The Cameo Gallery showcase on January 3 featured not one but two members of the Big Foote Music + Sound family. Erick Lee of Modern Rivals and Patrick Smith, frontman for A Beacon School, brought their bands to serve as bookends for the night.
Lee and Smith are both on staff at this music house and use the studios during off hours to create their own personal sound. Each group brought a nice crowd of fans and fellow Big Foote types for their sets in this tiny space in Williamsburg. I was also there to cover the show for PopMatters which posted today here.
Erick Lee (left) with Andrew Sheron, Photo: Jake Seymour
Most of the guys that make up Modern Rivals met in the St. Louis, Missouri, area and recently moved to Brooklyn where indie bands are apt to thrive. Frontman Erick Lee continued his studies as a graduate student at New York University before joining husband Paul's team of composers at Big Foote Music + Sound. He was able to use the studios after hours to record the band's latest EP, Sea Legs, to achieve a crisp, professional sound for any bandcamp page. The songs have a strong, textural underpinning with vibrant melodies. At Mercury Lounge July 25, the group recreated the songs faithfully without the added benefit of any kind of stage show. Interactions between the musicians and any grooving going on was lost in the darkness, but perhaps in a different venue this interplay can be rightly appreciated by their willing fans. They will be paying The Studio at Webster Hall on August 25 and The Rock Shop on September 13 -- catch them if you can.
Official PopMatters write up here and another video from the show below.
Modern Rivals "Clocks vs. Darts" @ Mercury Lounge NYC 7/25/12
