Despite a curious lack of energy that held the smallish crowd, put on a strong, short set surging with brash energy — and loads of reverb — at the on Thursday night. As the all-girl trio crashed through 16 songs in an hour, it became apparent that they fully embody their magical namesake heroines from iconoclast artist Henry Darger’s leviathan work “The Story of the Vivian Girls,” in their strong, confident DIY personalities, and even more in the melodies. It was all feral garage rock, tied down with pure personality.
They combined wall-of-sound three-part harmonies behind Cassie Ramone’s nasal lead vocals and the simple, powerful chords she played on a perfect Danelectro. The set started out flailing with “Never See Me Again” from their first album — rough and fast, they recalled outsider band the Shaggs for a few. But they hit a beautiful stride by their fourth tune with “The Other Girls,” from their latest album “Share the Joy.” Their growth as a band was clear in this one, amidst the complex, jangling guitar and almost majestic harmonies — that they balanced well with a super-strong DIY flavor.
Bassist Katy Goodman kicked off the boy-crazy banter of “Take It As It Comes,” with its perfect Specter-esque sound, midway through the set. After that the rest was a maelstrom of dreamy pop-thrash and bang and shoegaze-y noise — most of which came from the latest record.
As strong as their stage presence was, though, the majority of the audience didn’t seem to connect, and merely swayed through some really danceable tunes. As Ramone and Goodman crooned through bubbly, high energy songs like “Dance (If You Wanna),” “Trying To Pretend” and “Sixteen Ways,” that energy kept just missing translation in the crowd.
Highlight of the show: watching Ramone hollering “I wanna wanna wanna wanna wanna wanna stay alive” during the spunky “Death.” Her small frame completely belied the feeling of end-of-film victory, and forced an uncontrollable smile.
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Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at , and his giglist at .
