Mercies May at Every Buddy's Bar & Grill

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Mercies May at Every Buddy's Bar & Grill

Written by John Abbott

Thursday, 13 October 2011 14:37

Mercies May at Every Buddys Bar & Grill October 2011

So if you are a frequent reader you know Saturday night we were up in a bar in Holcombe and got cut off of drinks over an unfortunate gravitational incident. Seeking friendlier ground we rolled back into Chippewa Falls knowing there was music at two or three bars. Though we didn't know the bands, we figured we would find something palatable anyway. We got way, way more than we expected when we walked into Every Buddy's Bar & Grill where Mercies May was nearing the end of their final set. It turned kind of a short night into a happy ending!

When we arrived back in town The Wife hung out in the doorway to Every Buddys while I walked down to the Snout Saloon to check out what was going on there. It was the Pour Boys playing at the Snout. Almost no people in the bar, and quite frankly I hoped the band was just having a bad moment, because I could see why the place was empty. Our decision was made, we walked in and grabbed a seat at Every Buddys. Turned out to be a good plan!

Now according to Kid Rock who says in one of his songs, "Cause you know I'm losin' it when I'm rappin to rock guitars", the implication would be Mercies May is a bad thing. For me, on the other hand, they were amazing. Think rap, with heavy metal blues guitar. It was amazing. I loved the live guitar overtones in all their songs. The guitar solos were long, well played and really an outstanding and a welcome addition to the words.

Making rap different by adding rock guitars, Mercies May offers something we don't often see here.

Lyrically I thought the vocals were clean and understandable. The raps were good, and the sound was excellent. Every Buddys is a good bar for this type of music. And, the band played to it well. They didn't seem to be playing a set list. Song choice seemed to be by general consensus of the members between songs. Its great they had the repertoire to pull this off.

The crowd in the bar was pretty small, maybe a dozen people all told. Just a few songs after we got there the band announced the last song, and three women got up to dance. And, at the end of the song, the band promised them one more song if they would stay out and dance. But then, during that song a few more people wandered into the bar. The band gave us another. Which brought in a few more people and some raucous applause, more dancing people and another song. Pretty soon we had more encore than we did main set and everyone was having a great time. I thought it was very cool the band stuck it out and kept playing to an obviously appreciative audience.

Mercies May is going to be back at Every Buddy's Bar & Grill December 10th 2011 and I highly recommend their show. Keep in track of what the band is doing and where they are playing at their web sites:
http://www.myspace.com/merciesmay
http://merciesmay.bandcamp.com/

Mercies May on stage at Every Buddys. Not sure of the song title

Allow me to have one small rant at the bottom of this review because the Volume One "Best of the Chippewa Valley" (http://volumeone.org/best_of_2011) came out while I was up in St. Cloud last week. There are some very appropriate winners. And, I offer my congratulations to Cat's Ass, winner of Best Band Name. Congratulations to the Shillelagh Lads, and to the hardest working self promoter I know, Brian Bethke. Though I think the contest has only a passing nod to the Chippewa Valley, and really should be called "Best of Eau Claire and almost Nowhere Else" Because great music venues and bartenders in other places never get mentioned. Everyone's favorite local bartender, Chad at the Snout Saloon, you deserve some honor too.

But, there are a few eyebrow raisers, the ones that were a bit of a stretch. Like... what I would call folk artists, Daredevil Christopher Wright and South Farwell first and second respectively for Best Original Rock Band. And, Acoustic Cafe winning Best Open Mic, when they hardly ever do it, and so many other places outside of Eau Claire actually work at it. I thought it a little crazy to have Phoenix Park win Best Place for Live Music when I can't stand that venue. Unless I grow to like either getting rained on, or more often baked in the sun and have a gajillion kids running around so you can't even hear the music. But, ok.

It wasn't until I got to best Hard Rock/Metal Band that I got really pissed off. Seriously?! WTF, PHOENIX, the strutting 80s cover band wins? Have the people of this area really no clue as to what hard rock band is? No idea what a metal band is? The band No Loving Place took second. I am fine with that. But again at third Drunk Drivers? No way! There are so many good hard rock bands in this area. Silenize, Made By Failure, Bound2Break, Senza, Orestus, Fan Off Bird Safe, even Kaptivating Kate, who I wasn't too crazy about, but those girls could metal the pants off Phoenix.

I realize they want to keep this contest open. But I think Volume One should at least vet it so the runners match the category. I have said this before, I say it again. We should flashmob together and elect The Jeff White Band for _Best Pizza [Delivery]_.

Rant complete.

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I was thinking the same think when I was reading Volume One's Best of. I've been hoping for someone to create a magazine like it that wasn't so bias. It sucks for Chippewa businesses to advertise in a magazine that clearly favors Eau Claire businesses and events. Maybe a Freaks & Geeks magazine?

Desiree , October 14, 2011

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