Joel Howard, Marshall McLean, You & Yourn, William Alan at the Empyrean on Tuesday, April 13th
Spokane’s Joel Howard opened up the evening with the talented Kim Wescott Piper. Joel has this pure uncut sound that is very raw and soothing. Plus Kim added gracious backup vocals and the two complimented each other nicely. Kim has the opportunity to play with a lot of talented local musicians, but tonight was slightly different Kim played on every song and sang. She had keys and her viola which sounded beautiful, and she nailed the vibrato. Together the two warmed up the room on the cold rainy spring day in Spokane.
We had the pleasure to sit with Rajah and Kim. I don’t know much about camera’s I have a cannon point and shoot that well all I need to do is point and shoot. Rajah and Matt started to talk cameras and I kind of felt like I was in a foreign country. However, as most camera peeps do they look at each others stuff and chat about numbers and who knows what else. Rajah managed to take some artistic cool shots in the photo gallery with Matt’s camera. So props to Rajah, he is an amazing photographer (and a nice person) and I recommend you check out his site here!
Marshall McLean was up next and he casually sat with his legs crossed on stage. The second I heard him start to play, my attention was grabbed by his fast moving fingers. Marshall has these thin long fingers that can run the guitar neck like Bloomsday. It was hypnotizing to hear him play and sing, he has story teller vocals that are easy to follow and enjoy. He knows how to use a guitar. I will be honest I forgot that we had scene Marshall before and then we he talked about his son Charlie and the song “Hurry Up Child,” I remembered him. It’s when artists are personal that make them stick out in my memory. Next month Marshall will have a new album coming out and I am so excited to get my hands on one! He will be having release shows in Montana and hopefully in Spokane too! He played “Long way from Eden” off his new album for us and ended the evening with “The Train.” It was great to hear Marshall play again and I am looking forward to his album release show in Spokane!
You and Yourn played next, this male female duo who had been playing together for eight years. Which by the way you could tell. They had great personalities on stage and were funny and had us ask questions. They light up the room. My question was, what was the name of their little dog; I only knew they had a dog because she was sitting on her lap. SO CUTE! Her name is Sadie and she is on myspace here. These two were adorable together and had a calm musical chemistry. Nic and Heather. Heather played the harmonium which may just be my new favorite instrument! It sounded so cool, like an accordion but softer. Plus she had a glockenspiel and Nic held this big guitar together creating sinuous sweet tunes. They were very pleasant and joked with the fact that they had talked to most of the people in the room. If the person who stole their suitcase ever reads this… shame on you, you big jerk(s). You’ll have to catch You and Yourn when they come back, which I hope they do.
William Allen played a solo song with his electric guitar and it was so good to hear him play it seems like it has been years. He has these great vocals; the best way to describe them is like that of Chino from the Deftones. Will made us come to the show because he said he was going to play “Citylights” which is one of Matt’s and mine favorite song! And, And…. He dedicated it to us at Check It Out Music! Will you are the first person to ever dedicate a song to us. YAY! By the way I sang along to every word in my seat. After Citylights the guys played a few more tunes and it just made me want to see them every night because they are such a cool band! They write cool songs and have this rock sound that no one else has in Spokane. After playing a few tunes they were about to be done and Will got heckled and was asked to play one more song, which he did and the evening was perfect. As Kim said “I feel like I am in a living room.” So true! The night was relaxed, full of friends, good drinks, food, and wonderful music all for about ten people. Loved it.
Photos courtesy of Matt Auclair & Rajah Bose!
