During Bad Veins’ recent set at the Middle East Downstairs, Drummer Sebastien Schultz raised his stick so high for every snare hit that had he been on a drum riser he would have punctured a hole in the low hanging ceilings above the stage. His relentless and fiery intensity propelled the band forward, supporting guitarist and singer Benjamin Davis’ rich arrangements and sly melodies.
The third member of the band, an antique reel-to-reel tape recorder given a prominent position on stage, spun along with the songs adding synthesizers and other instruments to augment the live drums and guitar. With all the laptops living on stages lately, it was nice to see something so seemingly antiquated adding a rich analog wash to the sound instead of more digital 1′s and 0′s.
See below for the Foundwaves Live Video Premiere of their song “Falling Tide”, in which Davis distorts his voice through the receiver of an old rotary telephone strapped to his mic stand while Schultz pounds away at his kit . The resulting sound is comparable to what might happen if The Strokes were forced through a Neutral Milk Hotel fuzz machine, but still Bad Veins all the way.
Look for Bad Veins’ eponymous debut on iTunes or Amazon.