Frontier Ruckus plays Mercury Lounge NYC

The second to last night of January, away from the bitter cold of the outside world, the Mercury Lounge was packed with people huddled together for warmth. Though outside was painfully cold, the stage lights warmed up the stage to an ungodly temperature, according to the performers.

“Cashmere was a bad choice,” said Anna Burch of Frontier Ruckus.

Matthew Milia looks over at his band mate, points to his sweater and says, “I’m wearing angora babe…it might be yeti, I don’t know.”

“This is a towel, yo,” David Jones says of his shirt as he fiddles with his banjo.

“Can I use your towel to wipe my face off?” Milia said. Laughter ensued.

Between their banter that was sometimes witty and sometimes a bit crude, the six-piece, folk-rock jam band played songs off their most recent album, Sitcom Afterlife, which came out on November 11.

“Bathroom Stall Hypnosis” is a song inspired by the 8 Ball Saloon back in Ann Arbor, Mich. It’s claim to fame was the fact that people tended to use the bathrooms more for sex than for what they’re normally used for.

An enemy’s wedding in the summer of 2007 is the setting of “Sad Modernity,” a song full of drunken shenanigans, memories of the past and predictions for the future.

For a few songs out of the set, Zachary Nichols took a break from playing the trumpet and the keys, sat down and started playing a saw. Yeah, the kind you use to cut wood. He bent the saw in a curve, undulating it as he glided a bow back and forth to make an eerie metallic vibration that was an amazing addition to the gritty folk sound the band already had.

The Brothers Landreth, coming all the way from Winnipeg, Canada, opened for Frontier Ruckus, getting the crowd dancing with their country folk tunes. They are definitely four cowboys who were born in the wrong country.

Frontier Ruckus ended the show with an encore off stage, in the middle of the crowd. The sounds of their voices and instruments filled the silent and attentive room, putting the remaining audience into a trance – no one wanted to leave after that magical ending.

Article by: Merissa Blitz