Emily Danger in Chicago

Anyone who knows me or regularly visits thirtyroses.com or my Twitter feed, knows that I have developed quite a fondness for a certain New York based band over the course of this year.

When you work in the music industry, in any capacity, you’re constantly asked to listen to music. You’re always told that it’s amazing and, more often than not, it’s dreadful. When Ann Marie Landry of As the Music Plays asked me to listen to Emily Danger and review their debut EP several months ago, I didn’t know what to expect, but much to my amazement, I fell in love with it instantly.

From that point on I’ve been championing the Emily Danger cause, offended that singers with talent like Emily Nicholas exist in a world dominated by the chart success of Ke$ha and Katy Perry.

On Thursday, 16 August, I finally got to see them perform live. There’s always a bit of trepidation involved in seeing a band live when you truly love them on record. A good producer and some savvy engineering can make anyone sound like a good musician and, with all of my blathering on about Emily Danger, I would have looked like an absolute idiot had this been the case.

Fortunately, they’re as amazing live as they are on ‘Paintings’…perhaps even better. There are vocalists who have unbelievable vocal range, yet you get the sense when listening to them that the only reason they’re hitting and holding the notes that they are is to prove that they can. This is never the case with Ms. Nicholas; every note has a purpose and fits each song perfectly.

The wonderful thing about Emily Danger is that each of the band members is just as talented as Emily Nicholas and it’s evident when they’re performing that you are watching true musicianship. Coyote Anderson (bass), Ryan Nearhoff (guitar, vocals), and Cameron Orr (violin) are so talented and compliment one another so well, there comes a point when you almost have to wonder how much talent can fit into a single band.

Since the lounge is where the acoustic sets are performed, and the Chicago show was the last of the tour, drummer Colin Lime had flown home after the previous tour stop. The band felt some of the songs were lacking without drums.  While I don’t doubt they’re amazing with drums, I can certainly attest to the fact that they were amazing in their stripped down state as well.

They performed all the songs on the ‘Paintings’ EP, as well as some new material, and a Tom Waits cover. The pièce de résistance was, undoubtedly, when they covered ‘Lucky’ by Radiohead for me. It is worthy of note that, until that day, I have literally never, ever liked a Radiohead cover-by anyone. That, however, was amazing.

Since it was the last night of a long tour, after the set we went to a local karaoke bar to celebrate them surviving their first tour, their successful Kickstarter campaign, and just relax and hang out a bit. (It should be pointed out that they can all sing. All of them. Even their manager. It’s actually unfair.)

It was beyond lovely to finally get to meet them (well, most of them~ next time I need to see Colin, too)!

Perhaps it’s because our careers began their upswing at the roughly the same time. It could be because they’re just amazingly talented and genuinely nice people. Maybe I’m just a nerdy fangirl. Whatever the reason, of one thing I am certain; whether I’m working at a car wash or accepting a Nobel Prize for music-industry-article-writing in the future, I’m bringing Emily Danger with me wherever I go.