White Rabbits and the Hipsterocracy

Columbia's hipster contingent was out in full-force last night at Mojo's to see hometown heroes, White Rabbits, return from NYC and lay down their brand of danceable indie R'nB in the barn/trailer/art space last night. The show was so well-represented by all those hipsters you see at shows or True/False that I'm certain these guys will have pictures to prove it.

I apparently have no hipster friends. M backed out due to a new job and trying to recover from a two week bender. My friend from Ohio (now a grad stud in the J school) wasn't going, and he used to go to every show in Columbus. A few of the other guys I talk music with failed to make it out most likely because they were tucking their little ones into bed. There was the guy that showed us the rental next to his house, but we didn't become his neighbor and are not rock show buddies. There was also our former real estate flake-of-an-agent, but we burned that bridge a long time ago. So, I watched the bands and the hipsterocracy on my own.

Who was there? Well, there was that guy (John, I think) who sings old-timey before flicks at the Ragtag. Also, most of the local music scene, including Billy Shuh of Foundry Field Recordings whom everyone seems to name-drop lately. That one woman who's at every show was there. And I think the entire staffs of Slacker's, Ragtag, and Sparky's made the show. Other than that, there was a dude in a Mizzou hat turned backwards. Boy, did he stick out.

I missed the first band, The Narrator. However, when I stopped by the merch booth to purchase a WR disc, I struck up brief conversation with one of the band members. He rounded up the WR merch guy and handed me a free sampler from his label, so I bought some buttons (for my hipster bag).

I finally got to see the infamous Bald Eagle play their ironic metal for the hometown crowd. The band is incredibly proficient and their style covers the full metal spectrum from Zeppelin to At The Drive-In to Van Halen to Queens of the Stone Age. Their only downfall is the vocals. Yelling slightly off-tune just won't cut it. They really need a singer to round out their sound. If they weren't as good at the guitar-bass-drum thing, they could get away with hardcore barking, but they need a voice suitable to their sound. (I should hook them up with my brother's band for a COMO rock show.)

I recently added Velocity Girl and Bettie Serveert to my iTunes then saw them melded into one last night in the form of the third band, Via Audio. They were an eighties new wave-influenced band with polite male/female harmonies over the top. It was good to sway to, but not much else. They were...cute.

White Rabbits finished the night with a raucous performance that had all the hipsters bobbing their heads with a little more enthusiasm. It's too bad that more people didn't dance. WR are in the same tradition as bands like Harlem Shakes, The Walkmen, and Cold War Kids who rock with just enough bounce and drunken heartbreak that one can't help dancing, unless you want to look cool. Overall, it was a triumphant return for a great band even if their hipster friends can't dance.