You’ve heard it all a million times before — nobody dances at shows here! People don’t get into the music! There’s just no soul in D.C.’s music scene! The Hall Monitors heard your cry and happily came to answer the call with their brand of throwback garage rock & soul reminiscent of the guitar and Motown greats that made most of us (well, OK, me at least) learn to love music in the first place.
The four piece convened in the District from far flung places across the country at lead singer Sean Crowley’s motivation to start a garage band. Guitarist Ginger Richards found some time in her schedule (which includes being part of the all-girl indie-pop band Federal City Five) for The Hall Monitors, and brothers Matt (bass) and Mike (drums) Sullivan decided to bring their lifetime worth of playing together to the effort. Their bluesy, old-school approach is sure to ring with comparisons to The Black Keys and The White Stripes, but what you really sense when you see these guys play is a great respect for the history of rock & roll — from Chuck Berry and the sounds of Motown, to more modern adaptations like rockabilly and punk.
The band is joyful to watch because they so clearly enjoy the music they’re playing and the fact that they’re up there playing at all. Crowley forces the crowd to close the gap between themselves and the band by getting right down on the floor to start the set, pushing and pulling with the audience until they’re standing by the stage, right where they should be. In addition to having a great time, they’ve got the refreshing ring of musical perfectionists when they perform. The instrumentals are tight and powerful, the band is energetic and engaging, and the music is damn good. What more could you want from a live show?
In case you were thinking, “well, a sense of humor wouldn’t hurt,” don’t worry, they’ve got that too. One of the most lighthearted moments of their set at DC9 recently came when Crowley introduced a song as “the number one song…. on our MySpace page.” And if you were thinking, “it wouldn’t hurt if they were good looking,” they’ve got that covered too. A cute girl and three handsome men fill up the stage and officially leave us wanting for nothing. So we charge you with this: don’t pass up the opportunity to see The Hall Monitors. Catch them when you can (which won’t be for a while, since they’re using the summer to focus on other things, but look for them at a club near you this fall scratch that — you can catch them in three weeks on July 18 at the Black Cat with Detroit Cobras).
