Concert Review: Demob Happy Had Me At Hello At Webster
I laugh when I think about Demob Happy because I, literally, heard 30 seconds of a song and was like, “Yup, I love you!” That was it! Simple! I felt like Renee Zellweger telling her Tom Cruise, “You had me at Hello!” or, in Demob Happy’s case, they had asked me can I “Be Your Man.” At Webster Hall, the trio revived that old rocker mindset of “IDGAF” that permeated through The Rolling Stones or Jimi Hendrix while keeping a Radiohead/ White Stripes sense of social commentary.
With new music on hand, like “Less Is More,” Demob Happy’s sound felt as tight as a planned acid trip, which I loved. They were a band understanding and growing their sonic vision like a man embracing psychedelics rather than fighting them. Each member bashed their instrument with succinct tension; understanding that, in their brief set, their journey was to leave everything on the stage. Honestly, if someone had told me they just drank some Kentucky Ayahuasca for the set, I would believe them because, for Demob Happy, music is colorfully medicinal. Hence, my Jimi Hendrix/ White Stripes reference.
Demob Happy – Be Your Man (Official Video)
They are as cool-headed as Jimi in how they invest in their sound, but cool hearted and electric as Jack White in showing love, life, and anarchy are, technically, philosophies. Yup! Even the choice to believe in nothing is a choice to believe. We all believe in something, and lead singer Matthew Marcantonio’s voice feels leveled and steady among the sweet chaos bred from drummer Thomas Armstrong and guitarist Adam Godfrey. He is the soulful consistency, while he bandmates understand music is noise and lyrics are like the hidden messages you plug amongst their rhythms.
It is kind of weird to have combustive sounds with lyrics, technically, telling you to be keep calm, quiet, and pensively alert. It is like Fire deciding to speak on the importance of water, but, perhaps, our opposites describe us better than our similars. For them, hypocrites and liars are like spiritually thieves, and it takes rock n’ roll badasses to, legitimately, call out actual bad asses. (lol!) For More Information On Demob Happy.
