Yesterday at NX35: Fishboy at Banter

BAND: FishboyVENUE: BanterTIME: 9 (or thereabouts)If you didn't catch Fishboy at its Sunday night NX35 gig, you missed out on on an hour of manic, jangly-stringed, hollow-bodied goodness. Oh, and stirring mid-song conversation: "Settle a bet for me," singer Eric Michener, aka Fishboy, asked the crowd. "Does 'panini' just mean 'smashed sandwich?'"...

By Daniel Daugherty

March 16, 2009

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BAND: Fishboy
VENUE: Banter
TIME: 9 (or thereabouts)

If you didn't catch Fishboy at its Sunday night NX35 gig, you missed out on on an hour of manic, jangly-stringed, hollow-bodied goodness.

Oh, and stirring mid-song conversation: "Settle a bet for me," singer Eric Michener, aka Fishboy, asked the crowd. "Does 'panini' just mean 'smashed sandwich?'"

The gig was band's the first to feature new drummer Tommy Garcia.

Replacing a member can be a tricky trade-off between skills and musical chemistry, but Garcia's dance-y, Brit-pop inspired beats didn't sound out of place. My knees couldn't help bouncing.

This is a good sign for a band who has two sounds (clean and dirty) and two volumes (hauntingly soft or herd-of-bulls-in-a-china-shop loud)--if you feel like dancing, then you won't notice the absence of guitar solos and the bipolar dynamics become even more dramatic.

The trio plays again Tuesday night at J&J's Pizza and has a trip to Austin coming soon. But bassist Justin Lloyd says the band wants to get more serious about playing shows: "I gave up health insurance so I could go on tour."

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