Touring on the back of the excellent new album Kill My Blues, the Corin Tucker Band pulled into New York on a high. Scheduled to play this early show in Manhattan and a later show on Saturday in Brooklyn the band was covering all its bases. This night saw an older crowd fill up the Mercury Lounge as Tucker took the stage dressed in Sea Green and put together a tight hour long set with her excellent band.
Opening with church organs and the mystical underpinnings of “None Like You” the group set a up a reoccurring theme, although only a four piece (Seth Lorinczi-Guitars/Keys, Dave Depper-Bass, Sara Lund-Drums/Vocals) the band sounded much larger and richer then your average rock act. The title track from the new album came next mixing its funky electric keyboards with punk rock breaks. This group of players seems to be moving into dance/rock territory with punk/pop mixed in as many of the bass and drum rhythms contained hip shaking grooves with sharp jarring edges; an intoxicating combo.
Along those lines “No Bad News Tonight” was slinky, like a snake climbing out of a tree in the rainforest and plunging into the raging Amazon. “Half A World Away” from 1,000 Years showcased a cowbell and shaker while “Groundhog Day” flat out rocked. The straight ahead pop/punk of “I Don’t Wanna Go” proves the band can tighten down and blast through a great song, but they seemed on this night to be more at home when they got their expansive dance tendencies flowing like when “Summer Jams” found Tucker smiling and laughing with the “WooHoo” call outs.
“Joey” kept that choppy rhythm going but also saw Tucker hitting her vocal stride triggering goose bumps; if anyone wonders whether she can still claim those notes that defined Sleater-Kinney this tune put doubts to bed. The cymbals, snare and backing vocals from Lund highlighted “Neskowin” while the full band got its boogie on for the pumping set closer “Doubt”.
The group cemented its intentions with its duel cover encore of “New York Dance Songs” as Lund stated first tackling Blondie’s “Atomic” and then doing a ska-tastic version of The Selector “3 Minute Hero” to close things out, resulting in a rich set of music from a band that is just beginning to hit their stride.
