how Darwin Deez changed my life
My lovely boyfriend had the brilliant idea to skip town to New York City midweek to catch Darwin Deez’s only stateside show for all of summer.
Darwin had been away for the last few months, hitting up venues all across Europe and Asia, but he was heading home to the Big Apple before shipping out again for round two of his international tour.
The reality of the awesome trip hadn’t set in until I heard the familiar strums of Darwin’s hand-crafted guitar (it’s a four-string he made himself) from the headphones of a kid sitting one row in front of us on the MegaBus. Extreme excitement overwhelmed me.
You can pretty much map my obsession with indie-popstar Darwin Deez by just reviewing audiocandy+radio archives. From Profiles to blurbs to just the constant inclusion of his music on my broadcasts, I’m in love with the man. So I knew it was going to be a special night.
But all love-lust aside, the man is just a pop genius. His songs are catchy without being exhausting. His one and only album out is a piece of indie pop GOLD.
The show was at Santos’ Party House and the venue ruled. It had great lighting and ambiance, decorated with minimal props that gave the place flare without being cheesy. Darwin and his posse was kind of just roaming about, saying “what’s up” to people and graciously taking pictures.
[We met some wonderful Australian sisters who were living in Brooklyn for a month. Alissa said that Darwin Deez gets crucial airtime on Aussie radio. Wild!]
Brooklyn-based Mixel Pixel and Scary Mansion were the openers. Mixel Pixel was true-blue indie pop, whereas Scary Mansion was almost a fusion of Karen-O-led-Travis-Barker-backed rock. Scary Mansion was great. Check them out on their myspace.
And then it was Darwin’s turn.
It was amazing. The set was sprinkled with dance numbers in which the whole band would break into various choreographed breakdowns and scripted dance battles. They had some fly-ass dance moves.
All theatrics aside, the band sounded amazing. Just like the record, but with more energy. They were sweating pop. Shaun and I were right in front with the Aussies and three other kids from Jersey and we were just dancing so hard along with everyone else in the front.
They went through their whole album, ending with what most would say is their favorite song–”Radar Detector.” Everyone in the place knew the words and it was just so great to see how happy and impressed the band was with the whole place going wild!
They finished their set and I didn’t think they were going to come back. I was bummed because they hadn’t played “The Bomb Song,” The house music came on so I thought I just come one-song short of a perfect night.
But let’s be real; it’s Darwin.
So of course he came back. And of course he played “The Bomb Song.”
So, take Darwin Deez + a perfect pop album + New York City + fantastic people = how Darwin Deez changed my life.
