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Built by Snow
Concert at Antones
March 7, 2008
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"the act of giving your thoughts to one you love can be as important as the thought itself"
THE BOTTOM LINE, UP-TOP
built by snow - fun fresh infectious sound and performances, all the better for performing almost exclusively their own original pop/rock/indie music.
DISCLOSURE
why, i even asked myself, would i go out on a friday evening just to hear the opening band for continuous austin favorite, bob schneider , then plan to go home, early?
simple really and, as it turned out, very worthwhile
three reasons:
one, though a little late for my still-working middle-older years :-) i'd still be home to my warm bed before midnight
two, a co-worker's husband, jp, is the lead singer and creative song writer for "built by snow" and kellie assured me, correctly, they'd be fun to see and hear
kellie is the person i refer to in my artist commentaries for my images "central park by the edge" & "edge of central park nyc"; she provided the photos from one of her and her husband's trips to ny i used to create the paintings
three, my oldest's granddaughter, ashley scout, was on a spend-over with us and clearly brightened at the prospect of pairing with grandpa to go to antones :-)
GETTING TO ANTONES
compared to my weeknight trek to hear brett dennen at antones, or even going on a regular friday night, like for alejandro escovedo, this was a the friday night leading into the film festival of SXSW
street traffic was thick and the sidewalks were crawling with smiling surging seekers of a good time, and so were we :-)
we trekked from cesar chavez (formerly 1st st) to almost 10th near the capitol, circled back, passing antones at 5th and lavaca, and made our way to the city hall parking garage by the river; we could walk the 30 degree brisk wind knowing soon we'd be warm inside
scout and i gamely made our way up, down, and through the sidewalks to antones' entrance where, as usual, milling crowds waited for friends and calls on their cells; the giant bearded entrance guard smiling drew an "X" on scout's hand and we were in
luckily, "built by snow" was just setting up, so we had time to adjust our eyes and be spotted by the lead singer's wife, kellie, who spotted me first and swooped over with a huge hug and smile; trailing her were two other ladies, former co-workers, one of whom was visiting from houston; there was much hello'ing and intro's to my granddaughter - yes, i had clearly scored important points in her eyes being so warmly greeted by so many clearly hip with-it "women" :-)
THE SHOW
casually dressed in jeans and t-shirts, only the lead singer's red tennis shoes even vaguely hinting at "being different," the drummer, basist, lead guitarist, and singer, JP, almost literally burst - into a sharp heavy literally foot-beat-stomping driving rock pop cascade of originally penned music that immediately ignited the mostly college-aged (sprinkled with other-agin' fans) that had heads bobbing, hips swirling, and female arms extended and waving into the air like wireless antennae wisping the energy in - the 30 degree brisk cold outside was thawed and forgotten
jp, the band's lead singer and main writer, moved easily on stage, strong-stoppping his frame to the sudden snap beats the band was comfortably enjoying; his youthful face was mobile and expressive, even shyly grinning when kellie his wife wafted to the front of the stage adding her air-waving arms to the clusters of girls up front
despite the loud rushing sounds, JP's voice maintained clarity with emotional intonation
freely expressive, he easily knelt to the stage to wail w/his guitar, clearly enjoying the play of sound and expression
kellie had told me that he'd originally made up using his initials as a "new" name when much younger, so as to compete w/his sister who had a nickname people seemed to like, then regretted the nickname actually "stuck" for awhile, but is now glad it's a part of him - he'll have to remember to thank his sister for that one :-)
to his left of jp played matt, on both the keyboard and guitar, with terrific gusto, also clearly enjoying being onstage; his keyboard work often adding a techno/indie sound that bridged the band's self-declared 80's link; though, when matt sang, i distinctly heard british influences in his surprisingly deeper tones that seemed to smooth the group into a nice counterpoint to jp's voice
ben, the bass guitarist, sporting a huge wide head bandanna, added vocal support vocals; kellie whispered over the crowd that he was "trying" the bandanna out for the first time
the drums kept a respectable driving rush by the work of brandon's strong consistent beat; as i can i'll add a link to any site he may have
the whole ensemble emanated freshness, with the feel of a young rock group from the early 80's on mtv, truly enjoying making music together, exhibiting a lot of strength as a performance group
as a cohesive band, and as a group of mutally supporting musicians, it was only mildly surprising to learn the guys in built by snow all work day jobs together at keye, austin's cbs local affiliate, where they work as technicians (they even have the gall to post nerd px of themselves!)
so it also wasn't surpising to see their wealth of you-tube (though i got spotty transmission when i checked this fun song/video out) and myspace videos and other visuals they've created themselves
my 13 year old granddaughter quickly gobbled up a cd along w/a couple of t-shirts; i'm told a second cd is on it's way for summer or so, w/the prospect of more of their promising original work
the way the group smiled and rocked onstage, with their own music, truly put a smile on most of the rapidly filling venue at antones awaiting the arrival of bob schneider, leaving everyone expectant for more good stuff
i couldn't have asked for a better group to take my granddaughter to, even if only for an hour, for her first night "clubbing" :-)
thanks ya'll,
adan
www.adanlerma.com
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