The Rumble Strips & Birdmonster @ 7th St. Entry

Birdmonster

The 7th Street Entry is a venue built specifically, it seems, for loud, sweaty rock shows. The intimacy (and, frankly, the grunginess of the place) lends itself nicely to dissonant, thunderous rock shows where you can’t help but bounce of the person next to you simply because there’s no room to move. Unfortunately, at last nights The Rumble Strips/Birdmonster show, there was too much room to move, with attendance barely pushing 100 people by the time the headliners got on stage. And while I try not to let crowds affect my judgment and enjoyment of a show one way or the other, good or bad, the sparse attendance did seem to have a bit of an impact on the bands, specifically the set of San Francisco’s Birdmonster.

Birdmonster

Birdmonster

I have spent the last few days listening to Birdmonster’s excellent debut No Midnight, in preparation for the show, growing excited to hear these songs live. And, while I understand that they are touring their new record, From The Mountain To The Sea, it was a touch frustrating not to hear more than just a couple songs from their first release. The new album, as the title of it hints at, is certainly a stylistic shift for the band, away from the loose, electric guitar based songs of their debut, to a more organic, acoustic driven, keyboard aided sound. And while their new songs are good, the band seems to be a bit more restrained while playing them. The older songs had a much more untethered feel, specifically “Cause You Can,” which came third in the band’s set, and really invigorated a somewhat stagnant start to the show. The slow start could perhaps be attributed to the fact that there were barely 30 or 40 people there during their set, prompting lead singer Peter Arcuni to remark “You guys are so quiet. We’ll just take that as you being respectful.”

Birdmonster

But it seemed like the band, instead of trying to draw energy from a crowd clearly not supplying it, all drew themselves inward and used the vivacity of each other to drive the rest of the set, with each member singing energetically along with Peter to the songs (most of the time not even into their microphones), and Peter and bassist/keyboardist Justin Tenuto resting their heads on each other as they caught a grove. And, from “Cause You Can,” (which was incredible) onwards, the set soared. “New Country,” “The Only One,” and “Lost At Sea,” were real standouts from the new album, which, I admit, I need to become more familiar with. And hopefully, by the time that happens, Birdmonster will come back through town again, next time as headliners, and hopefully to a full room. Although, while talking to guitarist David Klein after the show, he wasn’t bothered by the attendance, and thought it was a fun show. He also added that we are spoiled with great venues in this city. They’ve now played the 400 Bar, The Varsity Theater, and The Entry, and he just can’t believe how many great rooms we have in this town. He’s quite right, and perhaps that wealth of musical options partly explains why the gig was so sparsely attended.

Birdmonster

Attendance had just about doubled by the time London’s (by way of Tavistock) The Rumble Strips ambled onstage. But the band didn’t need a full room to get things going, they were there to have a good time, and to get the people that were there dancing with their infectious, energetic songs. Starting the show with “No Soul,’” the lead-off track from their debut record Girls And Weather, the five piece band’s horn heavy, Madness-like rock sound clearly enlivened the audience. Frontman Charlie Waller has a soulful, resonant voice, and his expressive vocals, when combined with the splendid horn work of Henry Clark and Tom Gorbut, carried the songs to exuberant heights. “Girls And Boys In Love” was an early highlight, with the jaunty, piano driven melody getting the room bouncing, and the band’s debut single “Motorcycle,” a glorious rumination on wanting something better for ourselves, was a dynamic, soaring anthem that found the band really losing themselves in the music.

The Rumble Strips

The band played a majority of their album during their 13 song set, with a couple of new songs sprinkled in as well. “Walk Alone,” was the first new one, which Charlie referred to as a sad song, and it slowed things down a bit, losing some of the momentum built by the strong start of the set (quickly regained with the grand “Motorcycle”) and “Hardway,” another new song, was a high-spirited tune that shows the band is heading in a good direction, especially with Mark Ronson signing on to produce the band’s second record. But the bulk of the set was spent on songs from Girls And Weather, which really is a strong and confident record, especially for a debut. The songs have a playful, instantly catchy quality to them, and that transfers really well to their live show.

The Rumble Strips

“Clouds,” was a simple, but fun, exploration of a lazy day spent gazing at, what else, clouds. “Alarm Clock” was an upbeat, lively number about getting your life together, driven by the percussion of Matthew Wheeler and the horns. It’s hard to escape the horns in the music of The Rumble Strips, and who would want to. They add a modern ska-like touch to the bands buoyant pop songs, and that carefree sensibility drives the music as opposed to the lyrics, which are a touch simple at times, perhaps intentionally so. The anthemic “Time” closed out the main set, and it’s euphoric chorus, with it’s promise of time passing and things getting better, had me singing along in full voice with the rest of the band. The crowd coaxed the band back out for an encore, which was a loose and lively cover of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town,” that was featured on the band’s Alarm Clock EP.

The Rumble Strips

It was an affable way to end quite a spirited set that even had some crossovers from Ritmo Caliente at First Avenue’s main room coming in to dance along. The Rumble Strips certainly made their first foray into Minneapolis a successful and entertaining one. It’s just too bad that more people weren’t there to see it. Perhaps after Mark Ronson adds his touch to their new songs on their next record, the band will start to attract a wider audience in the States. For last night, at least, there was plenty of room to dance.

[Review by Erik Thompson, photos by Jon Behm]

The Rumble Strips set list:
No Soul
Hate Me (You Do)
Girls And Boys In Love
Walk Alone
Motorcycle
Don’t Dumb Down
Oh Creole
Clouds
Hardway
Alarm Clock
Hands
Time
The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy cover/encore)

Also: Birdmonster “Born To Be Your Man” Video