Girl at the Rock Shows

The downstairs of The Turf Club in Saint Paul is called the Clown Lounge. It’s just a little bar with various clown-themed decorations on the wall. It’s a fun little place to escape a crowded show and a place that I spend a lot of time at when I’m at The Turf Club. I find myself always staring at the wall behind the bar and the taps, taking in all the art. There’s a flyer close to the corner of these weird figures with a line-up from a past show towards the top of the off-white poster board. “Vaz” was apparently the headliner of the show. I don’t know why, but this has always caught my eye, and I was determined to figure out what Vaz was and why they were so special to have a poster up on the walls of this bar. Sunday night was my chance as Vaz was playing at Cloudland, and I was not about to miss it.

From the first note of 1055’s opening set, I knew this wasn’t going to be a “normal” show for me. The sound was disjointed, and there really wasn’t a beat for me to latch onto. I kept waiting for them to switch songs and turn it into something a bit more digestible for me, but it never happened. 1055’s “set” was actually just one song (which led to a funny moment of the audience asking for a “one song encore” since one song to this band apparently lasts nearly thirty minutes), and it was a song that challenged me in all of the right ways. Although there wasn’t a discernible beat to me at first, the trio would move in and out of grooves. Some of them would hook me and have me nodding along, whereas others left me trying to count and figure out what time signature they were even in. The overall vibe of 1055’s sound never really left this fuzzed-out garage-rock kind of vibe, but they leaned into everything from punk to something almost jazzy throughout their set, which created tones that sounded familiar, but those tones were set in a world that was completely new to me. Again, the music of 1055 challenged me, and I spent a lot of their set just trying to figure them out, but there were also moments where I felt like I was free-falling in my own mind. Some people listen to calm and quiet music to meditate, and this was far from that, yet I found these little glimmers of meditation in their set that started the night off so perfectly right for me.

Following 1055 was New Confusion. The name of this band made me laugh a bit just because 1055’s set had left me slightly, well, confused, so I braced myself for more of the same from New Confusion. Although just as artistic and creative, I appreciated that New Confusion had a bit more structure behind their songs. I also appreciated how, even with that, their set made me think and left me in absolute awe of the talent I was witnessing on the small stage in front of me. One of the things that really struck me about this group was how each of the four members seemed to be working on their own. I’ve seen it before and will surely see it again, but this was a theme to the night that really stuck out to me, especially when it came to New Confusion. Don’t get me wrong, they were working as one cohesive group and definitely had songs planned out and stories to tell through said songs, but each of the members was clearly bringing their own flavor to not only the sound, but also the stage. From delicate and sweet to grungey and angular, the sounds that this band brought together to form a sound that can only be called New Confusion had me as baffled as it did completely pleased with my decision to spend my Sunday night at this show.

After New Confusion, it was time for Vaz. I was excited to see what this name that I stared at night after night was all about, and, if I’m being honest, the pressure was on to catch my attention because the clock was ticking closer and closer to my bedtime, and I was starting to fade. Vaz met the challenge and then some. A two-piece made up of vocalist/guitarist Paul Erickson and drummer Jeff Moordian, the sound of this band was intense and even a little spastic. It was powerful sonically, but also powerful in the way it could make you feel everything and nothing at all at the same time. There were moments of pure chaos, followed by moments that hit you with a bit more of a catchy jangle kind of sound. Nothing about the composition of Vaz’s songs made sense to me, but they worked, and they had me completely captivated.

This is a duo through and through, and I hate to say that one stole the spotlight from the other. That’s not even what I’m trying to say, but throughout the performance, I just could not take my eyes off of Jeff behind the drum kit. It was the way that he attacked the drums. He didn’t just hit them. I watched completely transfixed as he seemed to pick out his prey (as in drum or cymbal) in real time and then hit with an insane amount of intensity. Don’t get me wrong, drummers are typically intense, and I’ve seen some crazy ones with all of my time spent in the metal scene, but this was different. It wasn’t threatening, but it was explosive, and it absolutely added a little razzle-dazzle to a set that already had me sold within seconds.

I knew from the beginning of Sunday night’s show at Cloudland that it wouldn’t be a normal one for me. Although some faces in the crowd were familiar, many were not, and that seemed to match the sounds of the night perfectly. I know the flyer says that I saw three bands at this show, but really, I felt like I saw nine bands because every human that graced the stage brought something new to my ears, heart, and soul in such a beautiful way.

Line Up:

1055

New Confusion

Vaz

Venue: Cloudland

Smell-O-Meter: Nothing Notable

Average Age of the Crowd: 36

Crowd Surfers- None

Stage Divers- 0

Mosh-ability- 1 out of 10

Amount of Beer Spilled On Me While Walking Around- $0

Broken Bones- None

Spotted Flying Through The Air- Nothing

Fights- None

Pukers- 0

Passed Out People- 0

How Many Times I’ve Seen These Bands Before (or at least how many times I can remember)-

1055 – 0

New Confusion – 0

Vaz – 0

Show on Deck – Thelma and the Sleaze / Sparrowhawk / Paisley Fields

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