Special guest Malice Cooper of the Union Electric joined in on bass. The band captured the energy and just plain fun vibe of the Femmes live shows while Johnson mimicked Gordon Gano's quirky nasal tenor. As the set list went on, they seemed to get better and better at making the transformation into the Femmes. I particularly enjoyed their renditions of "Add It Up," "Please Do Not Go" and "American Music."
The second act to take the stage was the Orbz, who exchanged their post-punk rock for the grunge flavor of Stone Temple Pilots. Their dedication to recreating the STP experience was apparent from the second they took the stage and immediately jumped into "Vasoline." The band recreated the classic DeLeo brothers' sound. I'm convinced that Jason Robinson had locked himself in a room with nothing but concert footage of Scott Weiland for at least a month in order to pull off those mannerisms and choreography. I was particularly impressed with the Orbz' versions of "Big Bang Baby" and "Sex Type Thing." Bonus points go out to Jason Robinson for maintaining character for the whole night.
As I mentioned in my video blog preview, I'm not a fan of Interpol. However, after seeing False Moves cover their songs during the third set I may have to reconsider my position. The band replicated the Interpol sound with great precision, laying down slow, dirge-like riffs and keeping time like a Swiss watch. Mike Cracchiolo did a great job in recreating Paul Banks' monotone vocals without missing a step. Judging from the amount of head nodding and robot dancing going on in the crowd, and the post-show comments I heard from various attendees, I can assume that the die-hard Interpol fans approved of the set. That speaks more for the performance than I can.
The Strokes are another band that I'm not very familiar with, but using the audience response as a gauge I can tell that the Breaks successfully captured their sound. Even without knowing the songs it was obvious that a lot of time was spent on perfecting the set since the band busted out a powerful, high energy show and was having a good time doing it. This was my first time seeing the Breaks play; of all the Under Cover Weekend artists I think they are going to end up being one of my new favorite local bands.
Troubadour Dali covering Sonic Youth was the last act of both the evening and the weekend, and was truly the embodiment of the phrase "saving the best for last." Much like Via Dove the night before, they were the closest thing you could get without actually having the original present. I almost rushed the stage to look for a CD player since the soundscapes and monster sound sounded as if Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo were on stage themselves. At first I thought Casey Bazzell was lip-synching because her vocals were full of the sultry go-to-hell attitude that makes Kim Gordon stand out among the crowd. It was clear that she's either cut from the same cloth or one hell of an actress. There were a few apologies from the band throughout the set for the amount of time it took to swap out guitars between songs, but the performance that we were given was worth any waiting.
Summing up the entire weekend, I think it would be best to say that the one thing that overwhelmed both nights was the respect that our local artists have for each other and the bands that were covered. Groups combined forces, shared members and assisted each other with props and equipment loaning. Everyone was there to bring each other up and revel in the fact that St. Louis has a fantastic music scene. Many thanks go out to Michael Tomko for organizing the shows and to all the local bands who came out to give us one hell of a weekend.
