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There are few things in life I truly appreciate. Among those are dudes who are secure enough to admit that Justin Timberlake is totally deck and multi-instrumentalists. Last night, at North Star Bar, I was entertained by the latter.
After being greeted by a burly, but pleasurable tour manager, I was escorted to a long, white van. It was not down by a river. It was not inhabited by Matt Foley, the famed motivational speaker. In it sat Adam Baker and Kenny Florence of the ballyhooed band Annuals. The group just emptied out their piggy bank to purchase a state-of-the-art, fully air-conditioned van to meet their touring needs.
While they’re satisfied with their current co-headlining stature, they have enjoyed opening for bands such as Bloc Party and were even considered to be the opener for Modest Mouse on their early Spring tour of 2007.
“Honestly, we’d rather be opening for, like, a really big band and have a lot of people watching,” Baker says, “it’s nice to play in front of a lot of people, but it’s also nice to have the longer set when you’re headlining.”
Influenced by Brian Wilson and Radiohead (their largest collective influence) among others, this group of six hit the stage at North Star with energy and vigor. Jason, the aforementioned burly tour manager, controlled the boards to quell the technical issues that seemed to pop up during their set. After all, they do have two drum sets, two keyboards, and two guitars playing at most times.
As Adam explains, “Our mix on stage is incredibly hard, I mean, ask Jay, it’s really, really tough for any live sound guy just because there’s a stupid amount of instruments on stage all going at the same time. It’s hard to sound good when you’re just using the live sound guy who isn’t getting paid any extra; he can just press the ‘suck’ button and go get a drink.”
This was not a surprising statement. In conversing with these two for about a half-hour, I picked up on their very technical approach to their music. While the two I spoke with were, by all accounts, the voice of the band during our interview, they certainly are not on stage. Each member of this sextet is equally important. Zack Oden, Donzel Radford, Mike Robinson, and Anna Spence all provide backing vocals, drumming, bass plucking, and creative influence for Annuals. I’m sure that in most interviews they’re easily over-looked and under-appreciated, but that is certainly not the case here. Numerous times throughout the interview Florence was quick to say “But I’m not speaking for the whole band here,” as he’s self-aware enough to realize that any collection of individuals is only as strong as its weakest part. His weakness will not be egotism. Neither will Adam Baker’s.
As for their live set, it really isn’t to be missed. Over the course of their ten song set, one thing was for sure: Kenny Florence is a fucking genius with an axe in his hands. These skills were continually highlighted throughout the evening.
During their second-to-last song, “Sway,” the lights inexplicably went out. While it was unexpected and probably disconcerting to the musicians on-stage, the ambiance of lights out was really, really befitting of the song.
Then, the lights came back on.
With the talent and work-ethic displayed on stage last night, Annuals should never have to worry about living in a van down by the river; although, they’re already half-way there.
***Don't forget about the contest (at left) to win the exclusive, limited edition 7” that’s only available at the shows (you botched your chance last night!). The record contains each band covering each other’s tracks: Annuals cover Manchester Orchestra’s “Where Have You Been”, and Manchester Orchestra cover Annuals “Brother.”***
Image Credit: Annuals MySpace page.
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