Sunday, December 26, 2010

Manhattan Murder Mystery, Tommy Santee Klaws and Barrie Rose at The Smell

With Echo Curio toast, (of my standard music stops) The Smell becomes the only venue where I go when I want to hear bands/musicians that I normally won't catch elsewhere. Not that I haven't heard of some of the bands that play there (like Manhattan Murder Mystery), but generally when I look at the schedule I'm rather clueless about the bands that are listed.

So on Thursday night I headed off to catch Barrie Rose, Tommy Santee Klaws and Manhattan Murder Mystery.

I walked in to catch the last couple songs of Barrie Rose. There was an emotional vulnerability to those songs that I enjoyed. Tommy Santee Klaws was another unexpected surprise. A splendid set where the two male vocalists harmonized us with amusing lyrics such as, "You look better when you're dead."

The final band of the night was Manhattan Murder Mystery -- and honestly the reason why I headed out to The Smell. I swear they like to spend more time playing with their backs to the crowd than facing the crowd. As for the lead singer, he starts their set by wearing an army helmet, but throughout the set one can never know if it'll be on the ground, on someone else's head or on his own.

Noticed: A friend mentioned and then I noticed at the Eagle Rock Music Festival that this band seems to grow in size over time. This time around; however, they were down to the four main members (or I'll assume they're the four main members, one might not really know).

Noticed 2: The lead singer/guitarist went through half the set with a broken string.

Noticed 3: To end the set, the lead singer went straight to the doors.

Hey, with moments like all the above, how can one not love Manhattan Murder Mystery.

Barrie Rose


Tommy Santee Klaws


Manhattan Murder Mystery






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