Flickerstick: on the run at the Wetlands
Krikor Daglian
July 10, 2001
I'm not sure if any other rock band has had the same path to or chance for success as Flickerstick, who opened a two night stand at the Wetlands on Monday. Regular readers of Buzz Rant & Rave probably know that were big fans of VH1s Bands on the Run series. Bands on the Run is a reality show about the rock life, following four independent bands on the road. The winning band was Dallas's Flickerstick.
If you don't know, Bands on the Run was set up as a competition between four independent bands to make money and impress audiences (tour earnings and battles of the bands were how the groups were judged.) The series drew down to a dramatic duel between San Diego rockers Soulcracker and Flickerstick. While Soulcracker was the hardest working of the bands, spending the most energy promoting and merchandizing, Flickerstick was shown to be less involved in selling themselves except through their music. They emerged as the winners of the show due to the strength of their live performances, rather than salesmanship, winning all of the battles of the bands.
The day after the series finale aired, a victorious Flickerstick brought their energetic stage presence to New York for the first of two capacity shows at the Wetlands Preserve (where the hippies still don't believe in air-conditioning.) Besides winning $25,000, new equipment, a video and an A&R showcase from the show, Flickerstick most importantly earned a rapid increase in their fan base, due to 15 weeks of exposure on national television. The stakes, then, were quite high when the band played their first show since it was revealed they won the competition on Sunday. The capacity crowd seemed to be composed of mostly 18-25 year olds, with emphasis on the 18 year olds coming to see those guys "as seen on TV", as well as assorted label and media types there to check out whether this band is legit.
Flickerstick is a five piece composed of brothers Brandon and Fletcher Lea (vocals/guitar and bass, respectively), Corey Krieg and Rex James Ewing swapping lead and rhythm guitar duties, and Dominick Weir on drums. Their somewhat spacey sound (a description the band seems to emphasize by showing footage of Apollo rocket launches and starscapes on a video screen behind them) has earned them comparisons to Pink Floyd and Radiohead, though their passionate playing recalls early U2 as well. Flickerstick is capable of playing dramatic and dynamic music on stage, and all their songs have an epic feel to them that doesnt sacrifice a rock edge or seem emotionally detached.
The band took the stage around 10:30 to cheers, but any plans for a grand opening were foiled by sound problems which took a few minutes to fix. Finally, Flickerstick opened their set with a powerful one-two of "Smile" and "Beautiful," which whipped the crowd into a frenzy, especially the latter, with the crowd singing along to the chorus. That said, Flickerstick might have been better off saving one of the two for the end of their set, as the rest of their songs lack their well crafted hooks and melodies. While the band's energy level remained high, the young crowd seemed to have a hard time staying interested. After "You're So Hollywood," a cut from their album Welcoming Home the Astronauts, the group debuted a new song, which proved decent if unremarkable. Other album tracks such as "Got a Feeling" and "Chloroform the One You Love" (which features the ironic line, in light of the crowd, "She's only 18 but such a beautiful dream/ All she needs is some chloroform/ And she'll be mine") and a Catherine Wheel cover followed, before the group closed the set with the quiet "Electrocution by Xmas Lights," which featured only Brandon Lea and Krieg on stage.
Brandon Lea proved a strange frontman on stage, walking back and forth with a pissed off look on his face and a slightly strange bent over posture which made him look slightly "angry-troll like"; but his singing was uniformly passionate, as was the playing from the rest of the band. Drummer Weir and guitarist Ewing (channeling his tv alter-ego, "El Dangeroso") were all intensity on stage, with Weir bashing away at his drums and Ewing often holding his guitar up in the air in front of the crowd as if possessed, while Fletcher Lea and Krieg preferred to stay coolly restrained, sitting back, eyes closed, playing their instruments.
In a bizarre finish to the show, Brandon Lea collapsed to the floor one song into the encore. It seemed at first to be some kind of James Brown-esque move, but it became obvious once his band mates had to carry him off that he had indeed passed out from exhaustion. Unfortunately, this meant Flickerstick couldn't play the last songs of their encore, intended to include Coke and Direct Line to the Telepathic, which are indeed two of their best. The crowd, unsure of what happened at the end, slowly dispersed.
Opening for Flickerstick were two bands from down south. First, the Merry Pranksters, a three piece punk group from Baltimore, played an energetic set led by expressive frontwoman. The songs were generally standard punk, with a few slower numbers thrown in for variety. The Pranksters were definitely tight and played a set of quick tunes and quick changes that hardly left the audience a chance to catch their breath, but in the end, the songs all melded into one sonic memory, with only the occasional funny or interesting line standing out. They were followed on stage by the Will Hoge band, hailing from Tennessee. Hoge's gruff voice and appearance immediately recalled Bruce Springsteen, and the rollicking nature of the show was further reminiscent of the NJ native, but Hoge's songs featured the personal lyrics that recalled groups like Matchbox 20 and the Counting Crows. Hoge rocked harder than those groups, but his songs tended to lack hooks and distinct melodies, and in the end, the most memorable moment was their cover of Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion.
All in all, while strong, Flickerstick's set was not the grand arrival it could or perhaps should have been. The band was quick to make excuses (and apologize for making those excuses by thanking the audience for 'putting up with us tonight'), but they should have been better ready for this show. And while I can't say that a band whose frontman collapsed on stage wasn't trying hard enough, I do feel like the show wasn't quite what it could have been. They play tonight, and we'll see if they've recovered. The promise shown in songs like "Smile" and "Beautiful" and their passionate performance shows they have the potential to be a great band. Already on the road since December, they will surely be on for some more time, and will have to deal with an increasingly intense yet monotonous press routine and fame from television. Their experience with Bands on the Run offers them a great opportunity. The question is: are they ready?
