White Rabbits – The Lexington – 28 January 2010
Words by Brendan Monteiro / Photos by Marcus Maschwitz
The hustle and bustle of the city life is neatly tucked away just outside The Lexington tonight, situated close enough to one of the busiest streets in the city. Inside the mood however is calm, maybe even somber as the New York six piece prepare all their gear with barely a reaction from the crowd. Within minutes everything is ready and each member makes their way to their designated slice of the stage, still not much reaction. Soon enough delays are whizzing their way around the venue the band ease themselves into Rudie Fails, soon the delays peel back and the drums squeeze themselves through, filling every vacant void in the room. Midway through and the piano cracks it’s beautiful voice through the other layers of Rudie Falls, setting the standard for an amazing set.
The momentum continues into the next song, by now Matthew Clark and Jamie Levinson are playing on pretty much every bit of their drums except the legs. Stephen Patterson busts out another fine piano bit and all I can think while watching, is if fingers actually wore down he’d probably be on his eleventeenth pair by now. The drums are definitely a driving force in their live show and by the time Kid On My Shoulder it’s thrusting along with so much force, Brian Betancourt has left his post to join Matthew for a drum duel , I honestly didn’t think the drums could get any louder but I was wrong. The song finishes of in a sort of standoff of vocals versus percussion with Jamie, Mathew and Brian in the back creating a wall of noise for Stephen, Greg and Alex to lay some magical harmonies to.
The Plot is next and Greg stands singing his heart out while the rest of the band whirlwind around each other. Greg may be small and seems so timid but his voice is strong and adds more wind behind White Rabbits sails. Matthew is by now in a trance like state, adding a hand to the keys, jamming tambourine with another and every now and again slamming on Jamie’s cymbals. One of the reoccurring lines from The Plot is “he’s not impressed” but honestly I don’t think a soul could ever think that of this song. It gleams and shimmers in an already impressive set.
as the next song rolls in my brain is almost freezing, there is just so much going on in front of me. There is so little room on stage for a two piece let alone a 6 piece but they make it look comfortable, they make the stage their own and totally dominate it. Midway both Alex and Greg are on their knees tweaking out the weirdest sound scapes from their pedals while the rest of the band mould around their sounds.
From the very first split second of the first bar I know that the next song is Percussion Gun, I can’t say enough good words about this song because the bottom line is it has everything packed in it. It has great rhythm matched with great harmonies, it’s has just the right amount of angst mixed with ample amounts of serenity to balance it all out. The next two songs play but my heart is still pounding with Percussion Gun even though my ears are pounding with a different beat. The band just keep building and building, the drums sound like they are about to split at their seems, amps sound like they are about to explode, this band doesn’t just play their instruments they literally rape them and beat them and squeeze every ounce of beauty from them and inject it directly in the audience’s ears. Then, like a kid touching a snails eyeball they come to a magnificent stop and announce “Thanks, we’re White Rabbits”.
This post is tagged Alexander Even, Brian Betancourt, Gregory Roberts, Jamie Levinson, Matthew Clark, Stephen Patterson, The Lexington, White Rabbits
