Triple Bill Impresses

Entering that echo chamber brought back memories of my bedroom; booming music, the relatively dark lighting, music posters covering all the walls. The only thing missing was a bed, and luckily, that would have never come in handy anyway. Finally making my way up to the front of the crowd, I found myself about a handshake’s length away from the lead singer of The Lighthouse and the Whaler (pictured), Michael LoPresti. Being a less well-known band from Cleveland, their sound might not be expected to be as full as some more mainstream bands’, but that assumption was not true at all. Song after song, the five-piece band, equipped with seven instruments, filled the Grog Shop with their Beatle-esque harmonies and warm guitar tones. With their latest album (to be released this summer) recorded in Seattle at the same studio bands such as The Strokes and Fleet Foxes recorded, even their sound live reflected a very mature sense of production in terms of instrumentation and song structure. Enlightening my experience further, I got a chance to meet the band members after they played and, mirroring their music, they all seemed very happy to be there and acted extremely friendly, like they’d known me for much more than the thirty seconds they actually had.

Second on the bill was Afternoon Naps, a band I was not as familiar with, which turned out to be unfortunate after they finished as well. Giving off a slightly less folk-pop vibe and more of a beachy, 60’s bubblegum flavor, the vintage 1965 Ace Tone organ used by singer Leia Hohenfeld giving them their signature sound. Filling out their presence with a 12-string guitar, bass and drums, Afternoon Naps provided a unique show musically, in addition to the leis strung around the stage to add to the great positive experience.

Rounding out the night, Bears, the headliners, brought a sound that was coincidentally (or not) a great blend of the two previous bands. With the event being an album release party for them, the third Cleveland-based band of the night played many songs from this album (entitled Greater Lakes). Also earning the prize for greatest number of band members, the sextet sported instruments such as a banjo and a glockenspiel, additionally equipped with three keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars, and a bass and drums. Lead vocalist/guitarists Charlie McArthur and Craig Ramsey, the two original members of the band have an obviously large impact on the band, supplying perfectly tuned harmonies and tasteful additions on guitar (and even some drums by McArthur). Their lyrics also give a halfway solemn, halfway hopeful tone to their music, differentiating them from many other bands only focusing on joyful subjects in their writing, sometimes leading to less interesting music.

Being an album release party, the Bears’ album itself is full of creative endeavors linking previous releases of their own to other bands’ styles, creating a plethora of wonderfully well-developed songs that take the listener on a journey through what seems like a personal biography. Bears has created a masterpiece, and with the help of their fellow Clevelandites, masterfully put on a show to display it.