At you can get PBR-drunk and discover your new favorite band all for, like, 15 bucks. Itap a bonus if your indie radar isn’t on code-red alert mode because chances are you’ll happen upon a great, on-the-brink band on any given night there. Friday was no exception. , the hard electro (but “real” instrument playing) unit lit up the stage with strong jams built on an opening-act crescendo from Denver’s Chain Gang of 1974, Air Dubai and Animals At Risk.
With a heap of critical acclaim for their debut album “Heart Attack,” Woodhands is seeing mixed reactions to its February release “Remorsecapade.” Pandering to positive reviews doesn’t seem their milieu though as they demonstrate in a track called “P’iss” where they chide (well, more like dismantle) popular music hub . But when you can rock a “keytar” the way Woodhands singer Dan Werb demonstrated, you can be a dick to your critics without batting an eye.
With Werb switching off between keytar and two stacked synths and drummer Paul Banwatt trading lead vocals, Woodhands started the party with Remorsecapade opener “Pockets.” The primary refrain is “Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ohh” and Werb fittingly closed the track with an “ooh shit!” as bodies got warmed up on the floor. The bass and synth got slower and heavier next with “I Can’t See Straight” from Heart Attack. The song has the bounce of a Timbaland beat and saw Werb laying down one of the many synth solos he’d play through the set.
Throughout the night, Woodhands resonance was lent an extra layer of distortion either by the soundman’s shortcomings (to the chagrin of Air Dubai’s singer) or the limitations of Larimer Lounge, itself. No matter, Woodhands abrasive sound fit comfortably in the small dingy venue. The band covered two classics: “Tricky” from Run-DMC and “Somebody’s Watching Me” with the same dark electro vibes of their own material.
Whether or not you judge a song’s merits by its iTunes popularity, itap true that Woodhands track “Dancer” is a winner. What wasn’t a winner though was Banwattap stand-in vocals on this one. The album version features singer Maylee Todd’s gentle cooing against Werb’s manic shouts of “you’re a very good dancer. What is your name?! What is your name?!” Played live and without Todd the vocals were all too off-key and, well, masculine.
A single song encore closed the show, but I was surprised the thin crowd wasn’t bigger as Woodhands last time through Denver was a set at the Monolith Festival. The see-them-now-before-they-blow-up tendency of Larimer acts’ wasn’t lost on Woodhands, though, and it wouldn’t surprise me to find the duo under bigger lights for their next Denver stop.
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Craig Randall is a Boulder-based writer and PR pro with an identity crisis. He credits both “Let Me Love You Down” and “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” as life-changing tracks. Check out .
