We’re so glad that Eric Bachmann’s crooked path has taken him from Archers of Loaf to Denver. Photo by .
I’ve had the luck and pleasure of following Eric Bachmann’s musical evolution since my infatuation with in the early ’90s. Itap been a great story, and I’m honored to have been able to watch. Over these last two decades, Bachmann has morphed from the skinny, screaming lead singer for the seminal college-radio/alternative band into the deep songwriter and leader of his band Physically, he’s grown in a similar fashion, filling out a more substantial form onstage that nearly matches his musical prowess.
This is not at all to say that Bachmann is overweight — only that the difference between the Bachmann of AOL and the Crooked Fingers’ version is evidenced on many levels. As the man has waded into middle age, so has his music evolved into a style that is more poignant, more reflective, and often painfully honest.
Excerpts from the Crooked Fingers concert at the Bluebird Theater on Oct. 19, 2008. Denver Post video. Video by John Moore.
Crooked Fingers’ show at the on Sunday was a near-perfect exhibition of the band’s musical culmination. After nearly a decade of rotating members and shifts in focus, Crooked Fingers has arrived at its most satisfying lineup, and is now playing its most ambitious, confident and comfortable music.
Joined onstage by singer/bassist Miranda Brown, singer/violinist and drummer Tim Husmann, Bachmann led the band through an 80-minute set that featured much of the band’s new record, and he threw in a few surprises along the way.
Photo by John Moore.
Bachmann was born in Asheville, N.C., and now calls Denver-Boulder his hometown (though his band is officially Seattle-based), and the crowd filling two-thirds of the Bluebird Theater showed they were happy to have their adopted son back. The band started with a few of their slower and louder songs, including the popular “Crowned in Chrome,” even though Bachmann broke three strings on the electric guitar in on of his first songs.
While that guitar was relegated backstage for restringing, the band improvised off the planned set list and instead poured through some soft, powerful material, including “Man of War,” “Letap Not Pretend (To Be New Men),” and a rousing rendition of “Luisa’s Bones” — the latter sung entirely by Palmer and Brown while the men played the jingling string arrangement behind them.
Photo by .
One highlight came when Bachmann left the stage to help finish restringing his electric, so Palmer and Brown serenaded the audience with Palmer’s nursery-esque “Pee in Your Bed” song, in both Swedish and English (see the accompanying video for an excerpt). Bachmann returned to the stage armed with his freshly strung guitar, and the band exploded into a quick and perfect version of the Archer’s hit, “Web In Front.”
The power of the song, along with nearly every audience member screaming every line along with Bachmann, offered a poignant juxtaposition. Both Bachmanns past and present are alive and strong, and both continue to occupy a place in our psyches. The current band’s output may just have a bit more depth and substance than that of AOL.
Photo by John Moore.
The skinny singer from Archers of Loaf was known amid the thick of that band’s fame to care very little about the lyrics that went with his songs. The singer in front of Crooked Fingers, however, flanked on either side by Palmer and Brown as if sirens, showed that his years of patient, consistent hard work have truly paid off. This show was the culmination of his evolution.
I recently found myself in the same group of jury selectees in a Denver County Court with Bachmann, as he explained to the judge that he could not serve on the jury because he had recording time booked in a studio out of state. Despite the envy the other jurors and I may have felt upon his excused exit, the results of his time spent in the studio have turned out to be well worth it.
Photo by John Moore.
Crooked Fingers was preceded onstage by another local “supergroup” in a la . This seven-member band, co-founded by Crooked Fingers drummer Tim Hussman (of Austin, Texas, oddly) features a veritable smorgasbord of talent from otherwise Denver bands, including Jeff Linsenmeier (The Czars) on vocals, Patrick Meese () on drums, Jeff Davenport () on guitar along with Joseph Pope III (). The lineup also includes Caleb (guitar) and Anna (vocals) Slade, brother and wife of frontman Isaac Slade.
The collective played a great set, showcasing a loud, sweeping and cathartic sound with a subtle power-pop sense. I’m not sure of any future plans at the moment, but judging by the crowd’s response, I think we’ll be seeing more of them soon.
Billy Thieme is a Denver writer and regular Reverb contributor.
is a Denver freelance photographer and regular Reverb contributor.
John Moore is the theater critic for The Denver Post.
MORE PHOTOS BY TINA HAGERLING: Crooked Fingers
DUST ON THE BREAKERS
PHOTOS BY JOHN MOORE: Crooked Fingers
DUST ON THE BREAKERS
