Palindrone, The Fordists, and Fire Bison
Friday, July 8 at Sprout
Fire Bison played their first show at Sprout last Friday night, and it was well worth leaving the house in the rain. Their lineup is Laurie Lay of Catnip Dreams fame on bass, Adrienne Shurte of Hail Hydra and other bands on guitar, and Wess Brockman playing some mean shirtless drums. I got there fashionably late, and they’d already started their set. Spared the awkward stand-around-and-make-smalltalk-with-acquaintances portion of the show, I pushed my way up front. Fire Bison plays the kind of music that made me want to go home and pick up my guitar. Adrienne’s guitar playing is pure rock with a punk edge, and Laurie’s bass lines are simple yet powerful. The dual female vocals were reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney (without their tendency to be overwrought), and strong enough to match the music.
Palindrone, The Fordists, and Fire Bison
Friday, July 8 at Sprout
Fire Bison played their first show at Sprout last Friday night, and it was well worth leaving the house in the rain. Their lineup is Laurie Lay of Catnip Dreams fame on bass, Adrienne Shurte of Hail Hydra and other bands on guitar, and Wess Brockman playing some mean shirtless drums. I got there fashionably late, and they’d already started their set. Spared the awkward stand-around-and-make-smalltalk-with-acquaintances portion of the show, I pushed my way up front. Fire Bison plays the kind of music that made me want to go home and pick up my guitar. Adrienne’s guitar playing is pure rock with a punk edge, and Laurie’s bass lines are simple yet powerful. The dual female vocals were reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney (without their tendency to be overwrought), and strong enough to match the music.
I was most impressed by a slower song they did later into the set, which managed to still hold the attention of Richmond’s party-hardy music fans. They didn’t have the fast tempos of a punk/hardcore band, but still rocked pretty hard. Their last song, introduced as “This song is called ‘This is a song about fucking’,” brought back the punk riffs and highlighted the wailing vocals that I hope continue as this band progresses. At the end of the set, someone yelled “That was so cool!” and everyone cheered in agreement. I don’t know what a Fire Bison is, but based on this set, it’s a really cool and magnificent beast.
The touring band, Fordists, put their heart into their set, but Fire Bison was a tough act to follow. Occasionally they’d bust out a Fugazi-esque riff, and once even went melodic, but overall weren’t my thing. I wish I had more to say about them, but to be honest, the only thing that sticks out in my mind was the fact that they said they liked Richmond better than Cleveland. Duh.
Palindrone was last, and is a band featuring members of Antlers and Meadows. Christian Brady and Ian Calder are two of my favorite hippies—I’ll go see anything they play. They both played guitar, with the bass being replaced by Bethany Santos on keys. Stephanie Brady learned how to play drums specifically for this band, and it was interesting to watch her play. I was expecting something like Meg White’s rudimentary banging (don’t get me wrong, I love me some White Stripes!)—but, dang, Stephanie’s pretty good! Christian and Ian also managed to leave the hippie sounds in the Antlers practice space, and went way 90s fuzz on this project. Given my penchant for anything mid-90s, this is a band I’ll definitely go see again. Especially if Fire Bison is playing too.
By Sara B.
[NOTE: We did not have a photographer present at this show, and photographic evidence of the existence of Fire Bison is in extremely short supply at the moment. Thank you for your understanding. -ed.]
