It was my third time seeing this JD McPherson cat, as would say QOTSA’s Josh Homme – he is a super fan – and his set at the Santa Monica Pier during one of their Twilight Concert Series, didn’t feel like a déjà-vu at all. There was a big crowd, he is used to it now, he has opened for big names, but this time, he was the headliner of the show.
I am tempted to say that McPherson is the real deal even though this sounds like a cliché, and cliché he is not, but this guy has obviously fallen in love with the early 60’s rock & roll and rockabilly through Little Richard, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran’s albums – but especially Little Richard whose music he regards as a revelation – and he is able to create his own brand of rock music with many nuances, displaying his influences with genuineness and a rare ease.
’Keep a Knockin’ by Little Richard is the best record ever made,’ McPherson said in an interview. ‘It’s so insanely visceral, you feel like it’s going to explode your speakers. If I’m listening to that in the car, I find myself having to brake suddenly. I can listen to that and it makes me feel like I’m 20 feet tall. And the feeling of joy I get from that record is always going to be the real push behind trying to make music.’
JD is only 38 and he grew up in rural Oklahoma, starting playing in local punk bands at the age of 13, but he developed a passion for 50’s and 60’s rock. very early on. He released his second album at the beginning of this year, and its too-commonplace title (‘Let the Good Times Roll’) may actually reveal a lot about McPherson’s music… it strangely sounds familiar, yet you haven’t really heard anything like this.
Flanked by the same musicians than the last time I saw him, the ensemble delivered a very powerful set, mixing songs of his two albums, coming back for the longest encore ever, taking a Twitter request (a Ska song), covering Nick Lowe (‘Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day’), which was probably the quieter song of the night.
Little Richard’s influence is certainly there during ‘It Shook Me Up’ or ‘Everybody’s Talking ‘Bout The All-American’ for example, with some excited pounding keys, a droning bass and McPherson’s bright howl, but there is much more than influences, he sees his brand of rockabilly as a new punk form, it’s aggressive and fast, he jumps all over the place as he jumps all over decades of music history and this new-old sound becomes truly his. He and his bandmates showed once again what great musicians they are, not trying to emulate anything but taking ownership of a sound. There were these excellent stomps with an infectious retro sound fueled by sax grunts, a buzzing upright bass and wobbling organ or boogie piano, there were staccato rhythms and the punch of the performance. He sure sounded as if he had digested decades of music to perform his number with fire in his belly, everything sounded like the bastard son of Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, with Chuck Berry on guitar and Little Richard on piano, and the whole show was a vivacious ride with little time to breathe.
The exception was ‘Precious’ a south of the border ballad with a lot of heart and a pulsing-vibrating guitar, but overall there was a lot of diversity in his set and the band held the audience at the top of their feet during the long encore, when a lot of people started some serious dancing. There was a vibrant energy deeply rooted in American music history but some songs are not always what they sound, take ‘Let The Good Times Roll’… ‘This is a song about ‘Romeo and Juliet’ announced JD, before performing the song, really? Roll over Shakespeare!
Setlist (more or less complete and in order)
I Wish You Would
(Billy Boy Arnold cover)
I Can’t Complain
Bossy
Firebug
It Shook Me Up
Steal Away
Abigail Blue
G.M.O.S.R.N.R.
Mother of Lies
You Must Have Met Little Caroline?
North Side Gal
Head Over Heels
Everybody’s Talking ‘Bout The All-American
Precious
Let The Good Times Roll
Wolf Teeth
Encore
Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day
(Nick Lowe cover)
Dimes for Nickles
Ska song
Your Love (All
That I’m Missing)
Scandalous
More pictures of the show here
