As 2011 dawned, Detroit's recently buzz-swarmed new-wave/space-rock duo Silverghost was exorcised from local stages.
The preceeding winter found that band's male component, Deleano Acevedo, squirrling himself away in his Detroit apartment to pen a trunk-load of tunes, effectively birthing what's now known as K.I.D.S.
His initial batch of simple yet cathartic pop tunes were sketched during what was a winter of personal discontent, seeing his then-main-project, Detroit's recently buzz-heavy new-wave space-rock duo, Silverghost, exorcised from local stages.
In late Spring, Acevedo unveiled a 3-song digi-EP (via the Beehive Recording Co.'s web site) to showcase his new sounds (this being the first time as a "front-man.") These spacey, shadowy bubblegum pop ditties came charmed with jangly, strummy riffs pivoting on sharp hooks and saturated with trippy bridges, their surfaces scuffed with a slight sheen of sheen of surfy reverb and frayed at the edges with lingering UFO-oscillations from the synthesizer he'd been utilizing with SG.
With a bevy of songs (albeit initially heavy with bittersweet break-up ballads) ready to go, Acevedo went out and asked drummer Don Blum (Von Bondies), bassist Nick Jones (Bars of Gold) and guitarist Scott Stimac (Bang Bang) if they felt like joining.
And they all said yes, right then and there. So, it was pretty easy to get the ball rolling.
Though, "I'm still getting used to fronting a band by myself," Acevedo admits. He's thankful to have some longtime players backing him up, and eager to have them lighten the vocal load with their harmonizing.
The band's name is an acronym that will never stay the same - audiences are free to make up their own: "Kickin It Dungeon Style?" "Karma Invites Dubious Sequences..." whatever. Or, just say, "kids."
The band debuted with some notable gigs, hitting the three big pre-Autumn fests (Fucking Awesome Fest, Dally in the Alley, DIY Street Fair) and are now working towards a studio session in November for, hopefully, a vinyl LP.
Their next show is Wednesday, 9/28, with antrhopomorphic punk rocker Nobunny, in the Magic Stick lounge. New locals open up, featuring members of the Deadbeat Beat and Kommie Kilpatrick - calling themselves Twine Time.
*Although, Acevedo had to begrudgingly back his band out of another show, slated for October 8th at the Lager House - which would have paired him with fellow Milford-MI-bred songwriters like Scott Masson (of Glossies), Scotty Iulianelli and Ben Audette (Crappy Future); some members of K.I.D.S. just couldn't make the date, after all.
"I'm really bummed about that," Acevedo said, "Glossies are great, I really like their album (Phantom Films) and those are my really good friends. A lot of talent has come to Detroit from Milford, like Office, 800-Beloved, Bars of Gold, Wildcatting, Kelly Jean Caldwell, even Nathaniel Burgundy from Computer Perfection. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, too."
Glossies matches K.I.D.S. in terms of an intricately layered, electro-tinged pop/rock aesthetic. Crappy Future, meanwhile, leans a bit closer to the realm of, say, Carjack (the other band on that 10/8 Lager bill).
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I asked the members of Crappy Future to discuss where they got their name.
"You see that?" Ben Audette answered then, agrivatedly pointing at a motion-sensor drinking fountain, slung with a sad, scribbled 'Out-of-Order' sign...
"That, that's "crappy future." (The idea, loosely: why are our computerized fountains not quenching our thirsts and why the hell don't we have flying cars yet?)
But then, there's so much more to this Ferndale band, and to it's quasi-rallying cry.
Iulianelli and Audette have always been in bands together, regularly leading dual-guitar onslaughts in bands like Wildcatting and Bars of Gold. Crappy Future started as their pet project about five years ago and finally blossomed into being when Bars of Gold went on a brief period of limited activity.
The name repudiates the eerie ease of musical production and composition offered by advances in technology. Iulianelli admits to occassionally recording substantial demos onto his iPhone, aided by a range of guitar loop pedals, and then emailing it to Audette and drummer Justin Walsh. Walsh and Iulianelli laugh off the ludicrousness of the computer age when regaling a time the two of them recorded a song with Audette on lead vocals ...when Audette wasn't even in their home studio.
Here are your new-New Traditionalists!
Their songs are built around infectious melodies; sing-songey choruses sleekly soar over tones curtained in synthesizer fuzz and auxillary blips looped around riffing fender guitars.
You can check out Crappy Future's bemusing and charming brand of post-music synth-pop, alongside electro-punker Carjack and the intentionlly radiant baroque-pop trips of Glossies, 10/8 @ the Lager House.
