We Came To Visit And Never Went Away

Hank Collective @ Sin-E, 10/2/2005
Carving Beef On Weck / The Stomp of Sloth / Sure Footed / Blame Pt 1 / Harley Tat / Exclusive Plot / Family Business / Lakeshore Report Diluted: Sources / Rumours Dogged Us / Tear Drops / I Was A Cop ’til He Busted Me / Mountain Wood / Whatever Happened to the Forster Appeal? / Heswal Diesel / Brumers Adder / Smoke Jumper

Hank Collective “Ferox” – Hank is a lanky man with a deep voice who stabs at his guitar with exaggerated straight vertical strokes and stands to the far left of the stage, deferring most of the attention to his band of merry women. A bass player who dabbles in piano lingers to the far right, a drummer sits in the back, and a row of three giddy helium-voiced girls in white “I Sing For Hank” t-shirts take center stage, singing, smiling, and shimmying when necessary. (It is necessary about 85% of the time.) The band is cheerful, shambling and charmingly odd, playing as though their enthusiasm was their main instrument, and the guitar, bass, and percussion were just there to prop up their lovely melodies. The band skipped my three favorite songs from How To Prosper In The Coming Bad Years (“God Slick, ” “Ferox,” “Defreeze & Top Gal”), but that hardly mattered, as they nailed selections from their two lps, and ran through several immediately loveable new tunes. (The setlist is from the stage, by the way.) Unfortunately, the Hank Collective made their NYC debut to a sparsely populated room, but hopefully they can draw a larger crowd here and elsewhere before too long. You all owe it to yourselves, really. (Click here to buy it from the Hank Collective.)