In the mood for a trio of indie rock bands to fill a Brooklyn club on a Saturday night, Cameo Gallery provided the buzz with Brooklyn drums and guitar popsters Steel Phantoms between two North Carolina fuzz and melody bands of the first order.
Schooner’s lead singer Reid Johnson talks smacks and plays the Southern boy out of depths on his opening set which starts off like weird ambient before going mainstream for a coupla songs, still he steadies the ship with a roaring “Ride With Me”. And Steel Phantoms, obviously local faves, are unlike the White Stripes and Black Keys, in that they are not a blues band but play power indie pop with the drums performing double duty and the guitar carrying the melody. A lousy new song doesn’t hurt the set too much.
But we are here for Gross Ghost. I had seen Gross Ghost ( Mike Dillon and Tre Acklen plus rhythm section) nearly exactly a year before opening for Spider Bags at the same venue and thought they were good if a little ordinary, but what a difference a year makes and the set the band presented was a perfect complement to their new album Public Housing. Mike references a Badfinger song near the beginning of the set and the reference makes sense, this is a pop band with obtuse song constructions to keep you on your toes.
Their debut Brer Rabbit, if the band played it today I didn’t hear it, is excellent indie folk with an ear for melody, Public Housing does the same for rock and roll and that becomes exceedingly clear as the band turns the corner with a derailed “Tryin'” that they stop mid jam, fix the amp, and set off. They follow it with an excellent “Memory Screen” and a roof raising “Howlin'” with Mike diving off the stage and joining the audience.
Gross Ghost are a different animal on stage then on record. This is obvious where “Seeds” – a song based around a drum pattern, is mixed so no one instrument, not even the vocals, comes straight out of the mix and you need to wait till a throttle riff before figuring out what song you’re listening to. Even their poppiest stickiest song “Other Side” leans hard on the galloping riff. Still, if Gross Ghost are a hard rock band, they are a good one, capable at extending a jam and always keeping the rhythm in place.
Mike is a good leader, he has ease on stage and control of the set and it moves quickly and surely to an excellent closer and the band is tight as hell, there is nothing sloppy here, everything coalesces very well. It might not cement the case for Public Housing but it absolutely makes the case for Gross Ghost being a band to watch. What was it Badfinger said? If you want it, here it is, come and get it.
Grade: A-