ZapTown

Pravada
Granchildren
We Are Hex
December 4, 2009 – The Vollrath

Links:

Pravada: http://www.myspace.com/pravadaband
Grandchildren: http://www.myspace.com/grandchildren
We Are Hex: http://wearehex.com/
The Vollrath: http://www.vollrathindy.com/

For First Friday, Fountain Square looked like a cross between Orson Wells’ Touch of Evil and Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. Tis the season for the near Eastside section of the city to be bustling by pushing people in and out of art galleries and restaurants.

In addition to all the sites and vibrancy that was going on, just down the road, The Vollrath was having their own celebration that packed in a good crowd for a diverse night of music. As space became sparse in and around the bar, the festivity only increased with more hugging, laughing, and joviality than a pack of pirates after a successful pillage.

An immediate sign that we were in for a unique night were the remixes of Hall And Oates and Huey Lewis and The News blending in to other electronic bass thumping, all echoing through the speakers. Over in the corner, newly recognized DJ Liar Mouth kept the energy going through the night and a welcome change from the usual.

Pravada kicked things into gear with their infectious noise pop sound. With the drummer on the floor and facing the band, it seemed a little odd at first, even if it left plenty of room for the rest of the band to take the stage. And not that they needed space because the movement by this band was minimal keeping their own space. Whatever works, right? This formula did work for the band as the sound was equaled out and their blend of songs from feedback-induced rock to starry-eyed pop filled up the club. With lights blaring down on the band, there was no mystery involved, it was simply a showcase of Pravada confident and well poised, playing a solid set. And even though we have heard “Atlas” and “You’re Fun” plenty of times before, it never gets old.

When the six people from Grandchildren packed the stage, things were a little tight, but the band impressively kept a spastic sense of motion to their tribal sounds, building percussion on drums, horns on guitars, songs into other songs. Made up of mostly instrumentals some songs made people tilt their head and bop up and down, while others got lost in translation of maybe too much going on.

Somewhere near the witching hour, We Are Hex took the stage. Again, drums were on the floor facing the stage, but in this case, there was a good reason. The set was comprised of mostly new material with a few songs from Gloom Bloom peppered in like “Serious Sedatives,” a song I have not heard live before but always wanted to. People huddled around drummer Brandon Beaver as if he was on fire. When the opening number kicked in, we all thought he was going to combust, pounding skins like it was a homocide. Jilly Weiss grabbed a tambourine and in an instant she exploded into a spastic rage of energy that burned out into the audience. Standing by the drums, I could not hear much beyond being punched in the face with a hardcore punk esprit. We didn’t know what hit us and in an instant, I felt transformed back to the Broad Ripple Community Center circa 1988 when bands like Trenchmouth and The Oxymorons played there. Before long, you could feel the floor of the Vollrath pulsating with feet stomping and feedback ringing through my ears. The only thought in my head was that if we were all to go down, what a way to go.

The set was ferociously short-lived as the band burned white-hot and burned hard. By the end of it, Brandon was crawling out of his kit trying to find a breath, Jilly was picking herself off the floor, while bassist Trevor Wathan and guitarist Matt Hagan were recovering from the last remnants of a powerful, in-your-face show.

[All photos by gregthemayor]
We Are Hex