Everyone Everywhere

support Chalk Talk
author TL date 09/09/12 venue KB18, Copenhagen, DEN

There are two Everyone Everywhere's of note in the music business. One is a Canadian, Four Year Strong-ish pop punk band and the other is a four piece from Philadelphia who plays awkward, quirky indie/emo rock. The latter of those two bands play in Copenhagen on September 3rd with support from Massachussetts trio Chalk Talk, in a Monday night show that - much like the sounds of the two bands - seems a little awkward. Why? Well probably because their was a mix up with the booking of the show which meant it was only announced to the general public the week before, and as a result, the only people present for the bands are a handful of my friends, a handful of Chalk Talk's friends and a handful of what I'm guessing are mildly intoxicated gymnasium students looking for a fun time.

Apologies for the smartphone photos. I had no time to sort out a photographer for this show

Chalk Talk bassist and backing singer Brian Bartus

Chalk Talk

Undeterred by the small audience, Chalk Talk step on stage and launch into a set of music that is largely similar to that of Everyone Everywhere, with quirky lyrics and mathy little guitar melodies aplenty, yet they generally seem to lean a little into the territories of low-fi indie pop of bands like Yuck and Pavement. Even the friends they've brough along seem new to their music, so everyone is mostly standing around trying to get into them, as they perform in a relatively calm manner, with drummer Andy Kapinos being the most active due to the nature of his parts. For a while it feels a little hard to find a red thread in the band's songs, as they eschew poppy song structures in favour of curiously timed changes in parts and rhythms. It would have helped here, if the vocals had been clearer in the mix, but as things are, the layered, edgy singing coming mainly from Kapinos and guitarist/singer Bryce Pulaski comes through almost indecipherable, making it hard to appreciate a big picture among the fuzzy riffs and up beat drum patterns. Still, the band keeps the mood light with a funny story told here and there between songs, and eventually I start to get an idea about how they like to form their songs. With the blurry vocals and the total lack of a visual component to the show, this never becomes a very cohesive or very exhilarating performance, rather just a mildly enjoying one.

6

Everyone Everywhere taking it easy

Everyone Everywhere

After a short changeover, Everyone Everywhere then come on and continue in much the same way as Chalk Talk left off. Most of the stuff they play is from their brand new album (which is self-titled, just like the first one, hello confusion) which naturally gives the crowd even less of a chance to have heard the songs - Only "Tiny Planet" and "Raw Bar OBX 2002" appear from the debut LP, and both do so towards the end of a show, which I must admit is a bit of a personal disappointment for me, because I think the band's best songs are easily "Music Work Paper Work" and "Blown Up Grown Up". Ah well, at least the crowd seems to enjoy this as well, staying for the show's duration and applauding politely between songs, and the presumed gymnasium students are even having their own little dance party over to one side of the venue floor. This is encouraging considering that the band themselves perform like an all out shoegaze band, standing rooted to the spot and barely moving at all. They seem friendly enough in their between song banter, yet also a little hesitant perhaps, and when they end the show after a surprisingly quick 7 or 8 songs (by my estimate), I wonder if this is their style and was the plan all along, or if they're a bit bummed about the low turnout. But then if you're a little known band playing a continent away from home, at a show which has been announced for only a week and had no promotion at all, can you really expect anything else? Considering that the music sounded good enough bar some more low blurry vocals, and that people seemed to have a decent time on a dull Monday evening, I think we wouldn't have minded a few more songs and a little more activity.

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