Seeing a show at the Bowery Ballroom is always a treat. This time the cherry on top was getting to see violaleeblue’s brother’s band perform. They were the opening act and I knew as little about them as I did about the headliner, Julian Plenti. I’m In You is currently touring with Plenti.
I got our usual spot upstairs near the soundboard and waited for violaleeblue and rtb. Some of the tables were available but I didn’t grab one in time. The floor and upstairs got crowded quickly – Plenti is apparently quite popular – so I was happy to have a good view. I wasn't very happy with the Eurotrash surrounding me - it didn't bode well as far as I was concerned. But, who knows? Maybe Plenti could rise above that.
I'm In You entered to nice applause and managed to keep the audience’s attention. This is a difficult feat for most opening acts. They are Chris McHenry and Sebastian Ischer on guitars and vocals, Dmitriy Ishenko and Andrei Zakow on bass and drums (Not sure who was on what – no one bothered to introduce the members and McHenry and Ischer barely mentioned the name of the band. A prompt had to come up out of the audience), Mike Irwin on trumpet, and Glenn White on saxophone. The music is rock and roll with a touch of indie rock, some jam band, and a bit of dissonance. McHenry was the better of the two singers but sang fewer songs. Ischer spoke to the audience more so he connected better but there was very little interaction with us. Most of the time was spent tuning guitars and making sure effects were on. Twice Ischer forgot to turn off the echo when he was finished with the song and speaking to the audience. Both are excellent guitarists and I really enjoyed the backbeat that Ishenko and Zakow provided. The lyrics did not live up to the promise of the music – there was a lot of doom and heartache and I wanted to ask these young boys why they were so unhappy – but the horns provided that right amount of unease to complement the not-comfortable-in-this-world lyrics. The musicians in this band show a lot of promise. I’d love to see the promise kept.
Julian Plenti is Paul Banks of Inferno (yeah, that doesn’t make it any clearer to me either). But the audience was very into him – lots of “I love you” and “Want to marry you” and “You rock” for Plenti and for Damian, the lead guitarist. There was some more atmospheric rock and sometimes a Bowiesque vocal and since Plenti is tall and good-looking it helped the Bowie comparison. The cello sound was more electronic than acoustic. I’ve forgotten who was on stage (cellist, guitar, bass and drums?) – right after they came on I got an attack of vertigo and had to step back so I listened to most of the show while looking at the back of the heads of I’m In You. If I hadn’t also been struck with an attack of shyness I would have introduced myself to violaleeblue’s brother and bandmates. By the last song I was in the bar/lounge and heard their encore, “Horse with No Name,” which was probably my favorite song of the night. Despite the jam bandesque guitar.
Still, all in all, a good night of music.