Part I: Self Expression in the Rhythm Section (or What I Entended to Write)
Since I heard Will Hermes today on All Things Considered review a band that I saw two weeks ago, I figured it was probably time to get around to writing what I meant to write as I entered the show.
I first heard about Tilly and the Wall on NPR's All Songs Considered, a month ago, and I have to say I was impressed. After going to their site, I discovered that they were playing here in Carrboro in two weeks, and so I thought I might check them out. When I went to the Cat's Cradle website, I realized I had already decided to go to this show because of the other headliner DeVotchKa. How fortuitous!This was the only night on their respective tours in which their paths crossed, but I saw these as an interesting pairing due to their unorthodox rhythm sections.
First, there was the solo accustic guitar player whose name I can't recall. He has been with Tilly for this whole tour. As a solo accustic guitar player, he started with no rhythm section; however eventually he was joined by first a bass player and then a drummer. For the most part though, these sidemen were just to accompany the guitarist, laying down a grove as it were. However, I'm sure the guitarist would not be pleased to learn that I kept being distracted by the annoying way the bass player rotated back and forth at his waist while he played. This was the only joint in his body that moved, so that the head of his electric bass swept out a perfect 180 degree arc as he played. It was independent of the tempo of the song, which I found somewhat impressive even as it was distracting.
In contrast to this though were the other two bands of the night. For DeVotchKa, it's Jeannie, who splits her time evenly between upright bass and sousaphone, and for Tilly, it's Jamie, whose tap dancing provides the band's percussion.
For a "normal" band, the bassline comes from a plucked string that excites some magnets that pull a paper cone back and forth. But with a sousaphone, it comes from the human voice which circles 'round its player a few times to build up greater momemtum through tubes dented by years of touring before working it's way across the room. It hugs its player. It's round, not a stick. Even the upright bass, without those pesky frets and often bowed, it gives such a fluid sound. What would cause a band fill that register with an electric base played by someone who only knows four notes?
Tap dancing, while perhaps not as versitile as the sousaphone, also provides a much more expressive sound that the average drum kit. The five members of Tilly stand in a row at the front of the stage so that no one is behind a band mate. This is tough to pull off with a drummer. Jamie stands beside her singing friends (The band has three signers.) and even though her voice is not micced, she sings allow with them.
Jeannie helps her band's stage presence too by filling the bell of her sousaphone with Christmas lights. On the night I saw them, they were red, which perfectly matched the flower in her hair and her silky Chinese dress, but I think she uses other colors too.
So, if you're out there planning a band, don't just think you can pick up a drummer or bass player like their a dime a dozen. Seek out someone who does something different and integrate him or her into your sound.
I first heard about Tilly and the Wall on NPR's All Songs Considered, a month ago, and I have to say I was impressed. After going to their site, I discovered that they were playing here in Carrboro in two weeks, and so I thought I might check them out. When I went to the Cat's Cradle website, I realized I had already decided to go to this show because of the other headliner DeVotchKa. How fortuitous!This was the only night on their respective tours in which their paths crossed, but I saw these as an interesting pairing due to their unorthodox rhythm sections.
First, there was the solo accustic guitar player whose name I can't recall. He has been with Tilly for this whole tour. As a solo accustic guitar player, he started with no rhythm section; however eventually he was joined by first a bass player and then a drummer. For the most part though, these sidemen were just to accompany the guitarist, laying down a grove as it were. However, I'm sure the guitarist would not be pleased to learn that I kept being distracted by the annoying way the bass player rotated back and forth at his waist while he played. This was the only joint in his body that moved, so that the head of his electric bass swept out a perfect 180 degree arc as he played. It was independent of the tempo of the song, which I found somewhat impressive even as it was distracting.
In contrast to this though were the other two bands of the night. For DeVotchKa, it's Jeannie, who splits her time evenly between upright bass and sousaphone, and for Tilly, it's Jamie, whose tap dancing provides the band's percussion.
For a "normal" band, the bassline comes from a plucked string that excites some magnets that pull a paper cone back and forth. But with a sousaphone, it comes from the human voice which circles 'round its player a few times to build up greater momemtum through tubes dented by years of touring before working it's way across the room. It hugs its player. It's round, not a stick. Even the upright bass, without those pesky frets and often bowed, it gives such a fluid sound. What would cause a band fill that register with an electric base played by someone who only knows four notes?
Tap dancing, while perhaps not as versitile as the sousaphone, also provides a much more expressive sound that the average drum kit. The five members of Tilly stand in a row at the front of the stage so that no one is behind a band mate. This is tough to pull off with a drummer. Jamie stands beside her singing friends (The band has three signers.) and even though her voice is not micced, she sings allow with them.
Jeannie helps her band's stage presence too by filling the bell of her sousaphone with Christmas lights. On the night I saw them, they were red, which perfectly matched the flower in her hair and her silky Chinese dress, but I think she uses other colors too.
So, if you're out there planning a band, don't just think you can pick up a drummer or bass player like their a dime a dozen. Seek out someone who does something different and integrate him or her into your sound.
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