Los Angeles indie rockers Cheekface brought its quirky music to The Social in Orlando on Monday night April 14th, celebrating oddball narratives and danceable grooves. Pacing, singer-songwriter Katie McTigue’s project, started the night with a thirty-minute set of eccentric folk rock. Backed by a drummer and a multi-instrumentalist, McTigue sang stories with a tongue-in-cheek delivery similar to Kimya Dawson, relatable stories about email frustrations, and less relatable stories about plotting to kill Tony Soprano. Her folksy, conversational delivery was backed by compositions with short bursts of rock energy, such as the hard/soft dynamics of “Live/Laugh/Love.” Like the fingerpicked “Bite Me,” other songs suit an intimate coffee shop performance. But The Social isn’t much bigger than a coffee shop, so McTigue took advantage by talking with fans and teaching them choreography.
The quirky storytelling didn’t end there. Cheekface kept things going with its unique lo-fi, danceable rock. Guitarist Greg Katz told rambling stories full of jokes and one-liners in a deadpan talk-singing that sounded like a less serious Stephen Malkmus. The quartet’s music was built around bassist Mandy Tannen’s danceable grooves and Katz’s frenetic guitar, which ranged from angular post-punk to twangy clawhammer and hybrid picking.
The set drew from all five of the band’s albums, with the majority coming from this year’s Middle Spoon and 2022’s Too Much To Ask. Katz’s meandering, monotone vocals could be heard clearly over the band as he shared strange observations and sang about ridiculous situations. The songs were all short and lively, and even on the cramped stage, the band put on an energetic show, with Tannen dancing nonstop and drummer Mark Edwards laying down funky beats. The crowd sang along to most of the lyrics, and participated throughout, whether dancing the Cha-Cha Slide during “Featured Singer,” shouting “no” to Katz’s suggestion to “Listen to Your Heart,” and even yelling “shut the fuck up” at the appropriate moments in “Next to Me.”
Thanks to Tannen’s infectious grooves and Katz’s staccato guitar, most songs had a funky flavor, but things got heavier in the upbeat garage rock of “When Life Hands You Problems” and the head-banger “Military Gum.” Midway through the set, Cheekface played “Noodles” three times in a row. Each time, Katz deadpanned the same introduction. “This next song is an original Cheekface composition about noodles. It’s called ‘Noodles,’” he said each time. It’s apparently a bit the band has done before, since some audience members expected the repetition.
One thing was completely new, though. “Someone messaged us on social media and told us if we came to Orlando, we have to play ‘PPL.’ We’ve accepted the challenge. We’ve never played this live before, so Orlando gets it first,” Katz said. The crowd was excited by the performance, especially the girl in the second row who had requested it.
The small venue wasn’t at full capacity, so there was plenty of room for people to move and dance. But those there were part of what Katz kept calling a “community.” They knew all the words and the in-jokes, wore Cheekface shirts, and stuck around after the show to talk to the band. Some fans talked about following them to their next show in Tampa.
In a rare moment of levity, Katz talked about the depression he feels whenever he checks social media and sees what’s going on in the world. Why bother making music and singing goofy songs when things are so bad? “But I make myself do it anyway,” Katz said. “And so did you. You showed up here as a community, and together, we showed that even when things are this bad, we can still find something good.”
