Catey Shaw Joins French Horn Rebellion at Pianos

The unabashed geekiness of splitting the crowd into “the marching band” and “the orchestra” for a dance-off hit me on a visceral level. But even though my band camp days are over, French Horn Rebellion is still the kind of rebellion I want to join. Their late-night CMJ performance at Pianos gets a superior rating (see what I did there?) for their gutsy funk and a surprise appearance from Catey Shaw.

Brothers David and Robert Perlick-Molinari had Pianos boogying well past 1am with their brass-fueled electro-pop. With Hawaiian leis looped around his bell, Robert busted out his first-chair chops on solos that were insanely slick for an instrument as tricky as French horn. Meanwhile, David showed off the mixing skills that have landed him production work with MGMT.

French Horn Rebellion

FHR

FHR

Lines like “we were kissing in the sun” delivered some much-needed summer love in the October chill, and the song “Friday Nights” was just as snazzy on a Thursday. But the part that felt right on schedule was totally unscheduled. Only at CMJ would you have Catey Shaw suddenly popping out of the audience to sing “Human Contact.”

FHR

FHR – Catey Shaw

“If you just shut that pretty mouth, baby we could burn it down!” she coaxed, while the screaming crowd did the exact opposite. Combined with the band’s wild vibes, Shaw’s bubbly hit turned into an 80s-style explosion. I’m not sure who French Horn Rebellion is rebelling against, but let’s hope they keep on sticking it to them.