Good old Rock’ n’ roll may be over, buried and done, but the Henry Clay People are working very hard to keep it fully alive. Ironically, they have a song entitled ‘Rock and Roll lost its teeth’ that they sang on Thursday night, but their own performance obviously proved this title wrong.
They are a large band, six persons on stage, 3 guitars, a bass, a synth, a drum set, and several of them were singing and harmonizing, although Joey Siara was doing most of the vocals. They opened the night ‘Also I like to Rock’ at the Hammer Museum, with a very energetic set of songs that sounded like some revival of 90s classic rock… I read about their shows generating a very enthusiastic level of crowd reaction and participation, but it was not completely the case at the Hammer, as the crowd was a bit too polite, well-behaved, and not moving much,… I think most of them were students and were actually waiting for the performance of their UCLA’s fellows from the pop trio Lady Danville.
Nevertheless it was not THCP’s fault, their layered guitars were bursting in the Hammer courtyard like those of some Tom-Petty-like-college-kids. Joey Siara was shouting out his on-the-same-tone-vocals between the intertwined guitars, bass and playful keyboard, making a triumphant scene, sometimes helped by Andy, Joey’s young brother, on vocals.
The music was pure power-rock, which was staying quite gentle nevertheless, building a sort of bridge between classic and indie rock, but they were making these classic leg-apart jumps, and appeared more interested by these powerhouse-arena-rock guitars than some memorable riffs.
Their performance was full of youth, dynamism and many songs were carried to the anthem level, Springsteen-style, … Well I told you they were trying really hard! However nothing sounded really forced. Just like their complete unassuming regular-guys-look and Siara’s sincere discourse about loving playing with his band mates, in California… He also mentioned this show being keyboardist Jordan Hudock’s last one before his move to New York City (I don’t know, is it to pursue something with his own band Marvelous Toy?)
So can The Henry Clay People bring rock and roll back to its total splendor? Or are they just another a boyish band playing some cliché-repetitive rock’ n’ roll doomed from start in this today-Pitchfork-dominated-indie-music world?
And what about that UCLA crowd, not moving much despite all their efforts? But may be the band’s real element is a bar after midnight when everybody is a little drunk and wasted,… Hey, it was not even dark when they started playing in the museum courtyard.