Kiddie drums pwn everything
Hawksley Workman makes so much more sense when you know that he's not just the songwriter / lyricist / vocalist / lead guitarist / pianist/keyboardist / harmonica-ist (?!). He's also the drummer. That totally slots things into place better. I swear, within five minutes of the show starting, I realized that it would probably be a frightening prospect if he and Tré Cool were put in the same room. :D
Oh, my God, it was so awesome. I feel like I've been to at least three different concerts and a comedy night! Hawksley has a *very* well-developed sense of the ridiculous. He began the night in a three-piece black pinstripe suit, black shirt, black and white diagonally-striped tie. Plus a black and white bandanna on his head, over which was perched a headband attached to two gold stars on springs. The other four band members sported the same headbands over their all-black ensembles. And then, Hawksley sat down at the front drum kit. His knees were higher than his elbows, the cymbal was about four inches in diameter, and I think the kick drum might have been smaller than my ass. :P And the keyboardist was at a child-size xylophone right beside him! Fucking priceless. He also played a wee acoustic guitar while sitting there, before they graduated to adult-sized instruments.
He talked a lot, and he's hilarious and weird and passionate and possibly an over-sharer in places. He and the supporting musicians all had wonderful comedic timing; he knows damn well that some of his stranger music *is* strange and he's perfected a way of being serious about the musicianship and yet still poking fun at himself and the material. That sort of presentation comprised the first portion, interspersed with more seriously-presented songs, and the middle portion was the five of them unplugged and without microphones for just a few songs. Oh. Not that I would ever have had any doubt that he could project that glorious voice right to the back row without mechanical assistance, but it was cool to hear it, and have the whole band just standing in a row across the very front of the stage. It was oddly scholastic-looking
Then the others disappeared mid-song - left the MacBook going, including a recording of Hawksley that filled in when he stepped away from the mic and stopped singing along for a moment to get ready for the next part while the disco ball spun overhead. Which consisted of calmly, steadily stripping down to white T-shirt and trousers; ditching the fedora that had replaced the star headband when the shift to regular instruments had occurred, in favour of a silvery poorboy cap that he wore slightly askew (the way Billie does); and getting into a bright green coverall and buttoning it up. The rest of them came back, also in bright green coveralls now, and wry folk-pop became rock/jazz/fusion. There were some technical difficulties with the kick drum pedal and one of the cymbals during The City Is a Drag, while the keyboardist was filling in on drums, and Hawksley started improvising with, "The kick-pedal is a drag," heh. They got it jury-rigged to finish the song and then he put a spare one on and took back his drums, lol. They came out for two encores, the second of which was just the one song, though it sort of meandered all over the place and he talked and sang other things through it, and finally left the stage. The concert started a little past eight o'clock and finished about quarter to eleven; no opening band, just Hawksley and his crew.
I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo glad I went. SO glad. It was phenomenal. I kind of wish that I knew *somebody* else who even liked his music, but I don't care about going alone. I never notice once the music starts, anyway. ♥
Oh, my God, it was so awesome. I feel like I've been to at least three different concerts and a comedy night! Hawksley has a *very* well-developed sense of the ridiculous. He began the night in a three-piece black pinstripe suit, black shirt, black and white diagonally-striped tie. Plus a black and white bandanna on his head, over which was perched a headband attached to two gold stars on springs. The other four band members sported the same headbands over their all-black ensembles. And then, Hawksley sat down at the front drum kit. His knees were higher than his elbows, the cymbal was about four inches in diameter, and I think the kick drum might have been smaller than my ass. :P And the keyboardist was at a child-size xylophone right beside him! Fucking priceless. He also played a wee acoustic guitar while sitting there, before they graduated to adult-sized instruments.
He talked a lot, and he's hilarious and weird and passionate and possibly an over-sharer in places. He and the supporting musicians all had wonderful comedic timing; he knows damn well that some of his stranger music *is* strange and he's perfected a way of being serious about the musicianship and yet still poking fun at himself and the material. That sort of presentation comprised the first portion, interspersed with more seriously-presented songs, and the middle portion was the five of them unplugged and without microphones for just a few songs. Oh. Not that I would ever have had any doubt that he could project that glorious voice right to the back row without mechanical assistance, but it was cool to hear it, and have the whole band just standing in a row across the very front of the stage. It was oddly scholastic-looking
Then the others disappeared mid-song - left the MacBook going, including a recording of Hawksley that filled in when he stepped away from the mic and stopped singing along for a moment to get ready for the next part while the disco ball spun overhead. Which consisted of calmly, steadily stripping down to white T-shirt and trousers; ditching the fedora that had replaced the star headband when the shift to regular instruments had occurred, in favour of a silvery poorboy cap that he wore slightly askew (the way Billie does); and getting into a bright green coverall and buttoning it up. The rest of them came back, also in bright green coveralls now, and wry folk-pop became rock/jazz/fusion. There were some technical difficulties with the kick drum pedal and one of the cymbals during The City Is a Drag, while the keyboardist was filling in on drums, and Hawksley started improvising with, "The kick-pedal is a drag," heh. They got it jury-rigged to finish the song and then he put a spare one on and took back his drums, lol. They came out for two encores, the second of which was just the one song, though it sort of meandered all over the place and he talked and sang other things through it, and finally left the stage. The concert started a little past eight o'clock and finished about quarter to eleven; no opening band, just Hawksley and his crew.
I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo glad I went. SO glad. It was phenomenal. I kind of wish that I knew *somebody* else who even liked his music, but I don't care about going alone. I never notice once the music starts, anyway. ♥