A funny thing happened at Safari Sam's this past Tuesday. It was a long bill, with three or four bands playing all night long from eight to about one or two in the morning. [or shortly following last call] I was there mainly to see the last band of the night, Divisadero, featuring a few of my friends.
Of course we arrived earlier than needed which left plenty of time to run up a tab [$2 dollar Pabst Blue Ribbon? Yes please!] and stand outside drinking and talking on the patio until the band you truly give a shit about takes the stage. [Sorry band or two before the Henry Clay People]
So eventually the testing, testing, one, two three strums on a lead guitar, and beat of the drums lead many of us inside to check out this fine group of young rap scallions playing before Divisadero. Looks like they have quite the following. No one is outside anymore, people are heckling innocently and playfully with the band and the space between the stage and audience is wonderfully smaller than before. In other words, people give two shits about the Henry Clay People.
And as soon as Joey Siara opened his mouth and the band let it rip, I knew that this was a band to fuck with. I hadn't been that entertained by an under the radar band in quite some time. Tight, focused, and bursting at the seams, The Henry Clay People blasted through their songs with punk like fury as if there was no tomorrow. A pretty impressive feat considering that lead singer Joey Siara had a nice buzz going on. [Which, by the way, set the stage for some pretty entertaining stage banter.]
Do yourself a favor and give these boys a spin. You'll be glad that you did. And big ups Joe for the free CD. You guys fucking killed it.
For fans of: Art Brut/Jawbreaker/Pavement/The Hold Steady
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