Published Tuesday, December 13, 2011 By amanda_caines. Under Amos Southend, Editor : Amanda Caines, Photos, Show Review, Uncategorized, Writer: Amanda Caines Tags: Amanda Caines, Amos Southend, Beards BeCAUSE, Evelynn Rose, Grown Up Avenger Stuff, The Spiveys
Beards BeCAUSE Benefit | Amos’ Southend | December 9, 2011
More Photos Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutter16mag/sets/72157628408052037/show/
In their down-to-earth, working man attire, I expected Charlotte band Evelynn Rose to kick off the Beards BeCAUSE benefit with music akin to Nickelback’s redneck radio rock, but instead they brought out soaring, emotional melodies to the scene at Amos’ Southend Friday night. Singer “Joe,” sporting a festive beard for the event to go along with navy blue coveralls and a large beanie hat, belted out the desperately artistic cries of a man truly sublimating intense anguish into beautiful tunes. Underneath Joe’s powerful melodies, guitarists Chris and Josh along with bassist Thomas wove a wall of sound, articulated by meticulous tempo of drummer Mike, keeping this fearless fivesome afloat. All the while, there was a barbers’ booth set up in the back, measuring face fuzz length and trimming back to non-Mountain-Man beard length. (One participant came dressed up as a lumberjack—big, bushy beard-appropriate.)
Next on stage came The Spiveys, whose singer/guitarist Adam Middleton also flaunted his face follicle prowess with a beard. Adam is a singing contradiction of self-deprecating chit-chat between songs and boisterous, emotive bouncing with the music that pulses electricity throughout each Spiveys’ set. Going to-to-toe with Adam both musically and in bouncing-height is guitar/vocal co-conspirator Jesse Reaves. Setting the scene for infectious, head-bobbing, retro-infused tunes, are the steady-yet-complex rhythms laid down by drummer Jacob Worden and bassist John Rutherford. All that being said, the best thing about The Spiveys is not just that they’re a good band, but that they present a variety of different rhythmic and stylistic patterns—sometimes within the same song, like the rhapsodic “Inadequate.” While I prefer seeing this band in cozier venues than Amos’, the set was still smile-evoking and head-bob-inducing.
Moving into the headlining timeslot for the night, event-goers saw giant, white banners that looked like a creative use of bed sheets carried onto the stage. A curious sight to those not in-the-know, the sheet-prop setup was an interesting backdrop to the announcements of the Beards BeCAUSE award winners. Female-fronted headliners Grown Up Avenger Stuff really drive home the somewhat humorous polarity of a charity benefitting battered women’s shelters fueled by a masculine, grunt-inspiring beard-growing competition. While vocalist Deirdre Kroener proved not to be a bearded lady, guitarist John Thomsen had enough chin decoration to go around. Drummer Tyler Thomsen made a valiant attempt with a mustache, however. Once the Avengers took the stage, onlookers finally figured out what those sheets were all about—hidden in the vast whiteness was some glow-in-the-dark painted pictures, visible only in black light, which flooded the stage intermittently during the set. Deirdre also used her arms as a phosphorescent canvas, painting “MUSIC” and “LOVE” on her arms. Paired with the throwback feel of the band’s songs, the black light spectacle almost gave Amos’ the feel of a roller skating rink in the ’80s.
As for the music, this set of Grown Up Avenger Stuff’s brought out several of the less-familiar tunes, even to an avid listener. That’s not to say that there weren’t a bunch of the hits, either—and some of their most-loved tribute songs. Deirdre’s costume of a simple white polo, skinny jeans, and calf-high boots was a bit too “soccer mom,” but at least the comparison ended there. After all, who knows a soccer mom who can scream out “Bulls on Parade” with great gusto? No show is complete without technical snafus, and some tuning wonkiness between John Thomsen’s guitar and Hunter Thomsen’s bass left Deirdre singing “Pretty New” in an a cappella duet over Tyler Thomsen’s drumming. Luckily, the incident didn’t deter the crowd from clamoring for an encore, which Grown Up Avenger Stuff heartily obliged, bringing forth the quote of the night from Deirdre: “Do you want a happy song or an angry song… Well… Anger and happiness are close to the same thing.” The band is certainly an envoy of fierce happiness, and a great addition to the finale of a fabulous fundraiser fueled by face fuzz.
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