No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master. ~Hunter S. Thompson
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| South Farwell at Phoenix Park |
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| Written by John Abbott | |||
| Sunday, 21 June 2009 20:04 | |||
Thursday threatened rain the entire day and left me continually checking the forecast and scanning the skies. My mood swung pendulum style, with every dark cloud on the horizon, to the brief periods of clear and beautiful. Even on the way to Eau Claire for the event, I couldn't say for sure if I was going to get wet ...and even wetter on the motorcycle ride back home. But, even so, it wasn't my personal dampness I was concerned about. I didn't want the event to be cancelled. For the past several weeks, since I have heard of it's inception, I have been looking forward to seeing the new band, South Farwell. I have to say I wasn't disappointed. Surprised, maybe.
Thursday night was part three of Volume One's Sounds Like Summer concert series. The band South Farwell is made up of Bill Boles, vocals and acoustic guitar, he was most recently from the band Easychair. On electric guitar, Tim Coughlin, from the band Half Life (Reviewed here) and son of Chippewa Falls former police chief Joe Coughlin. Cory Dahl on drums and Phil Juodis on bass.
 The music of South Farwell was unexpected. It was their easy going musical style that was a bit of a surprise. I had expected something a little move cover-song inspired. A little rock-ier, a little bluesier. But the music was quite light, mellow, at times nearly southern gospel inspired, easy and fun. Their music was all originals with only one cover, and I didn't recognize it so I would classify it an obscure cover. Boles has a great voice with lots of expression. The acoustic-electric combination of guitars is a nice mix. Coughlin on the electric guitar gets to show his enormous talents once in a while. I wish we could have seen more.The last time I saw the band Half Life, Coughlin's previous gig, I was disappointed. I didn't even write the experience up in these pages because, as you all know, I hate to write bad things about bands without the balance of good. And, quite frankly, I was hard pressed to think of anything good. I felt like that night was a total inconvenience for the lead singer. He seemed totally bored. He spent more time trying to plug a suddenly invented wet t-shirt contest than he did in playing music. There were the briefest moments, all Coughlin guitar solos, that made me glad I was there.
Now in the new band it seems like a young fresh mix of solid performers who are producing some very nice stuff. Tim Coughlin has perfect timing on the guitar. High points for the night was the song Tear Everything Down, a sad sounding, slow wailing ballad. A second high point happened at the end. For the final two songs Joe Coughlin Jr. was on stage with his sax and the second song in particular was a great opportunity for sax accompaniment. Joe played it well, dancing high notes around his brother's guitar and Boles voice.
 Warming up for South Farwell was the Tony Baisley Band. Again there were familiar faces. Willie Chopper and Jason Introwietz from Mojo Lemon. Tony Baisley himself I recognized as the former drummer for the band Thick Shoe. The Tony Basiley band was fast paced, and was an overall enjoyable hour of music. High points, the R.B. Greaves song, Take a Letter, Maria and a song everyone knows, Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) by Looking Glass. An awkward and embarrassing low point, the band's choice of closing song, Jimmy Buffett's Lets get drunk and screw, for the audience of young families. I am no prude, and I am not a big fan of this song even when James Boofay sings it, but I would say it was a poor choice. I can't wait to hear South Farwell again. They have an upcoming CD Release party on July 10th at the House of Rock. It will be well worth the price of admission. I know I plan to be there. You won't be disappointed by seeing the Tony Baisley Band either. I am hoping they are not just a summertime fling and hope I can see them this winter in my favorite venue, The Snout.South Farwell's web site has some streaming audio and a schedule. Note, the music on the web site is even more mellow than their Phoenix Park performance. http://www.myspace.com/farwellonline It should be interesting to see if their style changes any when they are in a barroom setting.
Next week in the Volume One series is June 25th. Laarks (reviewed here) and Myrna Loy.
 As a quick postscript, I saw Half Life yesterday at Jake Leininkugle's birthday party. It was a big crowd and naturally, they were at top form. Though their method of audience participation involves getting people on stage ...which is something I think only works well in movies. At least they only did it a couple of times. They played well and enthusiastically and it is always fun to hear the songs you already know by heart.Today we got even more music, catching Howard Luedtke, with Jim Shule on drums, at Poo's on the Pond. The show was a better than average Howard showing. The audience was excited and Howard picked up on it. The high point of the day was House of the Rising Sun.
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 15 October 2009 14:55 |
