Last Thursday, September 16, the local triple-threat known as Pick Ups got down at the Abbey Lounge in Somerville. They were the last band to play that night and, to be honest, I didn’t see any of the other bands, nor can I remember their names, and frankly, I don’t give a fiddler’s fart.
Pick Ups are: -Patrick Muecke (vocals and guitar): a Fabian-coiffed scallywag straight out of Athens, GA.-John Motley (drums): remember Animal from Muppet Babies?-Jordan Colon (bass, backup vocals): the afro-boppin’ bassist with a penchant for hot tea and cold scotch.
The band’s style is comparable to that of the counterculture bastard-child known to the world as “indie rock.” But any such comparison would be asinine and warrant a swift tolchock to the gulliver, because Pick Ups are more “rock” than “indie,” and deserve praise for that. They’re a band that doesn’t try to merge contrived theatrics and widgets into their live performance, unlike say the Dresden Dolls or Apollo Sunshine.
Instead, Pick Ups rely on their caffeinated (and inebriated) rock and/or roll to engage the audience, shake shit up, and rock socks. In fact, the only gimmick that I could detect the whole time was that every member of the band had curly hair, but that might just be a coincidence… Let’s be honest here for a minute. Rock music has gone about as far as it can go, and any attempt to blaze new trails into the wilderness of pop will yield nothing more than trés metrosexual emo-disco, and a cornucopia of aural crap. Odds are, if you think of it, it’s been done before–but better. So, where does this leave us, the music aficionados and (dare I use the “C” word? Yes!) consumers? It leaves us, for lack of a better word, screwed. But there are bands that just play their music, sans pretension (yeah, that’s right: sans pretension), and isn’t that just the bread and butter of any good musical diet? The Rolling Stones knew this (briefly), Shadows of Knight knew this, as did Creedence Clearwater Revival, and countless other bands. Pick Ups know this too.
That night, Pick Ups played a handful of numbers, most of which were straight up rockers, some a little slower, mellower, but the crowd at the Abbey Lounge ate them all up with a fork and spoon, then begged for a fattening non-Atkins-friendly dessert; the floor was packed with enthused fans and well-wishers, all of whom promptly turned the place into a Teva-tappin’ dance party–in a good way. Patrick Muecke sang above the instrumentation, sounding like a cross between Jarvis Cocker (aka: singer from Pulp) and Townes Van Zandt (aka: God), which made for an interesting effect when mixed with the band’s blunt rock stylings. Jordan Colon plucked dedicatedly at his bass while swaying to-and-(a)fro like a poofy metronome. John Motley went ape on the drum kit with a casual precision, obviously on the same “wave-length” as Muecke and Colon, and it all meshed well. Overall, the sound helped the vibe of the room reach a saturation point–even the head-bobbers, hands-in-pocket, couldn’t help but shuffle their shoes a bit. As Jordan Colon intimated over a cup of Earl Gray a day or so after the show, it was “a [expletive deleted]…umm…I mean, like [expletive deleted], dude: a [expletive deleted] good time.”
If you want to hear straight up rock that’s not afraid of sounding good, then you can catch Pick Ups at the Middle East Upstairs (Central Square stop on the red line) on Thursday, October 14, and they will be joined by some bands I’ve never heard of, so show up late (doors open at 9 p.m.) if you feel like it.