The City Veins: Spencer Vliet (left), Aaron Tarr and Charles Gray. Photo by Darren Higgins

When The City Veins first started in early 2007, they were a good band. A four piece with sincere musical ability, we took notice (and not just because one of them is also our Nats columnist). But after Adam Bayes exited the group, and left the remaining members, Aaron Tarr, Charles Gray and Spencer Vliet, to figure out how to turn themselves into an operative three piece, The City Veins became a really great band. It was in that transition that they started messing with time signatures and looking at things from a different perspective. They went from merely talented to really interesting. The three-man line up remains today; the band recently recorded a second EP and has booked a slew of shows for the next couple of months. At their recent CD release show at Iota, they even experimented a little more — bringing on additional players to suddenly bump the trio up to a seven piece wall of sound. They’re testing the waters and sticking to what they know best. And it’s working for them.

In many ways, The City Veins are driven by drummer Spencer Vliet. You can’t listen to any of their work or see them play live without realizing that his beats are what their songs are structured around. They’re percussive without being too heavy. No one would ever attach the word “core” to any description of the band. Aaron Tarr, the lead vocalist and bass player, has a voice that’s clean and big and in any other lineup could sound pretty pop-radio ready. But in this lineup, it just adds another unexpected layer. Charles Gray’s guitar (and sometimes bass, and sometimes keyboard) work pulls the other pieces together to form one solid unit. They’re a band that’s great to see live, because of how much fun they’re all obviously having on stage. And because it’s always impressive to see people play their instruments who really know how.