Saint Motel are a kinetic powerhouse band based upon sudden , overwhelming surges of power that have followed, er, sudden surges of power. It’s like they say , let’s play loud and hard and then add coloring, phrasing tempo, and then blast through to somewhere else. They take a glam hard rock sound in constant search of an emotional cathartic, getting off, that leaves them, quite, quite literally on their knees.
The problem with the LA based quartets set at the rock n roll circus last night wasn’t when they were on their knees, it was when they were on their feet.
I agree with much of what Woody Fuller said yesterday, but this i don’t agree with. The sound was not very good at all, it thudded in your ear, and it didn’t allow Saint Motel, playing a very major gig to the nyc establishment, attempts to push through it.
Only drummer Gregg Erwin seemed to grasp the problem at his roots and he powered em all the way through; it was an expressive starmaking turn. So was lead singer -more central than I had realized simply from the EP, Forplay, A/J Jackson. He is a good looking guy, they’re a good looking band, and he pushes them hard from the front and center, and the rest of the band responds. They have compared themselves to the Who and you can see why when they turn towards each other and rip through an instrumental bridge -all three tearing the lungs out of the song.
But the sound isn’t capturing what I am seeing, and the circus ringtop only leads to distances (that’s what started the problems on Monday) and because
a) it wasn’t Saint Motels audience
b) it was a much cooler concept in practise
c) the sound was cold
d) the set was too short
And the vibe was strange in the big top.
All of it made it difficult for the band to provide the sort of energy and life affirming concert experience that Alyson has written about for us from Los Angeles.
A couple of songs were simply exceptional: “Butch” was great with A/J singing falsetto like a Prince wannabe and so was the last song “What Baby Wants” (?) . These were as close as we could get to what Saint Motel can provide in a better setting
Catch em next time and find out what exactly you can get…