Magical Festival Day: Alternative Buffalo 107.7's Kerfuffle at Canalside
I had the privilege of attending Alternative Buffalo 107.7's Kerfuffle Festival at Canalside. Featured bands included: Cake, The Airborne Toxic Event, Civil Twilight, Cold War Kids, The Gaslight Anthem, In The Valley Below, The Mowgli's, New Politics, Saint Motel. Each brought something unique to the fore. Each brought something unique to the fore.
Stephen McKellar of Civil Twilight, a South Africa based band, charmed us with his British accent and close-eyed hand claps.
In The Valley Below got the crowd's feet moving with "Peaches" while Jacob Mendel continually gnashed his teeth and then slammed locally produced Flying Bison Rusty Chain brews once off stage. Also memorable was Angela Mattson's bone chilling dropping of a metal chain on the back beat.
The Mowgli's, whose name is based on the man-child from Rudyard Kipling's "Jungle Book" performed some summery pop songs that hit the spot much like our complimentary drinks early that sunny afternoon with front woman Katie Jayne Earl capturing my heart with her adorable wavy red hair and Victorian-pale skin.
Saint Motel's front-man A/J Jackson's hat parallels Beck Hansen's style on the 'Morning Phase' album cover. His combination of a quintessential hipster lean aesthetic, and buttery soft vocals supported by a trombonist means these white boys aren't too inhibited to get funky.
New Politics stole the show with front-man David Boyd head-spinning then singing whilst the crowd suspended him by his feet to sign atop them and Soren Hansen raging in true punk-rock fashion, partially assuming the visage of Kurt Cobain at times, and feigning to smash his guitar.
Cold War Kids' Nathan Willet proved to be an emotionally expressive, vehement singer. I was not expecting him to have the frame of a bruiser as he deviates from the typical male indie singer ethos, however this expresses an opportunity for our community to embrace a broader conception of physical beauty.
In short, the stars aligned for Kerfuffle's 2015 Festival with cooperative weather-rain didn't come until the last act-and a fantastic line-up. I look forward to developing a broader profile of some of the aforementioned bands in the future.
