No band? No problem, at least not for Jim McTurnan. Photos and text by .
If wanted to get into the swing of playing without a band, he couldn’t have picked an easier night to make his first appearance since his former band, , parted ways. The crowd, which was, at a generous estimate, a couple dozen or so, didn’t seem to mind that only McTurnan turned up instead of Cat-A-Tac, as the show had been billed.
He wasted little time getting things going, jumping from the world’s shortest sound check to the first song of his set so abruptly it took half the first tune for the crowd to realize he’d officially closed the book on his former band and started something new. That something new, really, wasn’t too far removed from his days spitting out noisy indie-pop anthems in his former band. Eschewing the acoustic guitar standard for one-man performances, McTurnan plugged in for deliciously crunchy and psychedelic-tinged tones.
The low-key performance plowed through Cat-A-Tac tunes as well as new songs set aside for his solo project. Both fared reasonably well, as McTernan’s Dino Jr.-meets-Jesus and Mary Chain sound relied more on the power of his chords than his backing band. Newish tunes like “Give Up Suffering” found muscle despite lacking a rhythm section, and Cat-A-Tac faves like “Past Lives and Former Lies” look to be well preserved in McTernan’s solo set for now.
He will, of course, be better with a backing band, but Denver isn’t going to have to wait around while McTurnan gets his act together. With a set like this, he shouldn’t have too much problem drumming up the players he needs for his next project.
Before McTurnan, Denver’s provided a more traditional four-piece indie-rock set. With a sound that swung wildly between spacious, jangly dream pop and explosive blasts of noise-rock, the quartet hinged on dynamic upheaval as much as traditional songwriting. It had the latter, though, with keyboards offsetting the jagged, distorted guitars even in the most rugged segments, helping to keep the band’s pop focus even when its guitar wandered into a sea of noise.
Both acts gave a show that deserved a better turn-out than the meager audience on Friday. Despite the empty space in the club, the evening wasn’t a bust — at least music-wise. Maybe next time around McTurnan and the Ocean Bed can enjoy a crowd.
Matt Schild is a Denver writer and photographer, editor of and regular contributor to Reverb.
