If you’re from Houston and were wondering, Warehouse Live does have a Grand Ballroom. If you can call it that. I have often wondered myself what admittance into the ballroom takes, as the auxiliary stage is being used whenever I attend. Apparently it takes Mates of State, a husband and wife team noted for their vocal harmony.
First we owed the pleasure to Black Kids as the opening act. Where would these guys (and gals) be without the internet? They posted four songs on their MySpace page a few years back and that was enough to start the blogroll. Yes, several bogglers like myself created a quick buzz for the EP titled, Wizard of Ahhhs. From Jacksonville, FL, the Black Kids consist of Reggie Youngblood on guitar and lead vocals, his sister Ali Youngblood and Dawn Watley on keyboards and backing vocals, Owen Holmes on bass, and Kevin Snow on drums.
The playful dance-along-to raucous has the tendency to cloud any lyrical seriousness or emotion. After all, as NME has pointed out, these songs are all about having desires. “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You” is quite obviously about jealousy. The fact that someone has been hurt by rejection, however, may not cross your mind as you clap and sing along. In addition, there are actual goofy, good-humored lyrics such as these from “I’ve Underestimated my Charm (Again)”: I get angst in my pants/ and goddam it to hell/ it don’t help if I dance.
The girls and their dueling keyboards were a nice compliment to Reggie’s impressive Robert-Smith-transmitted vocal. Furthermore, Dawn sometimes played co-vocalist (as opposed to backing) on songs such as “Listen to Your Body Tonight.” Echo-back styling’s among the girls and Reggie added to their largely vivacious and impish mood.
Reggie kept requesting the lights to come down. When they had not yet met his satisfaction he seductively said, “a little lower please.” The Kids were fun, as were Mates of State. I have never seen such fun being had by band members themselves. To illustrate, the Mates passed shots to all the Kids during their set. Then they pranced onstage with Sunbears, the first opening band, wearing masks and wigs and threw confetti. It’s hard to imagine that the Mates are proud parents of two young children.
The Kids dedicated “Hurricane Jane” to the Mates, or as they like to call them, ‘the inmates of the States.’ Thanks to Ali, this is the most synth-participated song of the LP, Partie Traumatic. Following the set, Reggie walked to the end of the stage, I guess to shake some hands, and Owen pushed him off. The look on his face as he fell told me that the nose dive into the crowd took him by complete surprise. The stage crew ran to his rescue but only saved his guitar. He had to scale the stair railing to get out. You’ll see in the YouTube video below. If you watch to the very end you might see me looking like I went to give a high five that wasn’t reciprocated as he walked by.
1. Listen To Your Body Tonight
2. I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again)
3. Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)
4. UFO Cool
5. Hurricane Jane
7. Love Me Already
8. I’m Making Eyes At You
9. I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You
When they were through, Lindsey started grumbling about how I’d kept her up past her bedtime and threatened to call a cab if I didn’t agree to leave soon. I said, “go right ahead” but really I was upset that my scheme to keep my sister there by offering a ride did not work.
A chime broke the silence that anticipation had brought over the crowd. It was followed up by a horn to ring in Hammel’s vocal introduction and Kori’s piano. They started with “My Only Offer.” They are credited with fluctuating rhythms and fragmented arrangements as well. “Fluke” is a good example of this. Lewis, on loan from another band scheduled to play Meridian the next night, was given a cello solo to follow “Fluke.” He stuffed it aggressively with heartrending to high spirited staccato.
“So Many Ways” gave an air of sophistication. A violin murmured from the low-lit backgrounders. I gazed around the room and noticed that Mates of States had drawn an older, calmer crowd. Some of the energy present for Black Kids thinned out when the Mates took the stage. For one, the hipsters who, while standing in front of me, drew eyes from all directions due to their progressive attire and eccentric dancing didn’t stick around.
During “Ha Ha” Youngblood wandered onstage and started dancing. I think he was getting drunk. He had a shot and a beer during his performance and my guess is that it only continued afterwards.
“Open Book” is undoubtedly a chaotic mess. However, it’s a brilliant chaotic mess. For the most part the pair simultaneously sang completely different melodies. Nobody in this group plays the guitar, not even the borrowed members. I didn’t see a need for one either. Strings joined in at the building end of “Open Book.” Adding to the chaos and distraction of this number were Sunbears throwing CD boomerangs into the crowd from behind the curtain.
“Re-Arrange Us” continued to display the Mates penetrating, lofty-ranged voices. Everyone was onstage once again. I counted a total of 14 people.
“Long Way Home” is a Tom Waits cover and they chose to perform it as their first encore. Hammel played a free standing bass drum alongside Kori’s piano and I spoke too soon when I said no guitars. Thinking back I can hear an electric guitar coming from the upstage fiddler. “Goods (All In Your Head)” closed the show. 7 snare drums were carted on-stage. Everyone was playing something. There were two people per keyboard and three people on Hammel’s drum set. What a way to bring things to a close! Have a listen to “Ha Ha” below.
1. My Only Offer
2. Get Better
3. Fraud in the ‘80’s
4. Fluke
5. So Many Ways
6. Think Long
7. You Are Free
8. Ha Ha
9. Now
10. Proofs
11. Open Book
12. Re-Arrange Us
Encore
1. Long Way Home (Tom Waits cover)
2. Goods (All In Your Head)
