MICHAEL MALARKEY PLAYS HIS HEART OUT AT WEBSTER HALL

I always get a little apprehensive when film and television stars decide to become musicians, mostly because it would be absolutely unfair to the rest of us for them to be that undeniably talented. Saturday night I decided to check out Michael Malarkey, who is probably best known as the snarky and sarcastic vampire, Enzo, on The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries.” While his character might have a penchant for ripping hearts out of chests, Malarkey opted to crack open his own heart in the form of his soul-searching songs, which held surprising depth and wonderful metaphors.

Before Malarkey’s set, Robbie Lowe took the stage along with guitarist Ben Atyas to perform a set of his original songs, as well as a clever cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” To cover an MJ song with different chords takes balls, and Robbie was definitely up for the task. His original tune “On Sky Avenue” really put me in the mind of a very young John Mayer. Robbie’s set was full of banter, and I appreciated the time he spent telling us the titles of the songs and what they were about. He was very professional and at home on the stage I’m confident that this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of him.

Michael took the stage afterward rather casually, with a guitar slung across his back, plaid shirt wrapped around his waist and his signature leather jacket on. He was unfazed by all the shouting, of course, but the minute he opened his mouth, he charmed the entire audience. His hour and a half set flew by quickly, consisting of the majority of his debut EP, Feed The Flames. The title track was an all out audience sing-a-long with Michael glancing around the crowd, smirking at everyone because he was pleased we knew the words. His unusual voice was deep and husky, yet smooth and confident as he pushed through his songs “Through The Night and Back Again”, the playful “Everything’s Burned” and “The Bells Still Ring.”

He’s an expert storyteller, which isn’t a surprise with influences like Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. His songs paint pictures of love won, love lost and all the fights and romance in between. The atmosphere of intimacy he managed to weave inside the venue was only marred by the fact there was another show going on upstairs and the thumping bass was distracting. Michael didn’t seem to mind, and neither did the overzealous crowd, who took each and every opportunity to yell at him to take off his clothes, present him with gifts, and ask him to quote his vampire character. Luckily, he shares his character’s cheekiness because he took it all in stride, accepting a paper crane from a woman in the crowd and affixing it to his guitar, kissing a woman’s hand for her birthday and dedicating a song to one fan who travelled all the way from Brazil.

Michael Malarkey’s transition into music looks quite promising and I’m interested in seeing it play out in the future. He has the songwriting ability, the voice, and the stage presence to see it through. Lucky for us, he’s already got EP number 2 in mind and more tour dates on the way.

Article by: Lesley Keller