Cheap Girls with opening acts Restorations, Chris Farren,
and The Slow Death at the Turf Club in St Paul MN on February 27th,
2015.
I went to this concert to see Restorations. It was the first
time that they had been through the Twin Cities and I was so excited they were
going to make a stop here. I was not sure that I was going to go and see them
until the day before. It was kind of a tense moment making that decision, which
is perfect for this band really. I hope they come through again in the future.
I took my wife to see the concert. I did not pre-order
tickets like I would usually have done. I guess that added to the tension that
I had mentioned previously. It was not an issue and we got in right away. We
got there early and were able to get a table with stools.
I went up to the merchandise table to see what was available. I
was hoping to see a copy of the first release from the band, a split 12” with
Rosetta, but it was not to be. I forgot to bring my copy of Call + Response for
the band to sign. They did have copies of that 7” so I bought another copy. The
drummer, Carlin Brown, sold me the copy and started to tell me the story behind
the release. I stopped him right away to let him know that this would be my
second copy and asked if he could sign it. He said that not only would he sign
it he would bring it around to the other members of the band and get them to
sign it too. That was probably the
easiest garnering of signatures that I have ever had. There was a small issue
of trying to find everyone though. He dropped the record off at the table and
got everyone over to our table to sign it eventually before any of the other
opening acts started to play. Actually, the keyboardist, Ben Pierce, ended up
staying to talk to us as the other members were rounded up.
We talked to Ben about the groups first time playing in the
Twin Cities. From there we moved on to talk about how a certain number of
people living in St Paul have never been to Minneapolis. He looked at us a
little confused. We then compared it to living in New Jersey and never going to
New York City. He said that was ridiculous. We then went on to explain that it
isn’t the same the other way around. Most people who live in Minneapolis have
been to St Paul. We moved on from that topic and started talking about the
record that I had just bought. It is two sides that make up one track. When I
got my first copy I recorded the song like I usually do but I had to join the
tracks together. I found that when I did this the track time comes to about
nine minutes and ten seconds. I quoted seven and a half, my mistake. But the
point is that the record is shorter than the digital download version. Ben
didn’t know but though that I should bring this up with the lead singer, Jon
Loudon. I didn’t get a chance to talk with Jon but maybe he will read this and
have a possible answer. I had also asked Ben if they were going to stop over at
any radio stations for an interview. He said that there wasn’t anything planned
but they were going to go north to Fargo and would be talking with some folks
there. I guess that I got the only interview in the Twin Cities. If only I had
recorded the conversation that we had. I did get all of them to sign the book before the first
opening act started.
The first act was The Slow Death. They were early on in
their career as a band it seemed like. The lead singer was already drunk before
they got on stage. I am not sure if they were just having a good time or if the
lead singer needed the alcohol to perform on stage. Either way they were not as
good as they could have been if they were a bit more serious about the
situation. They had that east coast sound that I have talked about in the past
that reminds me of Bruce Springsteen but more modern. The jokes between songs
were so bad mainly because of the alcohol consumption.
Chris Farren took the stage next. I saw him getting ready
and thought to my self, “There is no supporting members, it is just him?” He
had a pretty arch-top guitar that was set to the neck pickup it sounded like. I
didn’t see a pickup on the body though so it must have been some kind of
internal pickup. I mention this because the guitar sound didn’t have any body
to it. Maybe he liked it that way, not my style unless I have other layers on
top of that higher pitched sound. It was difficult to hear him as the mix was
too soft. I wear earplugs when I go to concerts and I expect to be able to hear
the music with the earplugs in. I took one out to be able to listen to this
guy. I just sort of lost interest in what he was doing on stage. I think that
most of the crowd did too. Most of the people left the dance floor and did
other stuff. I think that Chris has something with what he is doing but he
needs to flesh it out with something. I don’t know if it should be a fuller
tone or more members in the group.
Next was Restorations. They played eight songs in their set.
All of them sounding so good and polished I felt like I was listening to a CD.
I have never felt that they were a hard rock group and they proved it with this
show. The songs were awesome slow burners that have emotion and feeling. They
don’t make you think but give off a warm melancholic feeling. I bobbed my head
to the beat as if I were saying yes this is exactly what I needed on this day
and at this time. What a release.
The first song they played was Misprint from their latest
album, LP3. They were supposed to play Wales but I think that they were short
on time so they skipped it. Wales isn’t my favorite song so I was happy to find
that they did skip it after seeing the set list. Misprint on the other hand was
a great way to start off the set. It is a slow burn track that uses primarily
two chords to move the song. They nailed the song with what seemed little to no
effort, perfection in the making.
New Old was the second song played. This is a track off a
single that never made it to one of the albums. I always like it when a group
plays songs from the harder to find singles and EPs. It makes me feel like they
really care about their fans and pick the tracks that will make them happy too.
It is a faster song that gets me moving. I like the distorted bass just
hovering under the surface. It is like choppy waters that are trying their best
to calm down. The breaks in the song are sweet and meaning full. Jon’s vocals
are borderline country and sound fantastic with the band backing in a rock
feel, one of my favorite songs from the group.
The only other song not from LP3 was Lets Blow Up The Sun. This
track faster paced rocker with slower paced vocals. The drums on this one are
loud with heavy use of symbols. It is perfect for the song though. It helps to
keep the intensity up on the track. I still can’t get over the way that Jon can
so easily slip from clean and clear vocals to that slight raspy, almost gritty,
vocal style. It is so good and helps to accentuate certain vocal lines.
The last song in the set was Separate Songs. This was the
reason that I got heavy into this group. I had known about them through Side
One Dummy Records with the release of their second album, LP2, but didn’t
really dig into the group to much at that point. When I hear this song I had to
have everything I could get my hands on from them. I am now just missing their
first split single with Rosetta. This song is just perfect for me. The layers
of guitar, the walking bass line that fast paced drums and the awesome vocal
style all make me feel so happy.
They were going to play one additional track but like with
the first track they didn’t have enough time to fit it in. The last song was
going to be a song called Adventure Tortoise.
Thanks to all the bands for coming out and of course thanks
to the Turf Club for having them. A special thanks to Restorations for signing
my second copy of Call + Response IV.
Restorations Set List:
Misprint
New Old
Tiny Prayers
Most Likely A Spy
The Future
Lets Blow Up The Sun
All My Home
Separate Songs
Good review.
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