A sea of happy red faces filled the Paradise Thursday night, as three superb songwriters joined forces for a solid three-and-a-half-hour show.
First of all, if you are not familiar with the bands Deer Tick, Dawes, or Delta Spirit, get familiar. Then add them to your music listening arsenal right quick. Next, do yourself a favor and dig into Middle Brother, the side project of these bands' frontmen John McCauley, Taylor Goldsmith, and Matt Vasquez. Although their first official show was just this past December 2010, they sound like they have been playing together for years. Songs are tight, and the inflections of each member's voice follow one another. This also translates to their stage presence, as the three sway to and from the mic in unplanned synchronicity.
As Goldsmith tuned up during his opening set with Dawes, he described the driving idea behind Middle Brother as an “opportunity to respect other contemporary songwriters.” And that they did. The whole night was an indie rock family get-together of special guests, and a mix of covers and original material that kept the partying going well into the night. I have never seen the Paradise that packed from beginning to encore.
Vasquez’s initial entry to the stage felt a bit forced, with a lick that sounded almost rehearsed. But once he got in there with his pointed, angular guitar and shook his floppy hair around a bit, he settled into the groove. The sweet melancholy gruffness of McCauley’s voice lent itself well to the lyrics full of love, loss and hangovers. Even though each performer has a distinct flavor of vocals, the McCauley vocal sandwich could not be more delicious. Then there’s Taylor who comes off as an assuming quiet man, but once he straps on that guitar, he takes control of the situation and stands as a central grounding force in the group. His ability to make us understand his music, with or without his words, is incredible. Not to mention he has one of the most bad ass guitar faces I think I’ve ever seen (as evidenced in the photos above). His solo performance of “Wildnerness” under a single crisp white light was a welcome breather from all the evening’s excitement.
The list of characters on stage continued to grow over the course of the night, and so did the crowd’s interest and energy. The title track “Middle Brother” brought all twelve indie rockers elbow-to-elbow in a carefully controlled chaos of shakers, guitars, keys and beer bottles on the tiny stage. Our photographer Steve leaned in and said, “It’s always dangerous when you get that many ‘egos’ on stage,” and I have to agree. There is always the risk of an explosion or natural disaster, but these guys pull it off.
As for the rest of the evening, Dawes put on a killer first act. (I refuse to call them an opener as this show is a three-for-one, and I would have gladly paid to see each of them individually). Their special guest friend Jonny Corndawg caught the attention of every person in the joint and dare I say out-shined Dawes for a bit.
Deer Tick, who played longer than Middle Brother themselves, started off their set with a rockin’ version of “Go Johnny Go” and moved through favorites like “Smith Hill” and “These Old Shoes.” The party time antics are a favorite of mine: hands-free beer chugging, back-to-back guitar playing, beer gurgling while singing, the tour manager continually bringing out more beer. More beer is drank. More hands-free chugging. Even Dennis came out from behind the drums to sing. And who was that endearing, skinny, nerdy guy who rocked “These Old Shoes!?” It was unclear if the “special guest” had won a contest or if Deer Tick had previously known him. Listen, mystery man, I know you said you just moved to Boston and don’t have many friends but I’d say you have about 500 new ones now.
I was a little disappointed in the people who started clearing out before the show was over, but as it turned out, we needed the extra space to “Twist and Shout” it out during the encore. It was clear they had no idea where the twist and shout was going, but I didn’t care; I would have listened to them sing the chorus eighteen more times, so long as Jonny Corndawg had anything to do with it.
**Update**: Thanks to AP below, we now know the mystery guest who rocked "These Old Shoes" with Deer Tick was actually Chris Paddock, the guy who wrote "These Old Shoes"!
