Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

crossposted from ninebullets.net:

What are you doing Friday night? If you are shrugging your shoulders then allow me to make your decision for you. Orlando natives by way of Athens, Summerbirds in the Cellar are playing Czar in Ybor.

As I said in December of 2006, I was gonna make a concentrated effort to see/discover more local music this year and use ninebullets as a medium to bring the deserving (and ready) to you. Summerbirds in the Cellar are definitely ready. I stumbled upon Summerbirds while following myspace links from other local bands. The demo track “Wicked World” grabbed me immediately! As of this typing, Myspace shows that the track has been played 950 times. I would venture to guess that I am responsible for 50 of those plays. I was surprised to find a local band with such a refined and mature sound.

As with many other local acts, I sent them an email
explaining the web site(s) and my interest in covering them. Unlike most other bands, they actually followed through and got me a copy of their cd “With The Hands Of The Hunter it All Becomes Dead” and I spent the better part of my ski trip with it getting top bill on the iPod.

I have paced my living room for the past 20 minutes trying to come up with a way to describe Summerbird’s sound. Atmospheric and moody without coming off as detached. Dark and dramatic without coming off as pretentious? Jesus and Mary Chain meets Interpol with a splash of The Church. Does that make sense? Probably not. So instead I’ll borrow from an Orlando Weekly review written by a professional:

Dark drones and thick, unidentifiable sonic swirls embrace abstract melodies and impressionistic lyrics, forcing the listener to focus on a complete picture that’s organic and wistful. Somber without being mopey and serious without being sterile, Summerbirds in the Cellar is psychedelic space-rock covered in dirt and rust.

As good as the material is on With The Hands Of The Hunter it All Becomes Dead, it pales in comparison to the demo tracks of the new material they have up for your sampling on myspace. The myspace tracks are from their upcoming album Druids, which they expect to release this year.

Apparently, the live shows can vary pretty greatly from their recorded music. To quote Curtis Brown, “Somebody once told us to worry first about making a good record and then figure out how to play it live later,” says Brown. “Why not make a record that sounds totally different than our live show? I think it makes it more interesting.”

Interesting is good. So, come out to Czar and show the Orlando kids that Tampa can appreciate local talent as well.

Summerbirds in the Cellar, Czar Bar, 9:00 tonight

Summerbirds in the Cellar - Beware of False Prophets
Summerbirds in the Cellar - Ghosttown
Summerbirds in the Cellar - Behold the Wolf

Summerbirds in the Cellar
Summerbirds myspace
Buy Summerbirds in the Cellar’s cd