Show Review: The Nightbirds and The Misprints at O'hooley'sEarlier this month I had the pleasure to see two great bands perform at O'hooley's. The ticket for the evening consisted of the newly formed Nightbirds and the Athens' popular rhythm and blues-rock band, the Misprints. My wife and I showed up to the bar with a couple friends right around 11:00. The first band of the evening, the Nightbirds, was about half way through their short set. Ex-cactuspear drummer and NPR radio show host Bryan Gibson manned the kit. The friendliest bug you'll ever meet, Junebug (a.k.a. Eric) held down the low end with his acoustic bass guitar. Long time Athens native, Catfish, provided a little fuzz on the electric guitar. Leading the band on acoustic guitar and vocals was Athens' singer and songwriter, David Karl, who produced two lo-fi CD's while teaching English in Japan for the last few years. Sound clips of David's solo work can be found on this site.
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All of Nightbird's musicians have been in numerous other successful local bands. For example, Catfish and Junebug have many current side side projects in addition to the Nightbirds. Catfish is a guitarist for another funk and folk influenced rhythm and blues group, Stella while Junebug also plays in the altenative-bluegrass band, the Altered Boys. Together, these two comprise a large portion of alternative bluegrass band, Joe Bob Billy and the Texas Alien. One common trait that all of these other projects have with the Nightbirds is their emphasis on getting the crowd moving. The Nightbirds are designed for boogey from the floor up.
Although it was obvious that this was the Nightbird's first show. There is nothing much bad I can say about these musicians or their performance that night. There were some mis-starts and a few long, on stage chats between band members during the breaks. But that's nothing I haven't seen before in a hundred other local shows. Gibson's control and dynamic contrast on the kit makes him hands-down on of the best drummers in Athens if not the region. He somehow manages to get large sounds out of the tiny toms on his tiny jazz kit and is fantastic as Latin beats and shuffles. His leadership of the band on stage was one of the reasons why his last band, the Cactus Pears, did so well. This band is a departure from any previous work that I've heard from David Karl. I'm positively in love with his lo-fi acoustic tunes "Think Of Me" and "Persimmon" which can be heard on this web site. It's exciting to see him fronting of a full band for a change. A rock band at that. Junebug and Catfish cover so many musical styles between them and throughout their numerous other musical projects that its scary. Some of the styles these two dabble in are punk, bluegrass, country, rock and they occasionally pair up and hit the stage in the form of a Jimmi Hendrix tribute band.
The Nightbirds have a similar groove similar to other great Athens bands like Stella and the evening's headliner's, The Misprints. Similar in that they are both danceable rock bands that are heavily influenced by folk, blues, funk and even country influences. Nearly all the songs I heard them play had an upbeat driving pulse that you could dance too... and the crowd did just that. The audience was filled with familiar faces. Laura Nadeu, the front woman for Stella, members of the Royales, The Cactus Pears, ran., Planet 12, Rubberband Racecar Go, Direct Attention, the Bargoyle (a.k.a Uncle Fun), and Maximum Overdrive were in attendance. Even Athens' favorite art teacher, Professor Eldridge was in attendance and could be seen shaking his booty in the most abstract of ways.
I learned after the show that the Nightbirds had only had a few rehearsal prior to their debut. After the performance, Bryan sat at my booth and told me over a pint of beer that a few songs that had fudgey endings and he thought they didn't play as tight as they had hoped too. Still, as an audience member, I didn't hear the fudges. I could tell that the band was a little nervous at times during their set. Especially around solo's and song endings. Everyone's pupils got a little larger as they searched for eachother's eye-contact. The crowd did not hold it against them. If they were like me, I doubt any of them even noticed. Heck, David Karl just got off the slow boat from Japan a few months ago! How much rehearsing could they do? Even if the music didn't meet their personal standards the standing room only crowd at O'hooleys couldn't help but get up and dance. Like a fine stinky cheese or bottle of wine, the Nightbirds are only going to get better with time. How's that for a analogy!
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Headlining the evening's lineup at O'hooley's were The Misprints. This band features the talented Kathy Wicks on lead vocals and acoustic guitar. Fur Peace Ranch web store manager, recent father and part time writer, Roman Warmke on the bass. And the afore mentioned Junebug, making his second appearance for the night, only this time on trombone and backing vocals instead of acoustic bass... I tell ya, the man can do everything. Chris Aubell, who also played kit for some of Roman's previous bands like the Royales and the Voodoo Birds, plays kit for the Misprints as well. Just like with Gibson, Aubell is quite possibly one of the best drummers in town. His solid rhythms and high-hat accents can lead even the most awkward computer geek like myself to the beat and, consequently, to the dance floor. Josh Brown, who I first heard years ago while he was in the prog/metal band Sylph, now plays a much funkier style of Guitar for the 'prints on his electric guitar. Self-taught saxophonist, Rob Quebman, who was also in some of Roman's previous bands, rounded out the groups sound. With so many people from the Voodoo birds in the Misprints, you could consider this band the new improved Voodoo Birds.
Put together, The Misprints form the best funk rock, rhythm and blues band in Athens. Not enough can be said about Roman Warmke's solid bass grooves. Together with Chis Aubell, they comprise hands down, the tightest rhythm section in Athens. With years of experience playing together in the Royales, Voodoo Birds and now the 'prints, they have developed an almost psychic understanding of where eachother's accents fall in the measure. Crazy. Judging by the amount of hip action professor Eldridge was putting into his dance moves, the prints rank HIGH on the dance-o-meter ...and we're not just talking about the "hippie-spin" dance-o-meter, either. Roman brings an urban, "Detroit blues" feel to many of his projects that even the hip-hop crowd would appreciate. I could see this band being sampled by the folks at Headroom. The bands' scaled down light and fog show helped with the overall dance atmosphere for the evening.
Laura Nadeu from Stella jumped on stage and sang a duet with Kathy Wicks towards the end of their second set. They've been known to do spontaneous duets in the past. One of their first public duets was performed at Mama E's during the first AMN Compilation CD party. While the 'prints' set is comprised largely of originals, they also do their share of covers. They ended the night at about 2:00 A.M. by playing a funkified version of the classic rock, Golden Earring tune, "Twilight Zone" for the jam packed dance floor.
Both the 'prints and the Nightbirds have decades of experience between their members and an abundance of skill that appeals to both College students and "Townies" alike. Proof of this band's broad appeal lies in the Misprints' ability to play in bars like Casa, Ohooleys, Mama E's and Athens' last remaining indie/punk/metal haven, the Union. I even hear that they turn up the fuzz at their Union shows to pay homage to the Union gods. If you ever hear anyone at latin dance night, 80's dance night or Headroom saying that you can't dance at live music events in Athens. Grab them by the ear and drag them to the next Misprints show... if they can even get in the door. They'll realize how wrong they are. All in all, it was a highly enjoyable evening of rock, rhythm and blues.
