On Monday nights, Spaceland, a small venue located in Silverlake showcases a couple of bands, usually local for no entrance fee. While Monday nights used to be fairly hit or miss, in the past few months they have started giving bands month-long residencies and it has slowly grown in popularity and consistency. Monday was the final night of Princeton’s residency and I was surprised to see a line wrapping around the building upon my arrival at 9:30pm.
The opening band, Castledoor is based in Silverlake, and first became popular after their SXSW performance in 2008. One of the band’s guitarists recently moved on to pursue other projects and played with Castledoor for the final time last night. Perhaps that is the reason the band made it a show to remember, their energy and fervor unmatched. That said, perhaps a few of the members began celebrating a bit too early. The lead singer appeared to be belligerent and his outrageous antics, wild gesturing and dancing only distracted from the music. There was no doubt that the band was excited to be playing, but I found myself cringing every time he took a gulp from his enormous mug of beer, bracing myself to hear more words being slurred and shouted at me. This aside, the band showed potential and my curiosity led me to buy an album, that I am happy to report was not as confrontational as their performance.
Princeton, whose more toned down and mellow set would normally have been more appropriate as an opening act, was instead a welcome change. The band consists of two identical twin brothers who share vocals, guitar and bass, a drummer and a keyboardist. The brothers, who I’m sure, have heard their share of twin jokes remained good-natured about it, responding to the “Twins!” accusations with, “What? You’re just now noticing? This is our fourth week here!” Overall, the performance was solid, the music a stunning blend of shoegaze-pop and folk. With a recently released debut album and a set at SXSW lined up for March, Princeton is sure to continue catching the ears of listener’s around the globe.
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