The wife and I went to see Sea of Bees and Wye Oak at the Independent a coupla weeks ago. The sold out show was part of the Noise Pop festival. We got to the show in time to see Sea of Bees set. The wife loved their twee folk, but it wasn't really rocking my world. The most exciting thing for me was that their bassist was Jake Mann , who I went to high school with. Apparently he has a band called Jake Mann and the Upper Hand. He was a year ahead of me in school and played bass in the jazz band. It was nice to see he was still involved with music.
Wye Oak are a duo with Jennifer Wasner on guitar and vocals and Andy Stack on drums and keyboards. Yes, drums AND keyboards. Here's the thing: drums are pretty much a two-hand, two-feet kinda instrument. You can't really play the drums and another instrument at the same time. At least not well. Stack proved this with the rudimentary rhythms he was pounding out while playing rudimentary bass notes on a keyboard. It was like talking to someone who is texting at the same time. Not very satisfying.
Still, they were impressive live. Wasner has an amazing voice, and is able to produce a lot of noise out of her guitars. It was so loud the walls were shaking.
Which was the main issue with the evening. The wife doesn't share my appreciation for loud music, and she was not amused by the whole walls shaking thing. I was dog tired from a long stressful week at work and school, the downside of a Friday night show. We sat through four songs, and then a combination of not wanting to make my wife any more miserable, and my own desire to be in bed won over and we left. It was such a disappointing experience, not because the band let us down but because WE let us down. I felt old and tired and lame. Then again, maybe I'm just at the point in my life where going to shows is no longer a focus. I had a chance to see WATERS free last week and didn't go.
As Dr. Evil said, there's nothing more pathetic than an aging hipster.
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