Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Dan Sartain - Hand Grenade Job -- Black Cat - Mar 4 2013

Hand Grenade Job - A female duo starts things off on guitar and percussion, although an autoharp comes into play later. The real key here is the vocal work with two part harmonies aiming for psychedelic folk heights. Aside from the quality vocal work, there was scant instrumentation of interest. Eerie glockenspiel, nice guitar tone, but it was all a bit 'same-old' for me. The last cut was a little heavier, which was a welcome bit of contrast helpful to the set. Their was also an odd cover of the Misfits "Bullet", which is the second time I have heard a band cover this where no single member was born when it was written. Anyway, there is a nice germ of an idea here that could develop into something really cool. I am not feeling it now, but it is fair to give this some time.
Dan Sartain - This trio is here to kick up the volume. He calls it the Night Marchers on his website, although it sounds like the 'Pit Bees' through the PA. They don't waste a moment in between songs as there is not time for applause until they take a break about six songs in. The sound is clearly linked to classic punk with its raw riffs, power, and short melodic blasts. There is a great balance of Ramones and Dr. Feelgood--the chuggah chuggah rhythm and monster Wilko Johnson riffs of the latter band is something I wished I heard more of. There is also some Middle Class and Jay Reatard in here as well. These guys looked like they were waiting for Aunt Em to bring over some cookies, but they had full command of these songs. In between they were relaxed as can be and bizarrely, the guitarist stayed on stage after the set as some of the crowd could not tell if he was going to do an encore. He just chuckled and had pleasant conversations with them, including a bit about the movie, "The Last Detail". Bizarre, but not pretentious--I wasn't even sure this is Dan Sartain although a song on his website sounds right. Simple, crazy fun here tonight. I can certainly use a dose of that now and then.

Quote of the Night: As DS stayed on stage with some of the crowd asking for encore... "Yeah, keep it up. That's cool. I'm done, you can go home. Cool, yeah..."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Night Marchers is a different band. He supported them in Baltimore a couple days before his headlining set at the Black Cat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Marchers

Unknown said...

I was sorely disappointed in this show. Dan and his band played for about 15 minutes and not a single song off the latest album. I was not alone and, frankly, I'm surprised the very small crowd was as friendly to him as they were. I think if he tried to pull this stunt in NY (or any other town with balls) things would have gotten ugly. He lost a few fans in DC that night.

David Hintz said...

Thanks for the info, Anon... And Chris, I think that is a fair point. I've tossed my notes, but it was a little longer than 15 minutes but not much. I'm not sure I want ridiculously long sets from bands that blast away two minute songs, but yes, I think more was called for that night. One reason I did not comment on the time, was that I left while he was still on stage grinning and chatting with that creepy non-encore routine (and I couldn't guarantee he didn't play further, so thanks for helping me show that he did not). That non-encore was the sour note that stays with me. It was just weird. Yeah, the crowd was positive, so we shall see how it goes if there is another some show some day. Could be interesting.