David Vandervelde - Pianos

What a hoot to see David Vandervelde and the Moon Station House Band last night at Pianos. This Chicago singer-songwriter surprised me last night on two fronts: 1) performing as a trio when I expected some full-on six piece band as seen in some promo pictures; and 2) rocking maniacally on the guitar like some crazed "Tonight's the Night"-era Neil Young.



After hearing his music only for the first time a few weeks ago, I was expecting more of a precious songwriter dilettante, leading his band through these semi lo-fi, hook-flavoured songs that I heard at his sites. Instead, we got a guy who clearly had already had a few, joshed in a goofy way with his two bandmates, asked the crowd if they wanted to hear some "sloppy rock" and couldn't really get the tuning right on his guitar the whole night (but it didn't really matter).

His songs took on cool new weight on the rocked-up live versions of "Feet of a Liar" and "Can't See Your Face No More" (both on his new EP). David's hair also played accompaniment to his songs, a la Dave Pirner back in the SA heyday.

I didn't have a camera with me, nor actually did I see many people snapping. (Was it not a trendy blogger show?) But go here for more pix from the WOXY session. Pianos was 95% full for Vandervelde and his band, and NYC damaged art rock it was not. Just cool songs rocked up with blazing lead guitar riffs and an encouraging crowd. Fine time.