The Spies rock The Silverlake Lounge

This Wednesday, I stopped by The Silverlake Lounge on Sunset Blvd. to catch The Spies, a Los Angeles-based melodic rock band.

They sneakily began their set with “Bang Bang” (which is also the lead track from their latest albumTelevolution). They all got up on stage and then without an introduction, Mark Matkevich began striking the bass keys of his keyboard on what would soon become the drum beat. A few bars of that and the modest amount of people in the room quieted and turned to watch. Then the rest of the band jumped right in.

I forget what two songs they played after that, but throughout I was engrossed watching Mark on the keys. He’s a regular Jerry Lee Lewis and it’s immediately obvious that showmanship and bringing the energy are his strong point.

His co-frontman Leo Francis took care of the other half of the stage and together they really balance each other nicely. Leo also brought a lot of energy, but whereas Mark brought the bravado, Leo brought the cool. When he took over lead vocal duties for “You Got Some Nerve,” the audience really warmed up and actually started dancing.

A few songs after that Mark got up off the keys and took up a guitar to give the whole band a whole different dynamic. I wish I could have seen Adrian Barrio and Dylan Giagni’s playing more, but I couldn’t from where I was. They really sounded great though, especially for the last two songs “National Pastime” and “It Comes In Waves.”

“It Comes In Waves” was by far my favorite and I felt that it was probably the band’s favorite too. They played with extra gusto and all of the elements of the song and performance really came together in a way that felt special. I’m really not sure how to describe it, but it just had a little je nous se qua that I hadn’t seen in a while.

Check them out at WeAreTheSpies.com