Jan 14, 2013

Review: Sing the Body steps up

<em>Sing the Body's Zack Shimizu, left, and Elijah Oguma perform at The Republik on Saturday, Jan. 12. (Photo by Joah Buley, Special to the Star-Advertiser)</em>

Sing the Body's Zachary Shimizu, left, and Eli Oguma perform at The Republik on Saturday, Jan. 12. (Photo by Joah Buley, Special to the Star-Advertiser)

REVIEW BY JASON GENEGABUS / jason@staradvertiser.com

It really was an evening of contrasts at The Republik as local indie rock duo Sing the Body celebrated the release of their aptly titled new album, “Contrast,” on Saturday, Jan. 12.

Zachary Shimizu and Elijah Oguma are the worthy recipients of a major co-sign by BAMP Project, the promoter brains behind the team at 1349 Kapiolani Blvd. While a number of local bands have headlined at The Republik since it opened last year via outside promoters (e.g. The Green, The Deadbeats, Ekolu, Kimie Miner, Pepper), Sing the Body was the first band the venue itself decided to elevate to headliner status.

<em>Zach Shimizu performs. (Photo by Joah Buley, Special to the Star-Advertiser)</em>

Zachary Shimizu performs. (Photo by Joah Buley, Special to the Star-Advertiser)

What does that mean? For Sing the Body, it got them a full week of stage access before the gig for rehearsals. Instead of a partial lighting setup, they got to play with all the toys at The Republik’s disposal — and there are some cool lighting and video elements available. The guys also got a significant promotional push in advance of the show.

Still, all that hype only drew a few hundred fans to see an enthusiastic performance of some of the best indie rock Hawaii has to offer. Compare that to just the night before, when Alabama Shakes packed about 1,000 people into the same space.

While BAMP has reaffirmed its mission time and time again to “educate the music public” and not worry about making a profit on some of the shows it produces, it’s a little embarrassing to see a ton of hard work and the backing of Honolulu’s rock radio station produce a crowd that size.

Shimizu and Oguma deserved better, but true to form, they spent plenty of time during their set thanking the fans who were there and expressing surprise (really?) that “so many people” turned out to support them. No mainland-style rock star egos were in play here, that’s for sure.

Another huge benefit to headliner status at The Republik? You get to perform for a really long time. Instead of the 15- or 20-minute sets typically afforded to local opening acts, Sing the Body got about two hours on Saturday, plus a short intro video that featured interviews with Shimizu, Oguma and some of their biggest supporters.

Sing the Body on stage at The Republik on Saturday, Jan. 12. (Photo by Joah Buley, Special to the Star-Advertiser)

The additional stage time, paired with the CD release party premise, turned the night into a listening party of sorts. Fans got to hear nearly all the band’s newest material in the order it appears on “Contrast.” Shimizu’s guitar-shredding abilities were front and center on “PBJY” and “Lovers & Friends,” while Oguma did what he does best: make it sound like three or four people are playing — but it’s just him!

“Sideways,” “See it Run” and “Under Eyed Child” were also worth seeing live, especially when Sing the Body had a few friends ready and waiting to jump in and turn things into a full-blown jam session with seven people rocking out on stage. It was also nice to see Chris Chorney playing cello and Killin Reece playing lap steel guitar on stage at The Republik, with Shimizu even plugging in an ukulele for a song.

Erin Smith was among the night's opening acts. (Photo by Joah Buley, Special to the Star-Advertiser)

With all the good vibes going on that night, it was easy to overlook a few shortcomings, but they were there. Chalk it up to nerves or the adrenaline rush of performing in the headliner slot, but Shimizu’s and Oguma’s vocals were all over the place. Extended breaks between songs, while necessary to get Shimizu’s various guitars set up and plugged in, also seemed to kill the momentum at times.

The sound mix and volume levels at The Republik on Saturday also made it incredibly difficult to understand and enjoy what was being performed, to the point where I needed to listen to an actual CD copy of “Contrast” (and ask the band’s management to provide a copy of the set list) to confirm which songs were played. And while the duct tape decor near the front door and on all the speakers on stage to match the show’s promotional materials was fitting, the lack of any significant digital visual effects to take advantage of the huge screen behind The Republik’s stage was disappointing.

Some might call it nitpicking, but after a week of rehearsals you have to set the bar just a little higher, in my opinion.

In the end, it was a fun night of music with a band that deserves all the positive attention and recognition they’ve received in recent months. Opening sets by Mano Kane’s Chris Chorney and Kate Greennagel, Erin Smith (of Maui’s The Throwdowns) and Joni Llamedo only served to reconfirm that Honolulu has plenty of talent worth supporting.

Now we just need more people to pay attention and actually show up when promoters work hard to put together shows like this.

Related Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwJtm-JGtd0

Joah

Spectacular review-
Anonymous

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a “significant promotional push” ahead of time. Tickets were on sale from Dec. 14th, but BAMP didn’t have it on their page until January. There could have been so much more radio push but Alabama Shakes and Matt Kearney were over-pushed. 300+ in attendance was a good crowd and the show was awesome.
- http://twitter.com/PulseHNL Jason Genegabus
  
  Mahalo for reading.
http://www.facebook.com/maliaburger Malia Olena Baloyot

A personal friend of the band and a huge supporter myself, I found myself feeling a little defensive as my read over the first few criticisms. All criticisms aside, the author still maintains that Sing the Body still deserves more exposure, which is what I’ve been saying from day one. But even though Saturday’s event was way better than Alabama Shakes in my opinion (I went to both,) I’m still impressed that a few hundred people came out to see my friends play a full-scale show, not just open for a big-name band or play a 20-minute set at a local showcase.

Just the fact that this event was even a success and that they are receiving such a “big-boy” review in the Pulse and not just my personal blog, is a sign that they are indeed stepping up. :)
- http://twitter.com/PulseHNL Jason Genegabus
  
  Thanks for your insight, and for taking the time to read my review.
http://www.facebook.com/shawn.l.moseley Shawn Livingston Moseley

Mahalo Jason and the Honolulu Pulse for a follow up review of the concert., this is so very rare these days and so very important. Now, a little humble feedback. At times this article let me wondering if it was written in a
positive constructive tone or a negative destructive one. Still unsure but
respectfully I am just going to make a few comments on the review for
consideration.
FACT CHECK –

STB Stage Access/rehersals
for the week to republic – NOPE – They had one rehearsal there (I know because
they practiced their asses of in their rehearsal space next to my studio the
few weeks prior to the show). I think
the shakes shook down the rest of the time.

Honolulu’s Rock station
backing – They air an alternative radio show every Sunday and have since 2012.
We are blessed for their support, not unlike the support of the pulse, but make
no mistake, like the pulse, the radio station is a corporation trying to turn a
profit, pay salaries and health insurance.
They did their best with the funds made available to them to air the
radio spots they could to work within their budget, which I will add was paid
for by STB themselves.

BAMP – In all my years in
this industry, the heart and soul being poured into our local music scene from
bringing in credible talent for concerts to showcasing our own home-grown
talent, I say BAMP is doing a fine job and in no way deserves being thrown
under the bus, or rail if you like. The
last time I saw anything close to this locally was when Radio Free Hawaii
existed, Pinks Garage had regular shows and I had long hair and played in a
reggae band I co-founded called Dread Ashanti – and that was in 1992. Honestly, it’s embarrasing that it took
almost 20 years to get us back on the map musically.

Huge screen behind the stage
– is a wall, and not even the Alabama Shakes used it, because it is what it is.
Don’t hate on this one. NOTE: The big
screen tv’s do have really bad latency and the music and image does not lock –
they need to fix this at Republic.

Acoustics – My best guess says
that Republic was designed for a typical crowd of 700 people to take full advantage of the
speakers, low end, body absorption and general acoustics. I recommend that when a venue is not at
optimal capacity one finds the best seat in the house, typically right in front
of the sound engineer, this usually yields sonic perfection in a less than
perfect concert attendance and keeps you from running around the room trying to
find the sweet spot.

COMPARISIONS –

When I worked for Michael
Goldberg (senior editor for Rolling Stone for over a decade and “broke” artist
like Patty Smith, Talking Heads, The Ramones and Tom Waits to the public) I
learned its wise to be careful of drawing comparisons to mainstream talent and
underground talent. Simply put, if you
consider the economy of scale when comparing the attendance of the Alabama
Shakes show (1000 people) to Sing the Body’s show’s (345 people), you must
consider that Alabama Shakes has been a band for over 3 years, has over 4
million youtube hits, 165K plus fans, been feature in Rolling Stone, nominated
in the top 10 in the US and the UK and up for a Gammy, and have serious money
backing them, not to mention they can easily tour the US. Sing the Body has been together almost 2
years, has 364 hits on youtube and 750 fans, no major label backing, but yet
sold a show to 345 happy fans. Doing
some basic math I believe that although the Shakes show was sold out, if we
must compare the 2, STB pulled a larger crowd respectively for being a couple
humble boys from Ewa.

GOOD STUFF –

You are correct, STB needs to
invest in a guitar switcher box so there are no interruptions during the set
(Until they of course have the money to pay a guitar tech to stand on the
sidelines), Take a little more time interacting with their audience in-between
songs and not tune guitars through the main speakers, get a handle on their
nerves so they sing the body better on the difficult vocal parts and maybe, they
should swear a little from time to time because they rock their asses off.
Otherwise as stated in your review, we all need to pay a little more attention,
not only to the artist on the stage, but the details that get them there.
- http://twitter.com/PulseHNL Jason Genegabus
  
  Aloha Shawn,
  
  If you read the review again, you’ll see that the vast majority of my review is a positive one. I stand by criticisms of the performance. While I enjoyed STB’s set, I’ve seen them turn in what I consider to be better performances in the past compared to last weekend at The Republik.
  
  To address your comments:
  
  1) It was one of the co-owners of the club who advised me that STB had a full week of rehearsals under their belts. That’s where I got that information. If I was misinformed, I apologize for the error.
  
  2) The radio station may be a corporate entity, but in my opinion, they still have an obligation to serve the community. Promoting local bands is one way they should be doing that. In addition to selling commercial spots, the station can (and should) also use station promos to help push worthy events like this. If you read the review again, you’ll see that I’m giving the station credit for doing a good job in promoting the show.
  
  3) I’m not throwing BAMP’s support for local bands under the bus, rail, or anything else. I don’t know how you get that from reading my review. When you say Honolulu hasn’t had a viable rock scene since Dread Ashanti in 1992, I disagree; rock music has survived in this market since I started covering the nightlife scene in 2001. The Wave Waikiki did a good job of supporting local rock before it closed, and Chinatown has (and continues to) support local rock. There are also smaller bars like Edge, Station, the Waikiki Sandbox and others that do their part. That said, the rock scene still needs the support of a large venue like The Republik. And BAMP is doing their part.
  
  4) Wall or stage, that area is being used to show a projection of a video element. I was not impressed with what was projected onto the wall last weekend. And you’re right, the TVs on either side of the stage aren’t synced up. According to the co-owner I spoke to, the fix is too expensive to implement at this time.
  
  5) You’re right, the best place to listen to a set is in front of the sound guy, just like you were doing that night. I don’t know if you noticed, but after I spent some time talking to you that evening, I stood in the same area for a portion of STB’s set. I also stood at stage right by the bar, then moved to stage left and stood by the pillars on that side. I also spent a little time right in front of the stage amongst the crowd of people. I even walked back to the Safehouse and tried to listen from back there. I couldn’t find the sweet spot you mention. In my opinion, it was a combination of the sound mix and the overall volume that led to a less than optimal listening experience in a room that didn’t have enough people in it. And that has nothing to do with the way STB played.
  
  6) As far as comparing mainstream to local talent, I get your point. My point was that this city and the music-loving public that lives here needs to step up and show more support for talented local bands like STB. I think we’re in agreement on this.
  
  To be clear, I respect Sing the Body (and all the other artists who performed that night) and the music they produce. Thanks for taking the time to read my review.