GREERING UP FOR BIG THINGS

We freely admit that sometimes we miss out on the good stuff, especially the good transitions. Like whenever it was in the Transformers story arc that it was explained why Bumblebee went from having his Volkswagon disguise kit altered into one that looked a helluva lot like a Chevy. We totally missed that. We're sure that this level of meddling with our distinct childhood recollections of that fact must have been an excellent subplot that played out on the small screen, or perhaps in a Dark Horse graphic novel. Surely this isn't the sort of transition that was undertaken in, say, a corporate boardroom.

Regardless, when you do miss out on the transitions, sometimes it can be TCBY chill to be met with that next level product. Like Elaine Greer. Last time we checked in with her, she was a cute as buttons folksie, writing catchy little acoustic strummers like "Everything Again" (still one of our favorites, though sadly no longer on her MySpace). No more. Though we've run into her for weeks at the woefully underrated Saturday Secret Shows, we hadn't actually seen her play, but that all came to a cold, roof-leaking end this past week as she took to the stage (er, corner) of the Shady Tavern's back room.

Left in the car was her acoustic, replaced with the most rock of guitars - a P-90 sporting SG Classic (classic!). Standing aside and behind her, a three piece band, whose amplified sound was almost big enough to keep up with her now seriously catalyic-coverterless voice; you simply cannot believe that a sound that big and full can come from a body that small (and there is really no way to write that phrase without it sounding creepy. Apologies). Though the twee-folk is gone, don't think that she's fallen off the cliff into some sort of too-tuff n' snarly Runaways style rebellion - she sings with a smile and made a noticeably 'oh no' face as she realized she was about to say a lyric with a bad word in front of her grandmother (who was in the audience). The band's slightly twangy pop fits well in the collection of anyone who counts Rilo Kiley or The Lemonheads as must-hears, and certainly has a place in ours.

Whats so great is how young this band is, and though that statement makes us sound old and farty (which we are), it is true that they do some of those rather charming things that young bands/musicians do: for example, later in the night, when we went to see them at the Proletariat (yes, after seeing them play for free we went and paid six bucks to hear them again - they're that good) not quite being able to roll with the pretty standard sound challenges that the venue likes to throw at you. BUT - that is not meant to take away from them, just to say we are canned like ham on whats to come from this quartet. Elaine tells us that they'd like to record, and we hope they find the means to do it soon.

Stream: Elaine Greer - Various Tracks
Photo by Grant Hickey