Grovel, The Brannock Device, Molly McGuire
Grand Emporium
May 24, 1999

Review by Danny Alexander

Sadly, it took until Molly McGuire’s midnight set for much of a crowd to accumulate for this show. I say it’s sad because the opening bands gave MM a run for its money. And that’s not to say Molly McGuire turned out a bad set. The headliner held the crowd with its rich, dark textures, and they offered the welcome promise of a new album, reassuring, “it’s been recorded!”

But the openers deserved just as much attention. Although Grovel’s album came out last year, this is still a new band for me having only seen them for the first time a couple of months ago. [If your interest in music ranges from the blues to country to rap to “alternative” (always hated the term, but it is concise), then Kansas City’s endless variety and vitality of music goes as wide as it goes to unplumbed depths. I’m always discovering something great has been going on for years that I wasn’t hip to at all.] And Grovel is a fascinating band.

Though Brad Hodgson’s arresting presence and piercing vocals give the band a strong focal point, the band is really about the individualistic impulses of all five members creating a certain orchestral grandeur. Three guitars create full chord and arpeggio rhythms that interlock and interlace over waves of bass and drums, while feedback creeps through the lace. The result is a riveting sonic integrity that seamlessly moves from one song to the next, building a kind of symphony of organized noise. The compelling nature of the band’s sound is so strong that, despite the fact that Hodgson’s vocals seemed overwhelmed in the mix, the set was very powerful.

Grovel was followed by the far more playful attack of the Brannock Device. The band’s ep, Where the Hell is Johnny Vic is a solid, engaging introduction to the band, but the band live is so much more than you might guess from listening to the album. Guitarist Jeremy Schutte is not only physically all over the place as he plays, but his guitar goes everywhere in its joyful give and take with bass and drums. All three musicians are great fun to watch, in part because they make no secret of the fact that they are having fun and in part because they are fascinating, supple instrumentalists. The leap I can’t help but make is to the music of Ornette Coleman and James Blood Ulmer that pushes each groove with an irreverance that borders on the sound of laughter and creates nothing short of giddiness for the listener. The first thing I wanted to do after the set was see them again.

--Danny Alexander