Tapes n’ Tapes, The Long Winters, “Awesome” University of Washington HUB Ballroom November 30, 2006

Cut to Hipster Central but set in an 80′s school auditorium. A college auditorium, in fact, that’s strangely reminiscent of where you had your middle school dances. A sign greets you at the door “No Smoking, No Drinking.” A cursory look around suggests that 95% of all the people in the room are under 21. Many of them look 14. Some of them sound ten. It’s all-ages, so I guess they could be ten. They are all in proper uniform dressed up in their Conor Oberst or Billy Jo impression for the guys or quite curiously for the girls, circa 1980′s style Madonna and Tiffany. It is my verdant hope that leggings are a vestige of the 80′s that remains a vestige, a fashion reanimated only for a single year, a style that is tossed aside once the next season rolls around and everyone realizes again how much the eighties sucked.

We arrived around 8:45 to find “Awesome” in the midst of their set. Having not seen them, but heard good things in the Stranger and on the blogs, this local group had a dashing professional look, every one of them wearing a suit of some kind. Altogether they were looking like a 1940′s swing band. Either that or they were members of the mafia hiding tommy guns under their oversize zoot suits. I prefer the swing band. Despite the unconventional banjo and mandolin, this band had no problem looking and sounding like a high energy rock band. At least four of seven or eight members had duties doing singing of some kind and they all sounded accomplished and practiced.The highlight of their set was when throughout their final song the banjo player (and University of Washington Philosophy Professor) did a david-byrne-ish a la “Stop Making Sense” groovy robot dance. Folding his body down to the stage and then folding it back up, he gyrated wildly to the music, looking like Data doing an interpretive dance after he took some android acid. It was awkward and hilarious all at the same time, as well as a good omen for the success of this night.

The Long Winters were up next. I had been hyping John Roderick as a live act to my friends for some time now; so the expectations were high. Much of my hype surrounded Roderick himself as an avid talker on stage, and someone who likes to interact with his audience. Before even beginning his first song he requested to see if anyone in the front rows had a pick, as he didn’t like the one he brought with him, to which a surprising number of fans were at the ready with picks in hand. Later, he righteously complained with a huge dose of sarcasm that the sets were abnormally short (7/8 songs in the case of the long winters) because of “homeland security.” Despite the set being short, Roderick was not short on talk. Covering all sorts of things, like his short stint at UW (where he didn’t graduate), how EP’s are just an indie band thing now, and how kisses with the bassist Eric would only cost $5. When announcing “Tapes n’ Tapes will be up next” he alluded to their recent rise in popularity by chiding that they were probably out in a “white limo” waiting to come on, and a female fan yelled out, “Doing Coke off a hookers ass!” at which point Roderick slyly repeated into the mic for the entire audience to hear with a deadpan voice, “Yes, doing coke off a hookers ass.” Then retorting to the audience member, “You dirty dirty girl.”

While the audience interaction was great, from the get go their set was one small technical disaster after another. A “comedy of errors” if you will. One of the guitars got a broken string in the middle of the first song. Later on in the middle of two different songs Roderick’s guitar cable got disconnected, once causing him to finish his guitar solo by singing the notes until his guitar was reconnected by active dancer and multi instrumentalist Jonathan who had accidentally disconnected it.  Neither case managed to be a song stopper as the band just powered through with grins from ear to ear over their bad luck.  At one moment as Roderick was talking into his mic and while adjusting it, it fell out of its holder and began to hang from the stand. Roderick deadpanned:”And on this next song, I will sing with my bellybutton.” Each event was taken in stride but with a bit of obvious embarrassment over the circumstances and some goofy smiles.

While their set was heinously short they managed to put together material that would all go on a “best of” The Long Winters tape. Old favorites “Blue Diamonds” and “Carparts” accompanied new favorites “Fire Island, AK” and “Pushover”. Without a set list Roderick was accepting requests and ”Honest” was the choice song of the girls in front of us. Roderick played “Pushover” on an acoustic guitar without a strap and mused beforehand that he would be reenacting the days before some smart guy invented the guitar strap. The lack of a strap didn’t hinder his ability to play and it ended up being my favorite song of the night. For a number of the more active songs the audience was treated to the spectacle that was Roderick’s glasses slipping down to the end of his nose and him occasionally whipping his head back to reorient them in their rightful position, only to have them slide down his nose again.  

Tapes n’ Tapes, a Minnesota four-piece who received much acclaim for their 2005 release The Loon, have stepped it up since we last saw them this summer. Then, they were touring with Cold War Kids and Figurines, as opening acts, which certainly didn’t do them any favors. Both CWK and The Figurines have amazing natural stage presence and  they handily showed up Tapes n’ Tapes in the performing department. Going after those guys has go to be a headliner’s worst nightmare. This time though, their entire stage vibe was different. It was coursing with the fun, energy, and confidence they previously lacked. Musically their performance was tighter, every loud to quiet transition was perfect and every band member seemed in sync with their amazing drummer. They played only a few from their album, a few older ones pre album, and I think one or two new ones. Dancing all over the stage, sweating their balls off, with big smiles made this performance instantly likable and very memorable for everyone involved. It was clear that they were having a good time and didn’t want to be anywhere else right at that moment.

For my money, Tapes n’ Tapes drummer Jeremy Hanson was the best drummer I saw all year. While sporting a haircut dangerously close to being a mullet and seeming rather small and un-drummer-looking this guy has mad chops and it’s obvious. His kit isn’t big and he doesn’t act flashy, he just has this aura of controlled ferocity that I haven’t ever seen before. His arms aren’t lazy and just hanging next to him, instead he holds them out in front of him and above the drums, always at the ready. His style seems minimalist, sparse, but very punctuated and strong. Even playing the fast songs he never looks frantic or even close to being anything other than in total control. Occasionally breaking out into jazz solos in the middle of songs this nineteen year old has it all. He could lose the fashion mullet though as far as I’m concerned.

“Awesome” impressed me enough that I bought their album and will be interested in seeing a full set sometime soon. Anyone supporting the cause of the banjo in my book is a band worth supporting. If said banjo player dances like a madman on stage purely for my entertainment and joy, and he delivers, I’ll definitely be coming back for more. The Long Winters were enjoyable despite the various blunders and I will of course be looking forward to a longer set sometime soon. Roderick was funny and interactive as usual although my room-mate thought he was on some very good drugs. To me, it looked to like he might have just been high on life and bizarre circumstance. Tapes n’ Tapes lived up to their “headliner” status on the second time around, impressing a couple of my friends who have an aversion to anything new that comes out, by putting on an energy filled performance that kept the audience engaged.

Related

Flickr Photoset: Awesome, Tapes n’ Tapes, The Long Winters November 30, 2006 at the HUB Ballroom

MySpace: Tapes n’ Tapes MySpace: The Long Winters Official: Awesome (Awesome from Austin already has myspace)

Sound on the Sound Album Review: The Long Winters – Putting the Days to Rest