Dark West. Photo by Bryan Parker.
There’s something indescribably miraculous about seeing a band perform their first show. Most of our days are filled with jobs and trips to the grocery store, car rides in traffic and “to do” lists. We all know how hard it is to get around to that one thing we always want to do but can’t seem to make time for. I often stop to marvel at many hours must be carved out to work with two or three other human beings in order to pin down a thirty minute set of songs, how much love and effort must go into it. It’s hard enough to keep a band going, but getting one started? Well, that is something profound.
Dark West. Photo by Bryan Parker.
It does help that all of the members of Dark West have experience playing in stable, successful Austin bands. Adam Hilton plays with Linen Closet, Jesse Kees with Jess Williamson, Will Wolfe with the recently dissolved Act Rights, and Andrew Stevens with Little Lo, Jess Williamson, Alex Napping, Taft, and others on occasion. These four guys have impeccable talent, and that was clear from the first note of Dark West’s set at Cheer Up Charlie’s on Tuesday night.
Dark West. Photo by Bryan Parker.
As they take the stage, Adam is leaning out toward me. “You’re gonna really love the third one,” he tells me, throwing the strap of his bass over his neck. He’s not wrong, but then again, the whole damn set sounds pretty good. The songs are sprawling, crunchy folk rock numbers that wander through suppressed tension before breaking loose into rambling distorted bursts like crashes of thunder in a nighttime storm–Dark West, indeed. The band feels a little like Magnolia Electric Company, but frontman Jesse Kees is less plaintive; he croons more. It’s funny, Austin is so saturated with diversity of music that I sometimes feel like, man, everything is being done. What’s left to do? But then a new band comes along and reminds me: oh yeah, no one is doing that thing in that way. Dark West is something fresh, and in talking to Andrew Stevens after the show, it’s clear they may move in even more disparate directions.
Dark West. Photo by Bryan Parker.
Austin has put some bands on the map over the years, but watching the inaugural appearance of Dark West on Tuesday night, that didn’t really matter. For more significant than what artists get propelled into the national spotlight is this community itself–these people in this little corner of the world, coming together and making songs for those of us who need a place to belong on any given night of the week.
All photographs © Bryan C. Parker & Pop Press International. Click any image to open set in slideshow viewer.
