The Paper Cup Band, who’s sophomore record was the reason for the evening. They didn’t hit the stage until around 1:15, but the music room was still crowded and rowdy. The band opened their set with the classic line, “Knock Knock,” “Who’s there?” “Detroit vs. Farming,” before bursting into their highly energetic set. Like Sleeping with the Aviary, they took their songs that are slightly more mellow on record and gave them a dose of energy that made the songs even more frenzied. The crowd, with bellies full of PBR, not surprisingly ate it up and turned the front of the stage into a sea of pogoing hipsters and punks. Kozel was still flailing all over the stage, and his never ending enthusiasm was matched by his band mates, who seemed genuinely excited to be celebrating their great new CD. The band focused on the new material from Detriot vs. Farming and had the tired, but attentive, crowd loving every minute of it.

The show, while not quite being on the level of a 12-hour Fucked Up marathon, was still a four hour straight-shot of some great live music. The bands all kept the crowd moving and attentive and seemed to play off of each other’s energy. The Hexagon, with their free cover, proved to be the place to be on Friday night if you wanted to see some challenging but exciting music that really did a great job to represent a distinctive and exhilarating cross section of the Minneapolis rock and roll scene.

A Paper Cup Band: Purchase | MySpace
Sleeping with the Aviary: Official | MySpace
Bouncer Fighter: MySpace
The Absent Arch: Purchase | Official | MySpace

Also: A Paper Cup Band “Detroit vs. Farming” Review