Pretty Girls Make Graves @ Black Cat
This review by DCist Contributor Andrew Wiseman.
This reviewer went to see opener Giant Drag at the Black Cat, but came away very impressed by headliner Pretty Girls Make Graves. Constantly building and relieving the tension in their angular songs, the Seattle five-some are good performers, it’s as simple as that. Lead singer Andrea Zollo, guitarist Jay Clark and bassist Derek Fedesco are each entertaining and very watchable. Zollo is a great frontwoman, blasting out her vocals and dancing around with her hair in her eyes, while Clark ran from front to back of the stage over and over, burning through his guitar parts, and the extremely tall Derek Fedesco played bass like he was a lead guitarist. We wondered before the show why one of the mic stands was so high – it’s because Fedesco looks like he could play power forward for the Wizards.
The sound was very crisp, with the jagged and sometimes very fast guitar coming through clearly and the bass loud and easy to recognize, although Leona Marrs’ keyboards were a little hard to hear at times. All of the songs were good, but “All Medicated Geniuses” and “This is Our Emergency” particularly stood out. And the energetic performance brought out a pretty diverse crowd, both age- and style-wise.
Photos by Kyle Gustafson. More photos here.
Giant Drag, a shoegaze-ish duo from LA, didn’t have a lot of energy, but the crowd wasn’t giving too much back either, as lead singer/guitarist Annie Hardy pointed out at the beginning. They made an impressive amount of noise for two people, with Hardy fuzzing her guitar and bandmate Micah Calabrese playing drums and keyboards simultaneously – hitting a few keys while holding a drumstick in one hand while continually drumming with the other. The bass (especially at first) sounded fantastic, it was the kind that shakes your clothes and makes your scalp bounce.
Hardy, who looks about 18 but is in her mid 20s, has great comic timing and some of the funniest and dirtiest stage banter. Among other things, she talked about Calabrese being a transsexual and having sex with himself. At one point, someone in the crowd yelled out “what’s on the keyboard?” and Hardy replied “keys, wires and knobs – any other questions?” The dirty jokes aren’t too surprising, considering some of the songs on their album “Hearts and Unicorns” are called “Kevin Is Gay,” “My Dick Sux,” and “You're Full Of Shit (Check Out My Sweet Riffs).” However, the jokey titles don’t mean the songs aren’t serious or good. Their cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” was nearly spectacular, and Hardy’s introduction of it was funny - you could hear people laughing when they realized what song she was talking about, and that was before she got to the part about the anal sex. “This Isn’t It” from their album was also a good one. While their performance wasn’t extraordinary, they’re still fun to watch, and Pretty Girls Make Graves’ impressive set made it an excellent show.