Friday night I went down to the Lower East Side to attend on of the "No One You Know Productions" free shows at Angels & Kings. Being that last time I went to one of these shows I left in a drunken haze, I decided to take it easy with the $2 vodka drinks.
I've never been to Angels & Kings when they weren't having one of these free shows and it seems like the bulk of the crowd that night was either in a band or friends with a band because when we showed up it looked like everyone knew each other.The bar area was pretty empty and it appeared that everyone was waiting for the drink specials to start. Once 8 p.m. hit, the small bar was floooded with the entire contents of the crowd.
In the mist of this this time two guys got on stage and started playing. It was a weird transition because the music from the DJ just stopped and then the next thing I knew there was live music coming from the stage. I was like "oh," I guess the first band went on. During the two-man performance there was no mention of their name unless I missed it in the beginning. I asked my friend if she caught a name and said that she didn't hear one either. There were two guys; one had a guitar and a harmonica, and the other held a shaker of some sort. The repeated sound of this instument complimented the mellow folk music, the guitarist was playing. The singer envoked the likes of Bob Dylan not only in his music stylings, but aslo physically with his curly dark hair. The only thing that I thought was weird aside from the no mention of their name was at one point in their set. The shaker guy got off the chair and stood in front of the stage while the singer played on. It was like they were in the band together, but then they weren't. Overall, I did enjoy the perforamance and thought they played well.
The next band to come on was Beyond Hope Lies. They are a rock/powerpop/screamo band from New York. Having listened to them on Myspace earlier in the day, I was looking forward to hearing what they sounded liked accoustically. I was really impressed with their set. The lead singer, Mike (I didn't catch his last name) had a great voice. Although the set was unplugged, the music was still upbeat and a good contrast to the heartfelt lyrics. Sounding this good accoustically, I can only imagine how great they sound "plugged in." They are playing at Crash Mansion in NYC on on January 30th, and again on February 21st so check them out if you get a chance!
The headlining band to play was Brooklyn-based I Am the Avalanche. Listening to their myspace page I liked their music a lot and was looking forward to seeing them perfrom an accoustic show. This band seemed to draw in the biggest crowd because the place was a lot more filled up during their set. The indie rock band consisted of singer/guitarist, Vinnie Caruana, and guitarist Daryl Palumbo. They reminded me a little bit of Dashboard Confessional with their heavy drawn out emotional sound and lyrics. I enjoyed their performance.
Socratic played well and it appeared that most of the people were at A&K to see them, although I was a little disapointed that only 3 of the band members showed up. Also, the sound set up was very poor and that’s being generous, the guitar was so loud that the speakers actually rattled and one could barely hear Dwayne sing, too bad because if that little detail had been fixed after the first song their performance would’ve been MUCH better. Over all I think they did a great job and had a great turn out. I also enjoyed Kelsey’s performance very much as she did have “great stage presence and a powerhouse voice”, A&K is too small of a place for her, she rocked out as if she was at MSG. Hamilton Having did a great job and in my opinion pretty much blew the other “boy” bands out of water, I talked to Brendan for a few minutes at the bar and he seemed really down to earth, mentioned they make the 4 hour drive from Boston once a month to play at A&K.
Angels and Kings is a good place to have a couple of drinks (mainly their $2 Vodkas and PBRs) and enjoy good music from small local bands with lots of potential. Would recommend this place to anyone who likes good music, nice easy going atmosphere and cheap vodka!
Socratic played well and it appeared that most of the people were at A&K to see them, although I was a little disapointed that only 3 of the band members showed up. Also, the sound set up was very poor and that’s being generous, the guitar was so loud that the speakers actually rattled and one could barely hear Dwayne sing, too bad because if that little detail had been fixed after the first song their performance would’ve been MUCH better. Over all I think they did a great job and had a great turn out. I also enjoyed Kelsey’s performance very much as she did have “great stage presence and a powerhouse voice”, A&K is too small of a place for her, she rocked out as if she was at MSG. Hamilton Having did a great job and in my opinion pretty much blew the other “boy” bands out of water, I talked to Brendan for a few minutes at the bar and he seemed really down to earth, mentioned they make the 4 hour drive from Boston once a month to play at A&K.
Angels and Kings is a good place to have a couple of drinks (mainly their $2 Vodkas and PBRs) and enjoy good music from small local bands with lots of potential. Would recommend this place to anyone who likes good music, nice easy going atmosphere and cheap vodka!