The Sad Truth About Pernice Brothers
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In his music, Joe Pernice comes off as sad and
forlorn.
Up on stage, he is no different.
He cocked his head back as if in some sort of emotional pain and seemed to be
straining as he scratched at his guitar, summoning the magical, melancholy
sounds that fill his music.
That's just how he looked when he and his Pernice Brothers played a quick set
last Thursday at Kendall Cafe to promote the May 19 release of Overcome
By Happiness, a dreamy, albeit tortured pop disc from the former Scud
Mountain Boy. But this was no Scud Mountain Boys show.
"Sonically, I was limited in Scud Mountain Boys," guitarist/vocalist Pernice acknowledged at the
show. "It was time to do something new."
In fact, some will be surprised by the disc's ambient pop production, including
French horns, rich arrangement and heart-fluttering violins. Think Gram Parsons
meets J Mascis and Big Star at Brian Wilson's studio.
The Brothers live
show offers a stripped down version of their recorded sound, with the musicians translating the sound
as a standard rock foursome. Brothers Bob and Joe Pernice play guitar, Thom
Monahan handles bass and drummer Joel Westerdale (sitting in for Aaron
Sperske) makes up the rhythm section.
From the looks of it, only a handful of the audience seemed familiar with the
Pernice Brothers' sound: A table of avid Scud Mountain Boys fans, a few locals,
plus some friends and critics.
No matter -- Joe Pernice played with a convincing passion, acting out every
tragic line, every minor chord from the spotlight. Overall, he and his band make
some good pop, but rather than coming off as tragically sensitive balladeers,
their live show seems at times self-indulgent. "Crestfallen," which began the set,
is a depressed, thin-sounding and even scratchy, early '90s, Dinosaur Jr-style
pop ballad that, while an intriguing blend of slow guitar and vocals, takes some
getting used to in a live setting.
It's as if you had to know these guys to appreciate where they are coming from
on many of their tunes. The same can be said of "Overcome by Happiness."
Despite these concerns, here's where the band excels: Joe Pernice is clearly
reminiscent of a young Elvis Costello -- pin-striped shirt, glasses, cocked head,
holding the guitar like an armload of boxes, singing and enunciating intensely
as he makes his musical point.
The guy gets into it. No matter how tragic the music gets, Pernice's presence
seems genuine. And for that alone, he's worth the time.
The Brothers even tried their hand at the late Beach Boy guitarist Carl Wilson's
"Dimmest Star," a moody, sad ballad with the Pernice Brothers-styled refrain
"Don't ever leave my troubled life." Perfectly suited for their sound, the
Pernices' vocals caressed airy guitar textures courtesy of brother Bob, who
played stoically, eyes closed. And, once again, the song filled the room with a
solemn, almost haunting vibe.
Cramped onto a minuscule stage and wedged into a corner, the band looked
uncomfortable at best. Westerdale couldn't even stretch his arms as he
brushed a snare delicately. Joe Pernice, meanwhile, sang "All I Want,"
hunched over his steel acoustic, crooning out the wistful love-gone-wrong
weeper.
And the sorrow just kept coming.
"Continuing in the vein of really bad suicide," Joe Pernice said, leading into the
next number, "Chicken Wire," which found lanky bassist Monahan in a groove
that contrasted starkly with the song's death theme. What made the tune even
more bizarre was Bob Pernice's guitar solo, which, the band joked afterward,
sounded like something off an album by orchestra leader Herb Alpert.
While the brothers dished out their share of '60s-styled sap, they never strayed
too far from their honest-to-goodness sad-core theme.
"Wait To Stop" saw Joe Pernice pleading, "And I want to be with you so bad I
feel like I'm dyin' and I die," his whispering vocals segueing into the Byrds-like
jangly acoustic-guitar verse, "I could not wait my whole life for you." Pernice
cried as the band grinded out the melody with precision.
It wasn't long before the Scuds fans in attendance were singing along to tunes
HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Scud_Mountain_Boys/Grudge_Fuck.ram">
"Grudge Fuck" (RealAudio excerpt) -- with the classic love line: "I would give everything to make it with you, just one
more time, everything I own" -- while the Pernice Brothers kept
pushing their newer, more tragic sound for all to hear.
Question is, can they keep their sad songs interesting enough for a bare-bones
live show?
Time will tell.