Last night, Free Energy brought something to the Popscene’s stage that very few indie bands nowadays can brag about…deliciously decipherable guitars, high jumps, and 70’s swagger out the wazoo. Opening up for Dan Black (whom I shall sum up as the head scratching combination of Coldplay and rap wrapped up in self indulgence and stage makeup), the Philly band quickly gained the audience’s approval—much to my delight.
Free Energy, which, according to their lead singer Paul, was named after the song ‘cause it stuck well, are well ahead of the game—even if only musically. I have no doubt that people will soon catch on to this insanely catchy band, as James Murphey has already done by producing their forthcoming March 6th debut, Stuck on Nothing.
Their set was overflowing with high energy and guitar feel-goodery, the band’s chemistry was perfect. Knock you off your ass with a punch in the face perfection. Paul Sprangers (vox) and Scott Wells (guitar) used to play in the now-defunct Hockey Night, but they regrouped as the force that is Free Energy, recruiting a couple of friends to play drums (Nick Shuminsky) and guitar (Geoff Bucknum), with Scott’s younger brother Evan on bass.
I had a nice chat with Scott after the band’s set and he told me that he enjoyed playing the Popscene a lot more than their Rickshaw Stop show on the 24th, mainly because the Noisepop people were being all stressed out etc etc. I was surprised to hear that he has recently been binging on U2, especially War and Joshua Tree. He blames Brian Eno’s flawless production for his fixation on the latter album.
When I asked him what the band listened to while writing songs for Stuck on Nothing, he replied with the more logical answer of “Thin Lizzy”.
Thank goodness for small favours.
Set list:
Hope Child
Bang Pop
All I Know
Dream City
Something in Common
Stuck on Nothing
Free Energy
Free Energy - Something in Common [mp3, highly recommended!]
Free Energy - Dark Trance [mp3]
3 comments:
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Jam session
In the last viagra online national conference, Free Energy had to play for about two hours, but they just played 30 minutes! The crowd was so upset!
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