Wind and Chains: Peter and the Wolf @ The Echo, December 14, 2007

Hunched over amongst the sparse crowd stands a man. Average size, common brown thread jacket. He could be any Silverlake/ Echo Park hipster out on a Thursday evening. His relaxed air talking in the crowd shows no signs of pre-stage jitters, or a need to chain smoke or throw back shots. His name is Red, and he is “Peter and the Wolf”.

Tonight the Echo was dead. You could hold your arms out as far as they could go on either side and spin in circles without fear of hitting anyone. I love it like this.

Sharing the stage with Red tonight Thursday December 14, 2006, was The New Motherfuckers and The Lottery. The New Motherfuckers were pretty interesting but we opted to stand out back through their set. Coming back in for The Lottery was a nice surprise. My friend referred to them as “a garage band that doesn’t know they’re a garage band”, which I can agree with until I hear the recorded songs (hmmm, *shrugs*). However, the dual female/male lead vocals and crunchy loud sounds were enough to keep our interest while playing live.

I hate to say that the Peter and the Wolf set up was amateurish, perhaps a better term would be stripped down. It’s just him with a guitar and bass drum, while two members from the Lottery accompany him on drums and, this is perfect, a standup wash bin bass. It’s the kind of stripped down arrangement one might find out on a back porch deep in the Ozarks. While he is traveling Red keeps it simple. He told me that in every town he plays he just asks friends who are in bands to play backup. Which would make for interesting live shows when your backing band is practically making up noise on the spot. Tonight though, the music was knocked down into a deeper, slower pace as he opened with Strange Machines and went into tracks found on his release Experiments in Junk.

Peter and the Wolf prove that even from the simplest of births, music can take on far more complex structures. In his case, all you need is a voice, a stamping foot and a rubber band, and there you have a show.