Any rock band comprised of four men dressed for a business meeting can create a bad impression. Any band that uses a backlit kick with a crisp, clean logo should be approached with caution. Any band that openly compares itself to the Beatles and the White Stripes while using phrases such as “evolving the pop sensibilities of the British Invasion with explosive garage rock textures” and “a fevered jukebox dream of another lifetime” in their biography is disconcerting.
The Living Statues, a trio-turned-four-piece from Milwaukee defy all these traditionally horrid aesthetic elements by making their brand of pop-garage-rock really, really fun to see live.
Having made the trip down I-94, The Statues took the stage at Der Rathskeller a little after 10:30 Saturday night. The band admitted the last time they played the venue, January of 2013, they drew “like 13 people.” Turnout Saturday night was quite a bit healthier.
Jumping right into “Not My Fault,” a track from its only EP, Knockin’, The Statues set the tone for what would be a great set. With a high level of energy, the band played through that and “Foolin’ Around,” another track from Knockin’. The artists played similarly to how they were dressed, smooth and sharp. They didn’t completely conform to that austerity throughout the whole show, however. And at moments — in spite of their vests, sport coats and ties — the band was loose and clearly having a lot of fun.
Frontman Tommy Shears, a former University of Wisconsin student, frequently danced around the stage and shot out somewhat seductive glances to the audience in time with his emotive vocals. Bassist Alex Thornburg demonstrated a spasmodic bending, twisting and stumbling akin to Kendrick Lamar’s flask-carrying character from his performance on “The Colbert Report.”
The real star though seemed to be newest member and lead guitarist Zak Rickun. He is the engine to the band, letting off riff after powerful riff. His powerful guitar at times transcended the rest of the band and deservedly captured the audience.
Following the opening two tracks with various older, unreleased material and newer unreleased tracks, the audience didn’t really break out until the band’s excellent cover of Amy Winehouse’s song “Valery.” What had before been a pretty stationary crowd who was evidently enjoying the music turned into an all-out, dancing crowd who was clearly enjoying the music.
The band didn’t let up from there. They kept the crowd engaged and dancing. After playing a third new track (at least three unreleased new tracks were played), the band went into “Knockin’” and “Extra Day,” likely the two catchiest songs from their EP. Despite saying “Extra Day” would be their last song, the band revelled in the cheers of the crowd and went into one more song, their first ever release “Our American Cousin.”
There is definitely a reason why The Living Statues made it onto the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s list of six Wisconsin bands to watch in 2015. Not only is their recorded material super catchy and emotive, but it translates astoundingly well live.
Clocking in at about 55 minutes, it’s impressive the band played that long considering they only have six released tracks. While it would have been interesting to see another cover or two, like some form Arctic Monkeys or the Strokes, two of their clear influences, it’d be hard to come away from Saturday’s performance not feeling satisfied. Considering how much fun the Statues are live and the strength of their debut EP. It will be interesting to see how long it will take the to reach the bigger and better opportunities they clearly deserve.
