No Quorum for the Senate – What you missed and why you should pay attention
Julie Depner for the Gonzaga Bulletin 1/16/09
Chances are you missed Seattle’s rock’n'roll acoustic string band the Senate stopping by Wednesday night for Coffeehouse. This is hardly the band’s fault; they usually draw more sizable crowds than the smattering that attended. No, the blame falls on the shoulders of poor promotion (Where was the spray paint advertisement?) and ill timing. An unfortunate combination, they deserve larger crowds than the university provided. Yet, they are not without representation on the GU campus. Gonzaga graduate Patrick Gunning, who had opened for the band once in 2006, made it a point to tell me to attend.
“There’s rock music that’s rhythm and balls and aggressiveness, and there’s acoustic music that’s willowy and love-songy and passive, and it’s like the Senate manages to bridge that gap that most people think is inherent, breaking down the bias of the pansy acoustic musician,” said Gunning.
The stereotype of the deep-feeling, closed-eyes coffeeshop musician has long created an access issue for acoustic guitarists who demand equal right to rock under the law. It’s a band like the Senate that knocks the stereotype back into chick-flick movies. Their patented phrase to describe their music is “face-melting acoustic riffage,” which is really appropriate given their musical-genetic makeup.
The Senate is staffed by African drummer-cum-polyrhythmic guitarist Nick Drummond, guitarist Oliver Franklin with his classical background and distortion pedals, and Andrew Pulkrabek, a vaudevillian stand-up bassist whose beatboxing skills comprise an elite class of a cappella complexity. Each member’s lineage seems highly incompatible, but their collective jamming fits like an illogical, beautiful puzzle.
Usually the guys don an all-black beatnik look, but they were too hungry on Wednesday to bother changing after ransacking the COG’s fine cuisine.
“We had a lovely meal at your cafeteria earlier tonight and we’re starting to feel the results,” said Drummond. (Pulkrabek, a vegetarian by trade with Franklin, pocketed 20 bananas. )
This was their first show in Spokane, a city they only recently realized they missed in their current tour schedule of Washington.
“We threw a map down – gas is expensive but we figured we could do one state really well,” said Pulkrabek. “We were super stoked to be here tonight, hopefully we can make it a regular stop. The key is to tell your friends.”
Word of mouth was really the only reason anyone was there to begin with. GSBA dropped the ball on this one: no Morning Mail messages, no paint on the Wall, no ALL-GU e-mail, no notice on the neglected Coffeehouse Web site. It’s a shame, since I’m positive the Senate would have drawn the crowds that have made their name in West-side clubs such as Café Solstice and the Triple Door. I was one of literally 35 people at the Coffeehouse, when average attendance numbers are 50-60 students.
Despite the small numbers, they still delivered a fantastic show. Being part of the crowd while the Senate plays is a blast. Frequent concert-goers know that the best audience experiences often happen when the band is having fun jamming on stage, and the Senate were definitely enjoying themselves. Their live performances take on a game of musical Jenga – piling riffs and playful sessions of tag-you’re-it solos in the heart of their catchy tunes – which builds with playful virtuosity until each song reaches a sonic peak, which the band effortlessly sustains. It could be their eclectic roots, it could be their unusual instrumentation, or it could be the hairstyles that would not have looked out of place in Hobbiton. For whatever reason, these guys brought new life to the traditional moshpit formula of rocking out.
Drummond’s lead vocals hint of a young Dave Matthews, the band’s made their own sound through three-part harmonies and Pulkrabek’s occasional beatboxing. One of the first songs of the set, “Molly,” felt like midspring, with a carefree Freddie Green guitar line and nursery-rhyme lyrics. “You’ll Never Know” slinked along through darker corners. The band brought along phenomenal violinist Tyler Carson – “Canadian, exotic just for this show!” – who added an extra kick to fan favorites “Bandit” and “Ocean Song,” which was my favorite tune of the night.
Most notable, the Senate’s “Space Shanty,” a drinking song written in anticipation of the great exploration of space, brought every single attendee to their feet to sway in time to a chorus of “Reach for the whiskey, boys / Reach for the sky / ‘fore the vacuum of space sucks the bottles all dry!”
Pulkrabek blew everyone away with his vocal percussion and then the show ended much too soon for the amount of fun everyone was having. The band was very gracious with company, staying almost an hour after their set to talk to fans. “We wanna know how you heard of us!” they said.
If you’re interested in hearing them again (or for the first time), the Senate has a show today at 7 p.m. at the Catarina Winery. I suggest you prepare to have your face melted.