Coursing Through The Wires #27 -- Stepping Into The WABAC Machine

Wheeeee! Return with me (if you dare) to an earlier time, when we could go watch bands all night and wander through record and thrift stores all day, metaphorically running headfirst into brick walls just to see if we could knock them over. Perhaps the age of 20-22, give or take a few years, which for me was the early 1990s. I'm well past that stage in my life -- usually for the better, as my bank statement will attest, but sometimes for the worse as I was reminded when recently spending some time around a band who is still there.

Sky Larkin is a threesome from Leeds, a Yorkshire city that is (probably) best known in the US as the site of a fabulous live performance and recording by The Who (including the definitive version of "Magic Bus"), sometimes recognized as the original birthplace of The Wedding Present, and disparaged by others as home to one of the more comedo-tragic footballing enterprises of recent history. Two out of three certainly have some bearing on our heroes of the moment -- let's just hope they avoid the trifecta.

Sky Larkin - "Antibodies" (demo)

[From B'Wich'D, a Wichita Recordings sampler in the August 2008 Plan B Magazine]

I was fortunate enough to catch the band in its first US appearances, at Pianos (on the Lower East Side) and Union Hall (in Park Slope). And while it's taken me too long to post these thoughts, the memories and exhilaration of the moment haven't faded much.

Nestor is absolutely possessed behind the drum kit -- grinning and growling and grimacing, singing along without a microphone, destroying borrowed cymbal stands, and generally having a damn good time regardless of what happens around him on the stage.  Clicheed but true, you could swap him and Animal (the Muppets drummer, allegedly inspired by the Who's Keith Moon) and probably not tell the difference in either setting.

Doug is the straight man, as bass players so often are. He sets the table with a calm, melodic line and then follows with a bantering wit that might deserve some microphone access between songs. To say any more would take away from his obvious joy at his particular role.

And then there's Katie, for whom these songs and this whole musical experience is clearly a passion. It's been a long time since I saw a singer and guitarist pouring him- or herself into each song so completely. Her voice is clear and strong and runs fairly high in the register, while her guitar playing is rhythmic with flashes of noise and fury. She is so wrapped up in what's happening and what she's creating that her eyes are closed half the time during each song (a trait I share, though from the audience perspective while in charlie-brown-pogo-dance mode).

The songs are deceptively simple, with solid bits layered together that just start to jangle before going jagged. The basic formula was there with the early Myspace demos, but they've added tremendous depth to the songs. The closest musical comparison I can make is Tsunami in 1992-93, right before Deep End was released. There are similar edges in the chords and lyrics, though Sky Larkin's songs seem somewhat less personal (no slight intended in either direction). The band recently recorded its first full-length effort in Seattle, with a release on Wichita Recordings coming early in 2009. Keep your fingers crossed and ears open when it finally hits.