Monday, November 9, 2009
The Spin My So-Called Band at Mercy Lounge, 11/7/09
Posted by The Spin on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 9:14 AM
As Music City's premier cover band Guilty Pleasures have found for years now, nostalgia is a hot commodity in this town. The '90s edition of Nashville Cream's 8 off 8th decades series was by far the best attended and was perhaps the inspiration for singer-songwriter Dave Paulson (whose band The Privates performed one of the best sets that night) to form Nashville's only exclusively '90s tribute, My So-Called Band. If the packed house at their Satruday night Mercy Lounge performance is any indication, the idea was nothing short of genius.
The night crawled up from a humble start with a performance by Mary Nails. Sporting two boys, two girls and a lone keyboard supplying the beats and music, the quartet delivered a funky, rave-y mix of electroclash, R&B and new jack swing. It reminded us of maybe a tongue-out-of-cheek edition of Spring Hill Spider Party, with their intentions all the while never fully clear--with so many hipsters in tow, surely there were some ironic overtones, right? We couldn't tell, which sadly kept us from enjoying it as much as we could have.
The band kept it simple and obvious, careful not to slow momentum with any unrecognizable deep tracks. They kept it rockin', doing very faithful versions of rock-based songs, eschewing the decade's wealth of pop, R&B and hip-hop hits. And they also kept it short--while this audience could have easily been strung along well into the wee hours, their set lasted only around 40 minutes. Kick yourself if you missed it, as there was lots to be missed--not the least of which was an epic crowd surfing fail by Matt Friction. But then, not to worry: an outfit this high in demand surely won't fizzle out soon.
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packed house WAT? The place wasn't even half full.
Mary Nails. I thought they were a Scissor Sisters cover act...
As for the headliners, I left before the encore, but...
1990-1994 were represented by 2 songs (Cannonball and Black & White) while 1995-1999 had 8 songs (Everything else).
Too much mid-late 90's alt-pop. Not enough early 90's anything. Its hard to nostalgia out to songs you ignored the first time around.
ps. If you're gonna do Weezer, DO NOT DO BUDDY HOLLY. Really, its ok, you can do 'Say It Ain't So' or the 'Sweater Song'.
Ashley - you enjoy the mid-late 90's alt-pop stuff because thats what you listened to as a tween/teenager. Hearing covers of those songs is 'fun' - for you.
I would also like to dive into that nostalgia-laced goodness. That's why I left the gnome-cave Saturday night. But for me that means early 90's alt-rock & metal.
I don't think its too much to ask that the entire decade be represented.
ps. Steve - I stand corrected.
Tobin, this band may not be for you and that's fine but, by my count we played 7 songs from 1990-94:
creep- '93
come out and play- '94
black or white - '91
Cannonball - '93
In Bloom - '91
Buddy Holly - '94
Basketcase - '94
Can't you turn on the radio and still hear most of those songs?
Wake me when they cover EMF's "Unbelievable."
I thought Caitlin's Garbage cover was a pretty boring. She did okay on Spiderwebs but you gotta hand it to Jordan on You O know. That song Rawked
For some reason, I have not been able to forget the name of the EMF album - "Schubert Dip." Why do I know that? And, while we are on the subject of bands who use abbreviations that don't appear to mean anything as names, why wasn't KLF's "Justified and Ancient" covered at this thing? I would have loved to hear Caitlin sing the Tammy Wynette part.
KLF is gonna rock ya!
@Steve H.
that commercial made me the saddest boy in the land for at least a week. totally ruined it for me.
It could've been worse. At least it wasn't an hour of Limp Bizkit & Korn covers.
We sorely need to be commenting on the photo slideshows. I think I found Beans from Look at That Fucking Hipster (probably not hard, 'cause I look like him, too). Also, it's funny that the photo credits sometimes can be mistaken for captions... Steve Cross, I've never seen you so Phair-y!
It sucks that everyone's nostalgia here is for songs/bands that suck. Just because you had lame taste growing up (if you've even grown up yet) doesn't mean you have to rehash it. And the fact that this is fun to some people...well, I was just out of college when most of these songs were on the radio and i would turn the channel then, just as i would avoid a whole show of this crap now. Wish you guys had nostalgia for better sh*t!!!! Even sadder considering that some great musicians spent time working up these songs.
Aliens are looking down from outer space right now, commenting on how pathetic it is that a music blog and members of popular local bands(in nashville, nonetheless)
would waste hard drive space and ink and energy and everything else to put this show on. And to Ashley, i know how to have fun (and weezer is/would never have anything to do with it...yikes?!?!), and perhaps it's you guys who don't...
we "waste" our time doing it because it is fun to us. maybe some of the songs are "lame", but who gives a fuck?
if weezer touched you when you were a little boy, i'm sorry for that. no band has the right to touch little boys.
no doubt i'd rather hear Sebadoh, TMBG, Velocity Girl, Mudhoney, Buffalo Tom, and Henry's Dress covers, but i recognize that few others would feel the same.
maybe someone should start a rival 90s outfit called Parker Lewis Can't Booze and cover all the real ass hardcore indie grunge these youngsters are leaving out.
Wonder what kind of crap will be covered at the 00's show next year? Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, That shitty song from the hills, Nelly Furterdo?
Look. Obviously, 90's music means something different to everyone. I thought that went without saying, but I guess not. Even within the members of this band, we all have different subjective relationships to that era of music. These are the songs we want to play, and songs we think a large number of people will enjoy listening to, dancing to, and singing along to. Many of them are indeed "guilty pleasures."
You can't play a set that will simultaneously play to each and every person's distinct nostalgia. It's just not possible. Duh.
Most of the people that have come to our 2 shows seem to have enjoyed themselves, so we'll keep doing what we're doing. And like Casio said, if you don't like what we play, don't come. Better yet, start your own 90's band. There's a lot of 90's music to go around, and I'll be the first one in line. You can even open for us.
Thanks to everyone who made the show such a blast, and we'll see you on December 5th!
I definitely have this bands back. I've wanted to have a 90s cover band for quite a few years now except that most of the hits were performed by dudes over this decade and it just wouldn't be the same with a chick. Anyways, there's 10 years of music from the 90s yet only a small percent that was popular. Of course in nashville, popular is not popular. But lets look at it this way... Ask people 10 years older than us if the 80s covers they hear all of the time because it is always the same shit, if it is what they would have chosen as their favorites from the 80s... I know in 10 years when people start having cover bands from this decade I'm not going to want to go hear the shit that was played on 107.5. I honestly couldn't even tell you what was playing on that station... I'd want to hear some "good" music. But in 10 years the popular music of this decade is going to be made up of Britney, Justin, Beyonce and not just Miley but Hannah too, and Gwen Stefani (not No Doubt). Thats how this game goes... on that note, are all of you that are complaining about MSCB's song choices in your 40s? That would explain so much.
I have no problems with a band covering crappy songs. If someone wants to get on stage to play and have a good time no problem. Many times in college I sat at a bar and overheard some dude on stage entertaining plenty of people and having a fantastic time covering Marcy Playground, 4 Non blondes, Nirvana, or whatever "Alternative" band that was hitting the charts at the time, but did that stuff deserve media attention? FUCK NO!
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