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October 27, 2006

Silversun Pickups & Viva Voce - Live @ Hi-Dive, Denver, CO, 10.24.06

The cliché of cute girls playing bass or keys has reached critical mass, though this is not meant to shine negative light by bringing up females in rock bands. If women represent roughly fifty percent of the general population and make up only one-fourth of bands that include them at all, then rock and roll suffrage* has quite a ways to go before declaring success. Why there would be such a cause worth celebrating is beyond me, but I digress.

The tall, skinny girl perched on a relatively giant bass guitar or the disinterested keyboard player hung over the ivory with long hair covering her face is often the view we see these women. Some have built quite a following mentioning it, especially when said ladies are of the attractive variety. Unfortunately, unlike descriptions of face-melting solos by the lead guitarists have no mention of his effect on ladies swooning in the front row – musical talents of rock girls take a back seat to their pretty faces and long legs – the product of music writers being mostly male I suppose.

With both bands from Tuesday’s Hi-Dive show mixing up the gender demographics, my words could easily have subscribed to the minimal expectations given to blog reviews when girls are involved. Thing is, both girls kicked ass! In vastly different ways, but kicked ass they did.

Silversun Pickups

[Photo cred]

I’ve heard a lot about this band in my daily perusal through the music section of the internets, and without a real reason I ignored it all. Maybe subconsciously my brain shut off the receptacle designated for California bands. Too bad for me. The middle act sandwiched between the Kingdom and Viva Voce, Silversun Pickups still drew most of the crowd at the Denver tour stop – not quite like CYHSY outshining the National – but peeps filed out en masse before headliner Viva Voce. The early to bed folks did themselves a favor because the gender inverted White Stripe stand ins headlining the night may have put them to sleep following a wickedly tight performance by the Silversun Pickups.

I won’t say they did anything incredibly original, because they didn’t. I can’t say they blew my pants off with unique, challenging arrangements because that never happened either. This was a band on stage that beamed with confidence while doing their job proudly, and determined on showing the crowd the choice outcome of all their rehearsals. Other bands take note: practice pays off, no matter what Allen Iverson may have said.

On center stage Brian Aubert led the group with hushed, poppy vocals and guitar licks which both impressively flipped on a dime from soft and crisp to heart racing thrashpunk without missing a beat. Aubert was flanked on the right by the intensely focused Joe Lester on keyboards looking like a renegade deserter of Fidel’s army with a Comandante shirt and cap. Bassist Nikki Monninger on stage left grabbed my attention like no other bassist in recent memory. She crawled all over the fretboard showing remarkable dexterity that was most evident on “Well Thought Out Twinkles.” She intently squared in on Aubert’s cues and the steady pulsating beats of Christopher Guaniao. Monninger didn’t just act the part of bassist, she owned it.

[MP3] Silversun Pickups - "Well Thought Out Twinkles"

Driving rock with the sleeves rolled up because it’s about to get messy. Makes a Swankster happy.

[MP3] Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"

The contrasts of quiet and loud verses walk a tightrope of crescendos and serve as ideal illustration for what this band does best.

Viva Voce

[Photo cred]

I really like the “We Do Not Fuck Around” single that made its way around the blogs this year. Not only is the title great, but the Pink Floydish tone and choral vibe of the song tricks you into thinking a large band is behind the production. Yet the Portland band count only two people as members. The husband and wife team of Kevin and Anita Robinson form the antithesis of the fake husband and wife team of Jack and Meg. First off, the girl in this group holds a guitar and her musical skills are far from rudimentary. She held more than her own in terms of chops on the axe and brought a graceful, steady confidence to the stage. The only resemblance between her obvious parallel is button nose cuteness, which I hate to even bring up after my introduction on sexist music reviews. Oh well, I never claimed infallibility.

So how does a band of two perform the big sounds of the record in a live setting? Quick answer, they don’t. This made me sad as I fully expected a Polyphonic Spree sized group interpreting the songs off Get Yr Blood Sucked Out. I suppose reading up on the evening talent could have prepared me for the lack of wall of sound expectations I had going into the Hi-Dive. Perhaps they could have not closed the show with “We Do Not Fuck Around” and those feelings would not have dissipated. Fortunately they did and I went home happy with the added bonus of my girlfriend working her Southern charm to score free CDs from both bands. Thank you easily hustled merch stand friends!

[MP3] Viva Voce - "We Do Not Fuck Around"

*This is a great name for an all-girl band. Someone get on it.
--

I didn't have my camera for this show, but KGB.FM has some good photos of Silversun Pickups.

Remaining Tourdates after the jump.

//Silversun Pickups - site
//Silversun Pickups - Myspace
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//Viva Voce - site
//Viva Voce - Myspace

Posted by Merry Swankster at October 27, 2006 12:20 PM

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Posted by: Roland at October 27, 2006 03:21 PM

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