Present Discoveries
The night before Warped Tour you might think I was preparing my body for one hundred and fifteen degrees. Instead, I was finding some killer music to watch. For this night it was two local bands I love, and a band that is a joint combination of two musical acts I’ve not seen before.
Up first were the guys that open anything with a bang, Bear Ghost. I always describe them as if they were the Aquabats, but more rock and no super suits. If Bear Ghost wanted to add capes down the road, I would be in full support. The real pleasure of the set was taking pictures with a real camera of these highly animated guys. Add in that it was Myke’s birthday celebration and you had the formula for fun. Visually or auditory, Bear Ghost is fantastic.
Twin Ponies had to follow that up, and were no slouch. Leaning more to the alternative side of rock, you find them too moving around that stage like Bear Ghost. Especially Jacob, who I still am in awe of how he keeps track of that peddle board of his while jumping around and playing. Phillip manages to rock out on bass, and keep hitting the right keys on keyboard. I highly emphasize if you haven’t seen Twin Ponies, you catch them next time they play.
Last up was the music collaboration that was fantastic and full of character, FutureCastle. The acts that combine for this amazing music are Rare Futures and Gavin Castleton. I entered this one completely blind, to the surprise of some friends. The joint act of these musicians is superb, and pushes my curiosity to check out the separate acts.
They blend well together. Gavin, for one, started reading between songs from a pile of written index cards of heat and other interesting facts. They tended to end on an awkward cross promotion about the band or merchandise. He said he had to read them if someone brought it up, lending more to the humorous nature of the set. That was just a sample, as throughout the set was more humor and great banter across the stage. These guys love playing music. It is clear as day watching them perform full of smiles. Add that into the amazing music FutureCastles played, and you made another fan out of me.
