Birdmonster/The Sammies/Tereu Tereu Review

I actually didn’t pass out when I got home from work last night, which was a good thing. And it was nice outside and it was Tony Bennett night on American Idol. So I figured that the stars were aligned for me to finally go see Birdmonster. It was a three-band billing at the Black Cat, with Tereu Tereu and The Sammies going on first.

Tereu Tereu (tuh-ROO, tuh-ROO) was a pleasant surprise to start things off. I liked the quality of the lead singer’s vocals – higher range, Chris Martin-y, and the band had a nice active groove going between the bassist and drummer, which prevented them trying to fix you. And there was a trumpet involved.

Now onto The Sammies. Once these North Carolina boys got cooking, their instrumental rock intensity was almost Marah-like, which I was really digging. Frankly, their vocals needed to be better. But you know what – I’ll overlook it for this evening, since they rocked my second set.

Now, I couldn’t stay for the whole Birdmonster set. It’s that whole “get enough sleep in order to go to work the next day” thing. But I did get to hear them rip through my two favorites, “Cause You Can” and “Balcony,” which were a blast. I must say that those boys play with some kind of punk frenzy up there on stage. Vocals could have been better on target, but it was damn entertaining to watch them play.