Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s detonate indie rock bomb
By Jillian Mapes, Assistant Managing Editor
December 3, 2006 | 11:59 a.m.
There is no denying that Baker Theater is an auspiciously small venue for most national touring bands, but Baker Programming Assistant and ACRN Promotions Director Brian Ostrander was able to book Indianapolis-based Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s because of a break in their schedule.
Although Margot was the concert’s big name, regional acts The Kyle SoWashes and Southeast Engine both played sets nothing short of incendiary proportions.
Columbus-based Kyle SoWashes not only made references to Olive Garden parking lots and jokes about Baker’s escalators but also proclaimed in one song, “Her asshole was faster than shit.”
The band’s sound was comparable to early Weezer melodies topped by nasally vocals and a slew of mean tambourine and bass parts. Lead singer Kyle Sowash is a faint Drew Carrey-lookalike with a Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie) complex. The Kyle SoWashes played up a tongue-in-cheek humor that kept the crowd smirking while rocking.
A staple in the local music scene of Athens, Southeast Engine, was the second act to take the stage. The audience crowded close to the stage in anticipation of Southeast Engine’s unabashed, folk-inspired rock. The sound quality of the band’s set was solidly layered. The audience appreciated Southeast Engine’s earnest aesthetic, and it was obvious that the band’s six members were enjoying themselves as well.
Finally, Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s humbly seized the small stage, setting up much of their own equipment and performing an extensive amount of microphone checks. The focused musicians on that stage seemed much different than the hungry horde of humorously evasive interviewees from hours before. This was the same band that had refused to reveal to Speakeasy the origins of their peculiar name because “it would be more unique and interesting if we just left it at that,” lead singer/guitarist Richard Edwards said. The “that” he was referring to was precisely nothing.
With eight people on one stage, it could be assumed that the band and instruments would be packed tightly like sardines. This, however, was far from the case. All of the band members appeared to have their own space and barely interacted with one another. Most of Margot’s members appeared to avoid the center of the stage, and they congregated on either side of Edwards, who was clad in a Dick Tracey t-shirt and is a mumbling Colts fan -- yes, the Indianapolis Colts.
In fact, the entire band seems to draw more inspiration from Colts football than they do from other musicians. At one point in the interview, Edwards distinctly said, “Let’s talk about the Colts for a little bit.”
Edwards was also the only member of the band to dislike the notion of the band going on a haunting field trip to The Ridges for fear that he would miss Sunday’s Colts game.
Percussionist Casey Tennis was a crowd favorite with his uninhibited dance breaks and stage presence. Tennis beat the cymbals and shook the tambourine with the effortless rhythm of a professional break dancer. This is not surprising, considering Tennis did admit in the interview that he was a fan of trip-hop music.
Although Edwards warmed up his guitar with a riff sounding eerily like Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So,” the band played a nine-song set of originals off their album, The Dust of Retreat. Margot’s performance built up with a surmounting urgency, starting off lushly mellow and finally simmering to full-on, rock-out status laden with guitar feedback.
The band’s sound is a paradox. Sexy, folky, sometimes danceable, usually heartfelt and always layered indie rock is what Margot does best. Even drummer Chris Fry has difficulty pinpointing Margot’s sound. “If you try to describe your music after the fact, I don’t think you are necessarily conscious of it when you’re writing a song,” Fry said.
When asked about their sound being compared to The Decemberists, the band’s reaction was, overall, one of slight disgust. When violin player/lap bassist Erik King showed an interest in The Decemberists, Edwards replied to him, “You like The Decemberists? You’re out of the band.”
Margot jokingly likened themselves more closely to such a wide range of artists including Paul Simon, Carly Simon, Boston, REO Speedwagon and The Who.
The band really hit a stride in the middle of their set when they played, in a row, three of their most popular songs -- “On a Freezing Chicago Street,” “Paper Kitten Nightmare” and “Vampires in Blue Dresses.” Legions of loyal fans could be heard meowing along with the band throughout the chorus of “Paper Kitten Nightmare,” while Hubert Glover’s trumpet solo and Fry’s drumming in “On a Freezing Chicago Street” could have shattered glass.
Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s sound significantly better live than they do on their album, which could be attributed to the fact that their live set provides the audience with a dreamlike, over-the-top sound a la The Flaming Lips. The band’s off-beat instrument combinations, such as lap bass/violin and trumpet solos, really stand out. The band’s vocals also sounded more abrasive and deep during the live performance as compared to the album. These vocals don’t come without a cost -- keyboardist and singer Emily Watkins’ microphone continually shocked her lips throughout most of the show.
The band’s journey from eight nearly destitute musicians all living in one house together (“There was no way we could have stayed a band [without living together],” Fry said) to college radio rock stars all began with friendship. “We were all friends from other bands, and we were like, “˜Let’s get together and make one really good band,’ and we did and it worked,” bassist Tyler Watkins said.
OU music enthusiasts hope Baker Theater will continue to serve as an appropriate setting for college indie rock shows that the All-Campus Radio Network will play a hand in booking. Although the theater boasts an intimate movie theater feel, it is a mixture of a small rock club and a stuffy conference room.
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