I Can Stay Here, and You Can Be Famous

There's so much to this, and I think it goes far beyond anything as simple as "oh, yeah, he's that guy who was in Braid."

Last night, my friends Chris and Andy and I drove out to Lansing, MI (an hour from Detroit) to see the Firebird Band. Andy got me into them shortly after seeing their first show in Detroit almost four years ago. Unfortunately, that is their only Detroit show so far. Its so strange, the people who I've gotten into the band like it a lot; their interest borders on obsession, much like Andy and I.

The differences between the first (Setting Sun and its Satellites) and the second albums (The City At Night) are monstrous, and the obtuse yet vaguely personal lyrics have become more vague.

The Firebird Band is Chris Broach (keyboards, guitar, lead vocals, ringleader), John Isberg (bass, vocals), and Jess Ronewald (keyboards, vocals). Chris used to be in the now legendary emo-ish (but much more complicated musically) band Braid. John is also in Joan of Arc. I don't know if Jess has been in any other bands, but damn, is she nice.

The Setting Sun and Its Satellites was expansive in sound and ideas, but still quite a bit like Broach's previous band Braid. If you aren't familiar with Braid, I'm not even going to attempt to explain, you'll have to check it out for yourself. This album does add some newer elements like drum machines, synths, and a slower pace. There's just a slight '80s New Wave feel to it, too. Lyrically, all the songs sound very personal, drunken, scared, and generally full of angst.

The City At Night by contrast is much more electro with mechanical beats fueling almost the whole thing. Every song features synth and a New Wave pop sound. But, lyrically its more vague. Listening to the record, it sounds like a soundtrack for young urban hipsters living their lives in the city at night. Exactly. Don't be put off by that, because I'm saying that from my perspective of what its like to live in the city and to be a night-dweller. I'm not saying that from the perspective of some marketing agency's demographics on hip young urbanites. Its a record about pain, and loss, emotion, love (of course), and isolation.

So, Monday night's show had four bands total. Unfortunately, TFB were not headlining this show. First up was Marathon, who sounded like they wished they were 88 Fingers Louie (but not as good), and looked like they thought they were the Suicide Machines in 1996 (but they aren't). Next up was New Mexican Death Squad (I think that was the name), who I didn't pay much attention to, but they seemed to be more of what Marathon had to offer. Boring. Finally, up third was The Firebird Band.

This lineup was so odd, because the headlining act was Bear Vs Shark; it was their record release show (although they had another one the next night in Detroit?), the two opening bands were hardcore. Whatever. The first two bands and BVS all took about ten minutes altogether to set up and do sound check. But, TFB took forever. I even joked to Andy that Chris (Broach) was turning primadonna about the whole thing. In the end, though, it was totally worth it for a too-short set that ended with a cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" featuring dead-on vocals from Broach and synth in the same tone as the original from Ronewald. Being a fanboy for Joy Division, this impressed me. Oh, also, they used an iPod for all of the drum tracks. I thought it seemed cheesy at first, but its really not. They can scroll to the song that they're about to play, and then just play to the iPod. Its like when a drummer has a click-track playing in an earpiece so they can keep time. Plus the sound quality was flawless.

All around, in fact, everything sounded great, and looked great, too. Broach and Isberg were both in suit coats and all in black. Broach even took it a step further with black eyeliner, which makes sense I guess with the New Romantic (think Duran Duran) approach of this latest album. He also knows how to play to a crowd and make them happy. All throughout this show, there was a Pistons game showing on several TVs, and everytime there was a big play, people started clapping and cheering. The first time it happened while he was talking, so he commented, "did you really pay to come here and watch a basketball game?" The next few times, he just treated it like they were applauding the band. Funny.

The cult of post-Braid Chris Broach projects goes beyond The Firebird Band. He started up his own label a few years ago called Lucid Records, which at first was just for his own projects. Originally, there was just the Firebird Suite, which evolved into The Firebird Band. Then there was L'Spaerow, which he says was just a one-off album, but its fucking amazing. Total My Bloody Valentine. After that came Life At Sea, which is a more downbeat indie rock kind of thing, and spread throughout were an EP and some singles from TFB. Now he's putting out other bands like The Blackouts, who remind me of the Greenhornes a little bit, but with more British Invasion sound. There's also the newest act on Lucid, Thunderlip, which is balls-out rock 'n' roll. A little odd compared to the rest of the label's roster, but damn, is it good. In fact, go here and check it out. Listen to the song in the 'Media' section. When we were at the show, Jess (from TFB) was manning the merch table, and I was looking at the table, and I said "damn, I already have all of this stuff" There were something like 8 or 9 CDs there. I'm a freak. She gave me a pin, and said she wished she had the new Thunderlip CD because she'd give it to me for being such a fanboy. Okay, she didn't call me a fanboy.