Concert Review: The Salt Miners @ Alvin’s
I’m used to heading out on Friday nights to hear blazing guitars and loud music, so this week, I thought I’d go a different route and check out a (mostly) low-key show at Alvin’s.
Whiskey Tenor opened with a solid set of dark, sorrowful pseudo-Americana. This was the first time I’d seen the band where the environment was calm enough to actually take in the band’s performance, and I have to say that I was impressed with Kevin Brace’s vocals, which wavered from quiet drawls to restrained calls that were all much stronger than I’d expected. Being somewhat familiar with the band’s EP, my main concern was whether or not the band’s sound would project in a live setting. Whiskey Tenor did come across quite strongly, however, as the live performance seemed to thrive on a contained, smoldering intensity, regardless of the nature of the material.
The unexpected portion of the evening came next, when the rather large collective known as Call Sign Cobra took the stage. This Denver act was odd in that the band meshed genres of music together rather fluently within this set. Call Sign Cobra came complete with the standard two-guitar rock combo line up, but then piled on two horn players and two rather saucy female back-up singers. The band railed between garage rock, punk, and 70’s style arena rock, even going so far as to successfully pull off a great ‘Motown-styled doo-wop done screamo’ hybrid on one track. Myself, Big Matt and Ryan Sult were in stitches for most of the set, from the chorus chants of “Run, motherfucker, run” to the band’s closing song, which made light of the too-small Star Trek t-shirt clad trumpet player’s apparent fondness for Mad Dog 20/20 and underage girls. If nothing else, Call Sign Cobra was a lot of fun to watch.
Fellow Denver touring act Ghost Buffalo followed with a far more laid-back set of mellow, female fronted, slightly country-tinged pop (a surprising change of pace for an act involving half the line-up of screamo stalwart Planes Mistaken for Stars). It took a few songs to wind down from Call Sign Cobra’s set, but Ghost Buffalo seemed to eventually settle into a groove with the audience, mostly because of the strong voice of super-petite frontwoman Marie Litton.
The Salt Miners, of course, took the stage to close out the evening and put on another expectedly solid performance. However, as good as the band sounded musically, the attitude that the band members displayed on stage only helped ease the crowd into the performance even more. All five members of the band were jovial, cracking jokes amongst each other and the audience, and it was incredibly obvious that everyone in the band was having a great time. Musically, the band was tight amongst all of the banjo-pickin’ and mandolin strummin’, with Tim Pak even breaking out his trusty Dobro for a few songs. The band members took turns fronting the set, though the most impressive vocals took place when all five members busted out harmony vocal parts.
Sure, the style of music is a bit of a throwback, and it admittedly does take a few songs to get accustomed to, but The Salt Miners tight bluegrass stylings always seem to create very fun and entertaining live shows. MCR whole-heartedly supports knocking down some musical barriers to check out The Salt Miners. – Mr. Gary