We Can't Tell a Lie, We Love the Frisbie

By Jocelyn Geboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 24, 2006 5:09PM

Wednesday night brought another opportunity to see local favorite Frisbie play out as a full electric ensemble. They were playing at the Abbey Pub as the opener to quite a conglomeration for connoisseurs of pop and/or rock. The Silos and the Minus 5 rounded out the bill.

We aren't going to pretend, though. Even though the chance to see Peter Buck play bass with the Minus 5 was defintely intriguing, we were there to see Frisbie. Plain and simple. Anything else that went down was frosting on the cake. And how very sweet the cake was.

There was doubt in our minds when Frisbie started to re-form after a substantial hiatus; where would they end up after the dissolution of the band due to varied reasons (mental illness, moving of members, irreconcilable differences)? However, they rebuilt and the songs came.

We happen to be a nostalgia whore, so we were leery at best. We thought, "Well, we'll like it because it's Frisbie, but it'll never be the same. Sigh." Oh, but we were mistaken. One night as we embarked on our virgin foray into the "new music" at Beat Kitchen, we held our breath and jumped back in. We weren't disappointed. Wednesday was more of the same.

More sound, more polishing and more new songs off their upcoming album which will be recorded in May, to be put out later this year. We found songs with strong hooks, delightful melodies, and harmonies that brought us permagrin. The true test was that we found snips and clips popping up out of our unconscious for weeks at the most random times. We were thrilled.

At times, the show felt a little stiff, with Steve's usual (and normally successful) attempts at intelligent but humorous stage banter falling flat as the room slowly filled up. They are definitely more in their element as a headlining band, but no matter. We'll be looking for more shows as we wait for the album.

Images via smussyolay.