On Saturday night, the savage princes of Brooklyn’s DIY scene stepped out onto the stage at Alphaville, one of the borough’s better-established venue-bars and delivered a raucous and floor-shaking performance. Evolfo was there to celebrate the release of their first full-length record, The Last Of The Acid Cowboys after years of gigging in every basement that would have them. Recently signed to Royal Potato Family Records, home of Holly Bowling, Marco Benevento, The New Mastersounds, and Stanton Moore, among others, the album represents a clear and coherent artistic statement from Evolfo about the direction they’re headed, and it’s a tantalizing glimpse at the potential the band represents.
Seamlessly interweaving classic soul themes—performed with punch by their three-piece horn section—and the gypsy-punk sensibilities that have come to define Evolfo’s sweat-soaked performances, the songs present a twisted, smoky world of deception and isolation in the lawless American west. There’s something anachronistic about the music, though perhaps it is not so much their subject matter as the sincerity with which the whole affair is presented, where the fuzzy driving riffs and off-kilter lyrics of “Bloody Bloody Knife” really fill you with enough adrenaline to inhabit the mindset of the on-the-run outlaw at the center of the song’s narrative.
The set’s early-going showed off the band’s ability to get a crowd moving, featuring “Bloody Bloody Knife,” “Science,” and an older number called “They’re Gonna Know I’m High” that highlights the big band’s ability to really get swinging once they’ve all crammed on-stage. After sparking a full-on mosh pit during “Vision Of Sin,” the new album’s most intense track, they segued into some more evocative and mysterious tunes including “When The Moon Eclipsed The Sun,” the album’s unexpected hit that has found its way to Paste Magazine and countless Spotify playlists since its release this fall.
The more contemplative portion of the show came to an end with the opening chords of “Rat City,” a fan favorite since the band’s Boston days, featuring lead guitarist and resident wild man Matt Gibbs gyrating about stage in glittering gold spandex underpants and a decrepit rat mask that’s clearly been on the road for more than a few miles. The energy ratcheted up further with a cover of The Sonics’ “Have Love Will Travel” before reaching a fever pitch with The Last Of The Acid Cowboys’ titular track. After a few minutes of chanting, the band returned to deliver a high-energy rendition of Devo’s “Whip It,” before sauntering back off into the cloud of smoke they entered through, and the crowd stumbled back out into 2017.
[Photo credit: Liz Maney]
Setlist: Evolfo | Alphaville | New York, NY | 4/22/2017
Set One: Intro, Bloody Bloody Knife, Science, They’re Gonna Know I’m High, Vision of Sin, Right Back (Shannon Cannon), Moon Eclipsed the Sun, Frank the Fiddler, Peachy, Rat City, Luv Like a Freak, Have Love Will Travel (The Sonics), Last of the Acid Cowboys
Encore: Whip It (Devo)
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