Frankie And His Fingers + Spoils System

22 Rock City Road,Woodstock NY 12498

02 October, 2022

Description

Frankie And His Fingers + Spoils SystemUNDER 18 WITH PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN Frankie And His Fingers, Spoils System Before Frankie & His Fingers went their separate ways in the aughts, the trio of guitarist and singer Frank McGinnis, drummer Sammi Niss, and bassist Adam Stoutenburgh were the stars of a homegrown scene in New York’s Hudson Valley. Since forming as a guitar/drums duo at Bennington College in 2004, their nervy indie rock had drawn comparisons to classics like the Talking Heads as much as to their contemporaries in groups like The Get Up Kids and The Anniversary. On widely-pirated releases like One Hell of a Skeleton and Hell Broke Loose, Frank wrote witty, wordy, and at times acid-tongued stories of loneliness and heartbreak over razor-sharp guitar and springy rhythm section interplay. They sounded like a band about to break out, and they very nearly did. But life made other demands. Adam went back to college, Frank explored ‘80s kitsch and folk-rock in a plethora of other bands, and Sammi sits behind the kit for acts as varied as Real Estate and Laura Stevenson, as well as pursuing own solo work in Hiding Behind Sound. The band stayed close, and made various stabs at getting back together over the years, including a sold-out reunion show in 2013. But with the upcoming Universal Hurt and the addition of long-time fan, and brother of Adam, Ryan Stoutenburgh on lead guitar,all the pieces fell back into place, and Frankie & His Fingers are back from the grave. Traces of Big Star, The Get Up Kids, Cheap Trick, The Weakerthans, Teenage Fanclub, The Hold Steady, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello permeate the record’s 10 tracks. It’s the smartest, most complex music the band has ever made, and yet often their most emotionally direct, reaching out to the listener with soaring choruses and walls of guitars. But much has changed in the intervening decade, and Frank’s lyrics these days strike a more cynical tone, flashed through with moments of melancholic self-doubt. “Why do you act like your youth is dead? / The day will come when you wish you were this age instead,” he reflects on “Sad to let you down like this,” while “Gene Kelly & The Truck My Dad Built” finds him settling into his mid-thirties, full of not-entirely discarded desires for something more from life. “Just recalled that I promised my mom I’d be famous by now / And I’d buy her a house” he sings at the song’s opening, but by the end he’s committed to something approaching acceptance: “Let’s try to let go / Of what we can’t know / I think if we turn left here there’s a new road.” ------------ Spoils System is Sean Hansen (bass, drums, guitar, vocals) and Dan Coutant (vocals, guitar, keys). Formerly members of the late '90s indie outfit Joshua (Doghouse Records), their new album Smoke Signals is a euphonic blend of psych-rock, chamber pop, indie rock, and soul that distills the countless musical influences that have been collected by the two over their vast careers. The album was recorded and produced by the band, and mixed by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Clutch, The Sword, The Promise Ring, Braid, Jets to Brazil) and Alap Momin (Dälek). Coutant and Hansen have recently been joined by drummer Mark Frankel and bassist David Fateman to begin live performances in support of the record starting in the fall of 2022.