O’Death has been getting raves reviews around the nation for their modern take on alt-country. I expect their set to be wonderful. But the reason I am recommending this show at the BEATnik is because one of the openers is New Orleans’ own Walt McClements performing under his nom de musique.
Readers will remember him from his tenure with one of my favorite named bands in recent history, Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship? He was also a formative inspiration for Alynda Lee Segarra, the songwriter and leader of Hurray for the Riff Raff and he was a member of the band in one of its early incarnations. McClements has also toured with Dark, Dark, Dark—another influential band. Read on to hear his latest single.
I saw his act last year at the AllWays Lounge. He played accordion, drums, and a bit of trumpet, sometimes all at once. His singing was very evocative and the small but attentive crowd ate it up.
McClements recently premiered his latest single, “The Night Was Old.” He had this to say about the origin of the track: “The song dropped fully formed into my life one night between tours in a dingy Brooklyn practice space, a bold and flamboyant wannabe house music pop song, complete with bad puns and embarrassingly earnest word play, to take my hand and tell me it was okay, to say sometimes even the biggest of cities are too small to share with a failed love interest, and to say that leaving doesn’t necessarily mean running away, even if you don’t know where you’re going.
I took 20 minutes to jot the song down, packed my car, and drove out of town, to where the stars were clearer, and I could lay my head to rest in peace.”
Sounds about right.
Lowland Hum also performs. Tickets are available here.
