the morning benders on KZSU
The Morning Benders (myspace) came down and did a set on KZSU’s “Wednesday Night Live” show this week. I acted as the host for the week.
I’ve liked these guys since I saw them open for the Long Winters in early March. They have an interesting and eclectic indie pop sensibility.
During their set they just gunned through twelve tunes, not even pausing much between songs. Here’s the playlist:
- Damnit Anna
- Cross-eyed
- Boarded Doors
- Loose Change
- Heavy Hearts
- Fools Rush In [Ricky Nelson Cover]
- Patient Patient
- Work the Fight
- Shedding My Skin
- Waiting for War
- Crying [Roy Orbinson Cover]
- [unknown]
Both of those covers are available at the band’s blog, Gigantic.
Three tracks have been in my head for the past few days: “Loose Change”, “Boarded Doors” and “Patient Patient”. “Loose Change” on the EP of the same title is a good and interesting song, but the version they did live blew me away. There was a lot more emotion (without being emo) and sentiment (without being sentimental). I think the way Chris just goes for it on the vocals might (might) garner some comparisons to Conor Oberst, but Chris delivers it without the annoying.
The Morning Benders - Loose Change (Live at KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)
There were a few things I realized during their set: their EPs are good but their live energy/ presence adds to that. Their material is only getting better and better. Chris Chu’s voice is pretty much amazing. I can see these guys getting a lot bigger.
The Morning Benders play at the Great American soon:
6/12 The Rosebuds w/ Land of Talk, the Morning Benders @ Great American, 8pm, $14, 6+
You can buy the Morning Benders CDs and merch here.
[...] Last Wednesday, in between hosting the Morning Benders and Beatbeat Whisper, I noticed that there was still a staff ticket to Brian Wilson at the Mountain Winery. Yeah, there are perks to being famous. Yeah, last Wednesday was a pretty good day… [...]
[...] I just wrote up their their performance on KZSU so I’m not going to write a ton about the Morning Benders (myspace) show last night at the Great American. [...]
[...] - Adrian was at The Morning Benders‘ show at the Great American Music Hall and had them in-studio at KZSU. [...]
[...] The Morning Benders @ KZSU, Stanford, CA, 6/6 (original post) — I’d seen them before (opening for the Long Winters) and I’ve seen them twice since but this was the time I came out of it thinking, “wow, these guys are going places.” Chris Chu and co. were on during this acoustic set. [...]
[...] They have a new album, Talking Through Tin Cans coming out May 6 on +1. It appears to have a number of the songs they played when I hosted them on KZSU. [...]
[...] band played a relaxed, sit-down acoustic set. It reminded me a lot of their set on KZSU. They didn’t have a set list and mostly just took requests from the audience. They did a mix [...]