The Huntsville, Alabama garage-stormers Thomas
Function stopped in at New
York’s Cake Shop Friday night for a fast and frenzied
set that is sure to help expand their ever-growing reputation in punk and
garage circles, despite some technical difficulties. The four piece (Phillip Dougherty, drums; Travis
Thompson, bass; Zach Jeffries, keys; Josh Macero, guitar and vocals) are
currently heading into their second month of touring the United States and
Canada in support of their debut album Celebration!
on Alive Naturalsounds Records.
Thomas Function is known for their appropriately punk habit
of playing short sets, and they weren’t changing course at the Cake Shop, not
even for the hipster, music-nerd set gathered into the crawlspace-sized club
located below a pastry and beer boutique in Manhattan’s
Lower East Side. The boys knocked out six up-tempo numbers in
rapid succession, barely pausing to sip from their cocktails between
songs. Usually, a shorter set is
expected, and sometimes desired, at a grungy joint with four bands on the bill,
but when a band’s as good as Thomas Function, you can’t help but be left
wanting more. It seemed they took longer
setting up their gear than actually manipulating their instruments.
The night featured songs culled from the band’s debut,
delivered with such sonic intensity that I witnessed several onlookers reach
for their earplugs after the first bars of the mega-danceable lead-off song,
“Can’t Say No.” (And kudos to them for being such responsible concert goers!) Lead singer and guitarist Josh Macero, his
guitar slung high, brandishing the neck at the audience two feet from the
stage, looked like Angus Young doing a George Harrison impression, while
keyboardist Zach Jeffries (who was playing a borrowed instrument, his own
having exploded a few nights prior) stood rigid behind his organ at center
stage and bassist Travis Thompson juked and jived at Jeffries’s side. Drummer Phillip Dougherty, along with
Thompson, make up the band’s rhythmic anchor, which
sets them apart from so many of the other 1960’s garage and rock-pop renaissance
acts out there today.
Unfortunately, the band’s songwriting brilliance,
captivating lyrics, and well-endowed melodies were almost entirely lost in the
mayhem of borrowed gear and a sub-par sound system. Even still, later, as I left the club I found
myself humming the songs that seemed so muddled and jumbled onstage.
The maelstrom didn’t let up until the band went into a
slightly extended version of the plaintive yet rollicking “Lights Down Low,” a
song reminiscent of the groundbreaking music produced just a few blocks from
the Cake Shop in the ‘70’s. Not ones to
let the audience get bored, Thomas Function launched into their closer, the
epically glam “Peanut Butter and Paranoia Jam,” which features the chorus, “We
don’t just laugh last, we hope you die.”
Stepping off the stage just as the crowd seemed to warm up,
it was hard to deny that the Thomas Function have some tricks up their sleeves
and that they’re not afraid to leave their audience hungry for more.
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
