Minus the Bear Les Savy Fav Ugly Casanova

Touring behind their latest, Phil Ek-produced full length, Go Forth, LSF saw fit to stop by Seattle once again for two shows, one 21+, which I attended, and one all-ages the next day. Gotta love the bands who still want to bring it to the kids. Both shows saw LSF ostensibly "opening" for Ugly Casanova, the side-project of Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, but we all know who everyone was really there to see. The new At the Drive In side-project, De Facto, was meant to open both shows, and although I was curious to see what that was all about, I was not terribly distressed to find that for the 21+ show, they had been replaced by up-and-coming Seattle supergroup Minus the Bear. Claiming membership in such notable local acts as Sharks Keep Moving, Botch and Kill Sadie, Minus the Bear have an excellent pedigree. More importantly, MtB's songs are more instantly catchy and likeable than anything any of its members' "main" bands can lay claim to. They rock beautifully, technically and effortlessly, and if they play their cards right, they will do very well for themselves. Singer Jake Snider's mention of their upcoming show opening for Built to Spill indicates that they're already on their way.

A short time after Minus the Bear vacated the stage, it was taken over by the (mostly) sharp-looking boys of Les Savy Fav. I say mostly, because in contrast with his handsome bandmates, singer Tim Harrington looks more like a truck driver on speed than a college rock hero. Resplendent in a too-tight t-shirt, trashy foam-dome (which was soon doffed to reveal his glorious receding hairline) and logger beard, Harrington is about as atypical a rock frontman as you could hope for. Opening up with "We've Got Boxes", a standout track from The Cat & The Cobra, the Fav quickly established their mastery of the stage.

Harrington has a well-deserved reputation for being, shall we say, a bit of a wild card onstage, and this, quite frankly, accounts for a large percentage of LSF's huge amount of charm. Like a less malevolent David Yow (ex- of the Jesus Lizard, and a rabble-rouser if there ever was one), Harrington seems to want nothing more than to fuck with people and break shit. Oh yeah, and he sings, too! The evening's antics included Harrington stealing an audience member's glasses (he gave them back), stealing another audience member's tie (which he also gave back, though I kind of doubt that the audience member really wanted it back, considering the profuse amount of sweat that Harrington had donated to the cause), hanging from the rafters (while singing) for a good 15 seconds (at which point, of course, my camera's batteries had died), and stealing one of the curtains that separated the stage from the backstage and parading around with it on his shoulders. This doesn't include the numerous jaunts Harrington took into the audience; he repeatedly made the audience play the "where's the singer?" game. If you're not familiar with this one, it goes something like this: band is onstage, playing rock music. Singer is right there with them, singing, like a good singer ought to be. The next thing you know, said singer is nowhere to be found. A few seconds later, a quick scan of the club reveals him balancing precariously on the railing that separates the floor of the club and the upper level. Or perhaps you turn around to find him not on stage, but right behind you, pushing his way through the crowd towards an eventual belly-flop back onto the stage. Hi-fiving people, hugging them, patting them on the head as he meanders, he somehow never loses track of what he's singing, and never misses a beat.

"So", you're saying, "the singer does goofy shit on (and off) stage. That doesn't necessarily make a band good". Well, you're certainly right. Thing is, the instrumental portion of the Fav kicks just as much ass as the vocal portion, only not quite as flamboyantly. While ace drummer Harrison Haynes (ex-Hellbender) keeps the whole thing nice n' tidy with his technically complex but ass-shaking beats, and bassist Syd Butler anchors the songs with his propulsive basslines, lone guitarist Seth Jabour is left to dispense scattershot angular riffage over everything, dueling with Harrington's maniacal shrieks for dominance of the treble realm. The total effect approximates the sort of thing that might happen if you locked members of the Pixies, Fugazi, and Gang of Four in a room together with vast quantities of beer. Sure, the guys in Fugazi probably wouldn't drink any, but that's beside the point.

The band focused mostly on stuff from Go Forth, and as I had hoped, songs like "Tragic Monsters" and "Bloom on Demand" shone brightly in the live setting. While Phil Ek's production on the new album strikes me as rather lifeless, these songs exploded with vitality and energy on stage. Unfortunately, the band is unable to play much older material now that they are down to one guitarist -- many of the songs on their debut, 3/5, depended on the interplay between Jabour and Gibb Slife's guitars -- but in reality, the new stuff is just as good. While the new album has received rather lukewarm reviews, I think that has more to do with the fact that the production is not nearly as immediate as it has been on previous LSF records. Once people see the shit go down in the live setting, I think they'll be much quicker to warm up to Go Forth. To be fair, there were a couple of times during the performance when Harrington looked as if he was more occupied with thinking up his next wacky stunt than he was focused on singing his songs. However, these were few and far between, and the overwhelming vibe after the Fav left the stage was one of "I did not part with ten bucks in vain tonight!"

Now, a few words on the evening's "headliner", Ugly Casanova. I should make it clear here that I am not exactly the most rabid fan of Modest Mouse. I think that The Moon and Antarctica is a great record. I also think that apart from that album, they have perhaps four other good songs. I haven't seen them play in four or five years, but the last time I did, they were so horrendously bad that I never wanted to see them again. However, although my hopes were not high, I was curious to see what Mr. Brock had in store for the evening. Unfortunately, this amounted to some good musicians dressed up in suits playing really boring music. Brock, looking even more smug and cherubic that usual, led the band through several tuneless, shambling numbers that lacked anything resembling catchiness, energy or passion. Although Brock had one of the hottest drummers in town backing him up (Andy Sells of FCS North), the band still failed to produce anything approaching noteworthy, and I left after three songs.

No matter; I had come to see Les Savy Fav tear the place down, and I did not go away disappointed.

Article and photos by Jeremy Schneyer.