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Playing the second of two consecutive sold-out shows at Mercury Lounge, VOXTROT played a slightly abridged set, hampered by technical difficulties, that nevertheless cemented their status as one of the best up-and-coming bands in the country. Last December, I saw them headline the tiny Magnetic Field and now only four months later, they’re headlining a venue twice that size and selling out consecutive nights. That means that more and more people have been finding out about them and discovering them, and that’s a very good thing.
In frontman RAMESH SRIVASTAVA, they have a spark plug who jumps up and down on stage so much he makes Olympic athletes look inactive by comparison. It doesn’t matter whether he’s just singing, singing and playing rhythm guitar, or, on one occasion, playing a keyboard, because he exudes a joy and enthusiasm rarely found amongst many jaded bands who look bored to even be up on stage.
The rest of the band is terrific as well, with lead guitarist MITCH CALVERT standing out with his shimmering and beautiful, yet aggressive guitar work. Keyboardist JARED VAN FLEET adds some nice textures, and the rhythm section of JASON CHRONIS and MATT SIMON is not only tight, but adds a dance-ish element to the band’s sound that makes them stand out. Instead of just aping THE SMITHS, BELLE AND SEBASTIAN, THE FIELD MICE, FELT and other obvious twee touchstones, Voxtrot feel like a supercharged and even dance-able take on all of the above.
On this night, they played virtually all of the songs from both of their EPs, omitting “Long Haul” from the “Raised by Wolves” EP and “Four Long Days” from the recently released “Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Wives” EP. The entire set was excellent, with some highlights including “Soft and Warm,” featuring Ramesh on piano in the only COLDPLAY-esque moment of the evening, a frenzied version of “The Start of Something,” and a version of “Raised by Wolves” with a cover of the COMET GAIN song “You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever” tacked on at the end.
What’s remarkable about this is the technical difficulties they had to overcome in order to finish their set. At several points, Ramesh’s guitar amp blew out, and when opening band ALOHA let them use their amp, a cable blew out. Eventually that problem was fixed and just when everything seemed to be going well, Ramesh’s guitar strap gave out and his guitar fell right on the floor. It was that kind of evening.
However, it’s a credit to Voxtrot that they not only persevered but played a kick-ass show despite these difficulties. With all the jumping around that Ramesh does, it’s no wonder that sometimes things break down right on down to his guitar strap, but he profusely apologized to the audience and even offered to buy everyone a drink at the afterparty.
For the encore, they finished with their cover of the TALKING HEADS classic “Heaven,” and in a fitting display of self-effacing modesty, Ramesh introduced the song by saying that this was how he was feeling now. It was a fitting ending to a rocky but still terrific evening.
If I have one complaint, though, it’s that I wish that they would’ve played “Long Haul.” This song requires a female vocal part and I saw ANDREA VAUGHN (formerly of MY FAVORITE), who sang this with them at Magnetic Field in December, right up front rockin’ out the entire night. Perhaps if the set had gone smoother, they would’ve played it, but that’s a very minor complaint.
Preceding Voxtrot, openers IRVING won me over with a set chock full of power-pop hooks colliding with new wave keyboards and melodies. A friend described their set as THE HIVES meets THE DANDY WARHOLS, but they reminded me more of late ‘70s power-pop acts like THE NERVES, THE PLIMSOULS or even THE LAST, though with more of an overt keyboard-driven new-wave influence. Either way, their roots are obviously in the old-school garage pop of their hometown of LA and that’s a very good thing.
Playing before Irving, ALOHA was a completely different beast than the subsequent bands. I didn’t like them much at first, but they really grew on me throughout their set. They played an indie version of early ‘70s GENESIS. Whether or not that is appealing is entirely up to you, of course, but I dug it, though I don’t know if I’d dig them as much on record. They also reminded me a bit of THE BIG SLEEP, who I saw as an opening band at the same venue back in January.
I really wanted to see openers MAGNETA LANE, an all-girl Canadian punk band who caused quite a stir at SXSW, but alas, I got there too late. Nevertheless, for two really good openers and an unbelievable headliner, I definitely got my money’s worth!
The above photo of Voxtrot was taken from Kathryn’s Flickr account and can be found here.
The above photo of Irving was taken by Kirstie Shanley and is used with her kind permission. You can find the rest of her photos and her review of the show here.
