Hey Mister Tambourine Man, Could You Put a Couple Down?- Brothers and Sisters @ Spaceland June 25, 2007

I took a little breather lately from going to shows in case you've been wondering what had become of the site for the last two weeks. Mainly I had a crap load of stuff interfering with my ability to get to shows or stay up past 10 o'clock on a weeknight. Alas, Spaceland had a free Monday night residency for the Deadly Syndrome with Brothers and Sisters, and goddammit an unannounced appearance at midnight by the Pity Party, who I keep trying to get to see but always have my plans upended when it comes time to see them. Including this night too unfortunately.

We arrived just as Brothers and Sisters started and we stayed right up till they finished, mostly in part due to an exhaustive day which made me ok with leaving cause I at least got to see ONE band. So anyways, Brothers and Sisters is outta Austin, TX (one of the best places right now for new, awesome music, besides L.A. that is) and actually does have brothers and sisters in the band, namely Will and Lily Courtney who lead and sing. They also answer the question of "Can one band have too many tambourines?" Um, yeah, actually they can. At some point during the show the numbers on Spaceland's tiny stage seemed to have doubled as people came on solely to play tambourines, a bit too much if you ask me. It's just asking for "parody" to be stamped on to them.

Anyways, the music sounded pretty good, nothing really new, even perhaps calling back to some good ol' seventies country rock. They did have a steal guitar, which for me is always a plus. Actually, the guy playing it also played about five other instruments as well including the keys and the guitar, and maybe a tambourine that I might have overlooked. Everyone on stage looked to be enjoying themselves as their bopping along to the music spread out audience wise so that I found myself swaying as well (and into a couple of people with full drinks too, sorry about that....).

Tonight was also the last night that Brothers and Sisters would be here in L.A. I believe that they were here for pretty much the whole month. They are definitely worth checking out if you're into the whole alt-country scene, and not afraid to venture knee deep into the freak-hippies that attach to bands such as these like moths to a bare bulb.

Ah, and one thing about Spaceland: free show = no parking. Which also means having to wait 20 minutes for the valet to find your car and almost get you run down in the street.