On the road with Menomena

Last week, I had the privilege of joining Portland, OR-based indie rock geniuses, Menomena, on the east coast leg of their current US tour. Not being one to sit idle, I quickly snatched up the role of "merch girl." Although touring seems like the best part of being in a rock band, it is a lot of work! Even just setting up/tearing down and manning the merch booth left me pretty exhausted by the end of the week. Nevertheless, it was really cool to experience life on the road alongside such a talented group of musicians.

I met up with Brent and the boys in Boston at a new and fabulous venue called the Royale. It had an old-time ballroom feel, complete with chandeliers, suits of armor, and balcony views.

Menomena is touring with fellow Portlanders Tu Fawning and Brooklyn rockers Suckers. Both bands are excellent, and feature a variety of multitasking musicians. Not only were these openers great on stage, but they were also friendly and fun to tour with.

The crowd in Boston was incredibly enthusiastic and vocal. When Menomena started playing "Evil Bee", the girl behind me shouted "This is MY favorite song ever!" then {perhaps drunkenly} shoved me and everyone in front of me out of the way so she could witness the performance from a closer proximity. It made me smile to see such an unbridled passion for music.

Next we headed to NYC where Menomena packed out Webster Hall. The show included a special guest appearance by the Awesome Homeless Dude that stars in Menomena's mini music video for "Dirty Cartoons". Awesome Homeless Dude wheeled his cart onto the stage, and began setting up his invisible drums alongside Menomena's real drummer, Danny Siem. He alternated between swigging a tallboy of Coors Light out of a brown paper bag, and setting up additional invisible symbols and toms. Once the drums kicked in, AHD drummed in perfect time next to Danny, and even continued to keep time when Danny had to stop drumming to readjust his microphone. This show was reviewed by the New York Times!!


It should also be noted that Danny has 2 baby heads mounted on his drum kit this tour. Each head is fitted with a midi contact that triggers a drum sample during "Dirty Cartoons". If you get a chance to see Menomena live, make sure to look out for Danny hitting the baby heads to trigger the samples. It's fun (if you're cool with plastic baby child abuse)!


The next stop was Jerky's in Providence, Rhode Island. This show was sadly under attended, but drew a few super fans that made up for the lack of quantity with high quality energy and support. One particularly enthusiastic fan named Sai (pronounced Say) was invited to show off her killer dance moves on stage with the band. Brent then began to play Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me", which delighted the crowd. Another super fan named Kyle took over 700 photos of the show!

Providence turns out to be a very strange town. Bars close around 2am, and the venue was just down the street from a big nightclub. It seems that people are not too happy about having to go home at 2, so police officers mounted on horses ride through the streets and try to force drunken fools to go home. Instead, the crowd fights back, and the scene looks like something out of the wild west. As we were loading out, we witnessed the aftermath of the rowdiness. It was slightly scary, to be honest. Especially because while I was guarding the gear on the street, strangers kept yelling propositions at me from their cars. I had to put my tough-girl-from-Brooklyn face on. Luckily we made it out of there without any real issue.




The next stop was in Suckers' hometown of Milford, CT at the Daniel Street Club. The guys that work at this venue are so unbelievably nice. They treated us to a delicious dinner prepared by the restaurant across the street, and the upstairs greenroom also doubled as a recording studio! Unfortunately, this show was also pretty low in the attendance department, but it was really fun to meet Quinn and Brian's parents. They were so into it!

The next day, we headed back to NYC for some promo gigs. First Menomena played live on WNYC's Soundcheck. You can hear the entire performance here...

http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/2010/oct/04/studio-menomena/

Then they headed over to AOL to film a Session performance. This is not available yet, but should be up on AOL's homepage in a few weeks.

Menomena's next stop was Philadelphia. They had an early morning appearance on NPR's World Cafe, and then we headed over to the First Unitarian Church for a completely unique show experience. The concert took place in the beautiful sanctuary of the church. The reverberant sound of the space gave the entire show an eerie, angelic quality which was probably a nightmare for Jake (Menomena's brilliant soundman/tour manager), but was a real treat for me. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the former religious-turned-atheistic trio perform in a house of worship. Brent and Danny mimicked their own religious transformations by playing a popular Christian song as a mash-up with The Steve Miller Band's "The Joker." A fan caught the performance on video here...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertfrancis/5057682298/


My final stop with Menomena was at Washington DC's famed 9:30 Club. The venue definitely lived up to the hype, with 9:30's signature cupcakes waiting for us in a fancy-pants dressing room. The venue had a delicious menu, as well as a much needed washer/dryer for the bands to do some laundry while they sound checked.

Here in D.C., I finally got to see Menomena's visionary lighting rig, constructed by Bass Player Justin Harris. Each of the band member's amps and monitors sat atop Plexiglass light boxes that changed colors based on drum beats and keyboard midi triggers. The effect was beautifully programmed by Justin, and left the audience to enjoy yet another layer of Menomena's deep creativity.

All in all, I had a blast on the road. As a music appreciator (but not a music maker), I never thought I'd have the chance to go on tour. Although it is often more grueling and less glamorous than it appears, it is still interesting to traverse the country and see how different groups of fans react to the same music. I'm looking forward to touring with them again in the UK and Australia (I hope).