At 9:03PM on Tuesday (10/3), the Subterranean was looking pretty dead in terms of audience numbers, which was sad because the three bands playing that night: The Village Green, The Purrs, and The Ettes put on a great show. I came wanting to see all three bands, but only planning a review of one, by the end of the night, I had to write about all three. So, here's Part One.
When you choose a name like The Village Green (that one would associate with the Kinks' album The Village Green Preservation Society) and even state The Kinks as an influence, you better have the chops to back up such a bold proclamation. After seeing and hearing The Village Green play, they exceeded my expectations. Drawing from a variety other Brit-pop influences like Blur and Supergrass and flirting a bit with UK ska, The Village Green sound inviting and familiar. Lead singer and songwriter, J. Nicholas Allard, who is responsible for much of The Village Green's sound, has a voice that is earthy and fine tuned. Allard's vocals were complemented quite nicely by the driving melodies and perfect Brit power pop harmonies provided by his musical accomplices. They barreled through their set of songs off their recent release Feeling The Fall and their self-titled EP, without much audience interaction or breathing room between songs. I don't know if it was due to the lack of audience and they just wanted to finish their set, or if this is just how they play live. It did not diminish their sound quality at all though, and you would have never guessed they recently replaced two band members in June. It was that solid and they have some pretty catchy songs, which doesn't hurt.
Download: The Village Green - "When The Creepers Creep In"
Download: The Village Green - "Wrap Your Love Around Me"
Next up, was The Purrs, a 4-piece from Seattle who apparently missed their gig in MN, the night before because a low-flying owl crashed into their windshield (pesky owls!) The Purrs came together as a band the good ol' fashion way: Classified Section, which probably explains why they look like a hodge podge of characters. However, when they play it all seems to make sense. They are bound by a common thread, a love for neo-garage music and drinking songs. File their sound somewhere between The Verve and Brian Jonestown Massacre. They have enough talent and ambition to put on a good live show and their music is of the catchy, feel good variety, though I feel much of it was lost on me. They sound great live, but in my opinion the best song of the night was "Get On With Your Life", with it's quivering Spanish surf guitar and slurping vocals, 'You're never gonna take me alive, so you see it's just a waste of your time...' It felt like their most finely crafted song and really stood out from the rest. Their set was comprised of songs off their forthcoming new album and the 2005 release The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of, which you can sample in it's entirety on their website.
Setlist:
Drive
Taste of Monday
She's Gone
Get On With Your Life
Junk & Jill
Loose Talk
Download: The Purrs - "Get On With Your Life" - (MP3)
Download: The Purrs - "She's Gone" - (MP3)
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