So the biggest mistake I made Saturday night (I promise this post is rated PG-13) was showing up late to The Deli. Due to unforeseen hot tub-related issues (again, PG-13, I assure you), a few friends and I wound up on Campus Corner much closer to midnight than the beginning of
My So Called Band’s marathon sprint through the decade I first used the big-boy bathroom, first played organized sports and first feared Y2K.
My mistake.
Turns out that Ricky Salthouse, Carly Gwin, Kyle Davis, Brian Stansberry and Aaron Daniels aren’t your typical “We play covers ’cause we’re too lazy to write our own stuff” cover band. They play covers because it’s fun to shout radio choruses from their teenage years in front of rowdy crowds who do the same. Toss in a few pop hits with Garth Brooks and Dixie Chicks country numbers, indie classics and highlights from hip-hop’s formative years and you’ve got a My So Called Band set list, which usually gets split up into multiple sets for the same reason most marathon runners have to take breaks: They go for a
long time.
On top of solid musicianship and a dedication to truthful covers, the group’s got a lot of talent as musicians and songwriters in their own right. Gwin and Davis play in two of Norman’s finest bands, The Workweek and Evangelicals, respectively, and Salthouse’s guitar work on “Possum Kingdom” rang so loud and muscular in The Deli’s dark, overcrowded confines. With a name like My So Called Band, they might be a little sarcastic in nature, but dammit, they mean business.
Were he born a decade earlier, Salthouse (also a member of The Workweek) probably would’ve fronted a successful alt-rock or grunge band, as he handled singing (or rather, howling) duties on Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the aforementioned “Possum Kingdom” and Spin Doctor’s “Two Princes.” Davis took over on hip-hop duty and quirky indie hits, brandishing a bullhorn for Beck’s “Where It’s At” (bonus points for remembering to shout “that was a good drum breeeeak” between the first few verses) and even stepping in as a hype man for guest rapper Marcus Dixon (Norman’s Hi-PoP!) who pushed Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa” well over the top. Gwin sings anytime a female voice is called for, but she was absolutely on her A-game for Alanis Morissette’s pissed-off kiss-off classic, “You Oughta Know.”
It was a fun show. The most genuine, rowdy fun I’ve had at a show since
the last time I saw Broncho. My So Called Band plays Friday at The Blue Note, and you’d better believe I’ll be there, begging them to play “Blue Album”-era Weezer. They also play Tulsa's Crystal Pistol on Saturday.
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Setlist:
SET I"Lump"
"What’s Up"
"Semi-Charmed Life"
"Hunger Strike"
"Stay"
"Popular"
"It Was A Good Day"
"All I Wanna Do"
"Ice Ice Baby"
"Champagne Supernova"
SET II"The Distance"
"Bitch"
"No Rain"
"Wicked Game"
"Nothin But A G Thang"
"Zombie"
"Mr. Jones"
"Big Poppa"
"Celebrity Skin"
"Two Princes"
"You Oughta Know"
SET III"Possum Kingdom"
"Where It's At"
"The Sign"
"Regulate"
"Santeria"
"Lovefool"
"Got Your Money"
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"
"Gangsta's Paradise"
P.S.: Thanks for the free tickets, guys!
