What do you get when you have a duo-turned-trio outfitted with a banjo, accordion, guitar, light-up drums and an iPod connected to an amplifier? The pop-tastic Seedy Seeds, a Cincinnati-based band who played at the Great Scott this past Monday, one of the first stops on their tour to promote their newest album, Verb Noun (Paper Garden Records). While the blending of instruments may sound kitschy at best, their dynamic performance took hold of the small club and proved much better than their monotonous albums let on.
The three-piece band uniquely blends electronica, indie-pop and folk tunes to create pop at its most diverse and sincere, which consistently attracts a wide variety of people to their shows. Made up of Mike Ingram, formerly of 90s pop-punk band The Scrubs and co-founder of Nice Guy Records, Margaret Darling and newest addition Brian Penick, the trio works together to create upbeat music fitting of a much larger band.
While there was low turnout for the week night show, from the second the Seedy Seeds took the stage the small crowd was enthused and the band seemed sincerely surprised that anyone had come at all, with their excitement palpable. Constantly switching between a wide variety of instruments, the band was reminiscent of a myriad of styles of music and bravely combined new and old; during the hour long performance they played everything from a dial tone through their iPod to slow and beautiful bluegrass lines plucked on the banjo.
While Ingram and Darling shared the vocal lead throughout the night, both providing harmonies at times, Darling stole the show with her continuous disjointed dancing, barely stopping to switch instruments, which she did between almost every song. Telling anecdotes about being a camp counselor in Boston and giving the children too much “Bug Juice,” she seemed completely at ease, even stopping to tease their newest member about his nickname, Time Bomb.
The show reached a high point toward the end during “The Push,” as Ingram and Darling crooned in a harmony that cut straight to the heart and, for once, began to dance in unrehearsed unison. As the song reached its pinnacle, the crowd let go of themselves, giving in to full out dancing. The energy the band carried could barely be contained to the small Allston stage. Ingram seemed to revel in the moment, responding with a casual “Y’all got some sweet moves,” before attempting to order a round of Bug Juice for the house.
The Seedy Seeds managed to capture the crowd in a manner rarely seen. As they thanked the audience and began to pack up their instruments there were shouts of “encore” and “another” amidst cries of “Spring break ‘11!” While obviously not accustomed to encore performances, they came back to play one last song, with Ingram commenting, “We haven’t played this in a long time so you’re going to have to deal with it.”
The Seedy Seeds will continue to tour through April, and their consistent performances have garnered them a spot at SXSW this year, their second time at the festival.
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