It’s Monday at midnight and I should be doing homework. As I mentally compile a list of all the assignments I’m ignoring the earsplitting guitar melts my checklist and sends it to stew on the backburner. The small crowd at Great Scott perks up with knowing anticipation. These local music connoisseurs aren’t naïve; they’ve seen this band before and they know they’re in for an energetic set.
Reminiscent of City and Colour, the lovechild of Radiohead and Guster, Friendly People makes a genuine name for a local band. With two drum sets, three guitarists and a bass, Friendly People’s six present members provide a surprisingly cohesive sound for a group three people short of a baseball lineup. As lead singer Pat McCusker pads barefoot back and forth on the carpeted stage strumming his guitar, the crowd bobs their heads and dances along, careful not to sacrifice too much of their beers to the music. McCusker is joined on vocals and guitar by Mitchell Stewart and Jeff Butcher, adding a harmonic vocal quality to their new songs and amping up their already rich set. The musical style varies throughout each song, transforming from quiet and haunting to raw and powerful. The tempo can change in a second but somehow the listener isn’t thrown.
Composed largely of Berklee alums, their name is anything but ironic. Throughout the set, McCusker smiles in between sips of his Guinness and dutifully thanks the crowd for coming out so late on a Monday. They are the kind of guys who make you happy to be supporting their music, and aren’t shy about their enthusiasm for listeners. It’s a refreshing quality often lost in the huge venues and tours where fans are just one in ten-thousand seats.
Great Scott is the perfect venue to host these grateful dudes, and at only seven dollars at the door, the show is neither out of the way, nor hard on your wallet. The great thing about the bar venue is the small size, making every standing place closer to the front than the super-sized House of Blues. Even a spot in line at the bar comes with a live soundtrack, and with bands milling around before and after the show, the music becomes so accessible it’s hard not to connect with it.
After playing a slew of songs from their new album coming out in December, Friendly People played their already-released “Branches” and “A Lot of Work to Do,” both available to download for free on their website, www.freindlypeople.bandcamp.com. The crowd didn’t let them end without their namesake song “Friendly People” which has the modern flavor of surf-beat percussion as well as an infusion of rock. The cohesion of different styles and instruments creates a show not to be missed, but if you did? Never fear, Friendly People will be playing with Chimney Choir at the Lilypad, in Cambridge on Friday, October 5. I may have been behind on my reading assignments, but the live folk-tinged indie rock show was well worth the extra espresso shot in the morning.
By: Megan Dettle