Photos by Adam Plantz
Do you ever feel like you missed out on an era? The era portrayed in such films as Casablanca or Gone With The Wind. Do you ever feel like you should have lived in a time when people dressed up to go out on the town and drank highballs? Well Wednesday night Shady Lady Saloon, with the help of musical guest The Silent Comedy, brought that generation back to life. Granted I saw far fewer men in full suits, women in flapper dresses and far more tattoos in the room then I would imagine the 1940's but the spirit was alive. The classic speakeasy look of Shady Lady paired perfectly with the O Brother, Where Art Thou threads of The Silent Comedy. Their digs were complete with slacks, vests, pork pie hats, and mustaches; the mustaches were so glorious a walrus would turn away in shame. Shortly after this brilliant display of fire and mixology by one of the owners, musical entertainment of the night, The Silent Comedy took the stage. These fellas didn't waste any time with the first song “The Prince”. It had dark over tones of swamp blues, an obvious New Orleans Dixieland jazz influence, matched with raspy rock n roll vocals and a stomp beat that rattled the walls. In fact, the stomping beats these guys laid down the entire night had so much power the main vocalist Joshua Zimmerman brings his own box to stand on because he “put his foot threw so many stages”. The very next song slowed the tempo way down, lead guitarist Jeremiah Zimmerman took over the microphone and played keyboard on the track. Jeremiah's vocals gave a nice Billy Joel quality while the rest of the band brought an ominous folky gospel tent revival vibe to round out the song. The rest of the night continued this way; they would “bring you down and pick you back up”. The entire saloon jumped, stomped, and danced to the original bluesy devil inspired rock roll songs such as “Moonshine”, “Poison”, and “49”. We all swayed and locked arms to the slow sad melodies of indie folk, slightly country ballads like “All Saints Day” and “Regrets”. Tim Graves, who also played guitar and shared vocals duties, brought a lot of the bluesy feeling with damn impressive harmonica playing. Implementing advanced precision harmonica technique called tongue blocking; actually using your tongue, while playing, to block out notes. The three part singing harmonies by brothers Zimmerman and Graves was magnified by the other three band members shouting lyrics in the background. Giving an exceptional two tone amphitheater texture to some of the vocals. Between songs set off a musical fire drill, they exchanged instruments and spots on stage. On any given song one of the band members might be playing; acoustic guitar, slide guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, violin, concertina (a small accordion), keyboard, harmonica or drums. Finishing off the night was piano driven gospel inspired song “The Well”. It was nothing short of the church scene in Blues Brothers. People were dancing, singing, and generally being over come by the power of the soulful music. The Silent Comedy draws from influences from across the board, time periods and genres, culminating to something along the lines of a Killers, Muddy Waters, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Django Reinhardt sound. Not to mention an intensity in their live performance that rivals some of the top punk rock bands. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Silent Comedy's new album Common Faults on itunes or at there next Sacramento appearance.
Anthony
Ps. I know I can't spell or punctuate correctly
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