Of the three biggest surprises at the 2006 SXSW Music Festival - Silversun Pickups, Cold War Kids and Birdmonster - the latter has since garnered the least amount of notoriety. It’s a puzzling predicament given that Birdmonster’s live show makes the other two bands’ live gigs seem straight-up lazy by comparison.
Tonight, the San Francisco quartet are scheduled to play Gramercy Theatre - a newly converted movie theatre and welcome addition to New York City’s wide array of music venues. A bizarre yet breezy performance by experimental act Jena Malone and Her Bloodstains (yes, the girl who played Donnie Darko’s love interest), and a frenzied, crowd-pleasing set by prog-rockers Mason Proper later, and I was craving some ol’ fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. And yet I was admittedly still struggling to digest cutesy chanteuse Jena Malone’s peculiar performance when Birdmonster came out, guns blazing, and burst into a collection of songs from their debut LP No Midnight, commencing with a rowdy rendition of the sharp, angular, “’Cause You Can”. They followed this with beauteous ballad “Balcony”, which unfortunately didn’t sound as anthemic as on record. Moreover, Bassist Justin Tenuto experienced some technical problems throughout the night. But minor inconveniences aside, it’s clear that Birdmonster are firing on all cylinders tonight. It’s as if the word ‘gusto’ was invented for these guys, as the three guitarists storm about on stage, hurling and thrashing their bodies and axes like madmen. Lead singer Peter Arcuni is shredding and gyrating so vigorously that not only does his finger start to bleed like crazy, but parts of his guitar are literally falling off. Birdmonster’s tunes run the gamut from jangly rockabilly numbers (“All the Holes in the Walls”) and catchy pop confections (“Spaceman”) to surging anthems (the mesmerizing “Resurrection Song”), and tonight this crew came armed with enough aural ammunition to blow the lid off Gramercy Theatre.
The most appealing aspect of Birdmonster’s live show is that it truly exhibits their DIY aesthetic - setlists are written on bandmember’s arms, all the performers mouth the words to every song and everyone’s smiling from ear-to-ear. It’s clear that these guys are doing what they love, and New York City loves them for it.
~ Marlow Stern
Photo: Marlow Stern
