PHOTOS: ORIANA BELAVIC | Things I learned when I saw The Both:
• Their first show as The Both, they were so talkative that they only got through one song in 30 minutes.
• Dee Dee Ramone has a hip hop album.
• On Dee Dee Ramone’s hip hop album, he “raps” in half German on a track. (Editor’s note: HOLY SHIT THIS EXISTS.)
• Ted Leo now drinks hot cranberry juice on stage because it’s good for his vocal chords. (Editor’s note: Gross.)
• Leo believes “punk rock doesn’t need tuned guitars” is bullshit. Related: he tunes his guitars obsessively.
• Apparently there’s a very detailed drawing of a bird with both male and female parts in the Grog Shop’s backstage area.
• Aimee Mann refers to that bird as “titty bird.”
• Leo is a big fan of The Hobbit and has led some online discussions about it. (Editor’s note: Sorry readers, couldn’t find evidence.)
• Mann once shook Jeb Bush’s hand.
• Hillary Clinton once was seen swaying while Mann performed “Save Me.”
• Leo knows way too much about Paul Stanley’s inane stage banter. He also has a killer impression of Stanley.
• Gene Simmons once shook Mann’s hand, only to try to forcefully pull her onto his lap. (Editor’s note: Of course he did.)
• Neither Mann nor Leo are Kiss fans.
• When she was younger, my wife thought the lyrics to “Voices Carry” were “hush hush, keep it down now, this is scary.” (Editor’s note: This discovery wasn’t exactly at the show, but on the car ride home. While obviously wrong, upon re-listening and knowing the correct lyrics, I could be talked into “this is scary” being what’s sung there.)
As evidenced above, seeing The Both is clearly an enlightening experience and these two take their stage banter seriously. But while 99% of musicians fail miserably talking/joking/whatever they do up there between songs, Mann and Leo were killing. They totally had the room in stitches laughing at jokes. I’d probably pay good money just to hear the two of them talk and tell stories because it was that fun.
But nobody in the building paid to hear these two talk… and the money spent on hearing them perform was worth it.
The Both recently put out a self-titled record that was written and recorded separately while Mann and Leo worked on their own projects. However, because of this recording arrangement, I felt the energy on the record between the two is a little off. It is especially perplexing because it’s been documented what great chemistry these two have. Don’t get me wrong, the songs are solid and the quality of musicianship is there, but it’s just missing that it for me.
But live? Forget it. Both Leo and Mann are at a completely different level on stage and these songs come to life in the live setting. The performance had it and more.
Working their way through most of the self-titled record, and mixing in some select solo stuff along the way, The Both played off each other’s strengths and added a dimension to the material that just didn’t translate to tape.
I said it in my preview of the show, and I’ll restate here: Ted Leo really shreds. Like dude has hot licks and can play. I don’t know why there isn’t a much larger “Ted Leo is a Really Awesome Guitar Player” community out there, but I might organize one. Hearing him improvise to extend the solos that are already baked into the songs is a treat.
And Aimee, oh Aimee. Her vocals are always on point and it was refreshing to hear them higher in the mix than they are on the record. Not only her lead vocal portions, but her harmonies with Leo’s leads make the songs what they are. Mann really does feel like the heart of The Both and gives the duo their live energy.
The show was opened by Nick Diamonds and I was a bit disappointed. Diamonds is the stage name for Nick Thorburn from the band Islands and I actually like his solo record and his stuff with his band. He’s an ambitious artist that has a knack for interesting lyrics with the right amount of quirk in the instrumentation. However, live without a backing band, it just felt flat. Where The Both brought energy to songs that felt flat on the record, Diamonds’ set was the opposite and kind of a bummer. I wanted to love it, but sadly I didn’t.
So fine people of the world: go see The Both if you have an opportunity to see them live. They rock. Come for the music, stay for the laughs between songs. And yell for Leo’s “Hot Cran Jam,” you won’t be disappointed!
NICK DIAMONDS
