Frankly Scarlet
One thing I have been neglectful is covering music that I have been to this year. Fact is I have not gone to any festivals or big name concerts this year, but I have caught a bunch of groups and individuals in the local scene, both in Lexington and even more so in Danville. There are only a handful of places to catch music in Danville and of those most of them have pretty bad acoustics. That being what it is, my favorite place is at Joe’s Fourth Street Deli and Tap Room. Given that, what I really wanted to mention was local groups… and at the top of that list is no surprise, Frankly Scarlet! Check them out by the way at Joe’s on this Saturday eve, January 2nd, 2010!
Granted, I have a biased opinion living with the lead singer of the group. I get the advantage (or perhaps disadvantage) of hearing the vocals being worked up, often to acoustic guitar and sometimes with several different versions of a song from various artists on YouTube and other locations on the net. What is even neater from my personal perspective is I often get to hear the version in a sometimes two-part harmony with mom and daughter singing together and of course I have then heard them in with the whole group.
The group consists of Scarlet and four guys, two guitarist, one bass player and one drummer. I would try to name them all, but I feel like I would miss someone and better let that slide at this point. Suffice to say it is mostly a group of friends that like to get together and jam a bit and decided with a bit of practice they could make something out of it. Indeed they have.
They have played a couple of gigs this summer/fall at places in Danville and I have enjoyed them. Thought the acoustics at the Hub (coffee shop) are perhaps the worst in all of the places of town. They did get to play at the festival in town and despite the rain and cool wetness of the evening they generally rocked the place. Much more so then the headline band that I only heard a bit of later in the evening, but was generally told was not very good.
That being said, what do they play? Mostly covers of various things. It is really about as eclectic group of cover songs as my own musical collection is. I have heard a lot of variety, including a lot from the 90′s and early 00′s from what was the popular music of the day, mix in a sprinkle of some 80′s stuff, including the occasional hair band bit and add a bit of stuff that is amped up (and refreshing) covers of some older country classics and the occasional song of just yesterday and you have the basics.
That all being said, when playing live they have for the most part been a band with a power pushing sound, that is good in its own right. But I admit I like the versions that I have often heard when Scarlet is practicing at home. To my extreme delight the one demo CD they have done, called oddly enough when I got it, Demo in the Living Room, is a good acoustic mix of just the kind of songs I mentioned above. There is some really good stuff on the demo, but my favorites are of course the upbeat cover of Jolene and very good covers of Creep and Mr. Brightside. While I liked the other covers, I admit that I did not see much being added to songs like Rockin’ in the Free World – though I am not overly fond of the original either.
As a cover band, I have generally liked the take they have put on things. But having just last night finally heard the cut of the original song they have put into a recording, I am thinking they are totally awesome and may have a shot with something actually making a breakout one of these days with the right exposure. With a working title of Contradiction, it really just does not get much better then this. The sound just has a good driving riff to it, that explodes at points filling the listener and the lyrics are spot on for a million of us that have walked away from relationship, yet still thought it should have been you and me forever…
** – image from promotional materials for Saturday night, happen to be pretty sure by Scarlet!
Guitarist here for Frankly Scarlet. Just wanted to say thanks for the kind words. The bass player and I were working on new original music today and he told me about your review. It made my night to read this. Can't thank you enough. Hope to see you when we are back at Joe's on March 13th.
I am not sure about the 13th. My week long medieval thing starts on the 14th in Mississippi and I usually get on the road that Saturday afternoon. You all are rocking it though and if not then (I am truly torn mind you) I will definitely catch you later in the summer.
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