Maybe you haven't heard of Locksley (they're unsigned). Maybe you have (they've got a video on mtvU). Either way, you should take note. They're worth remembering.
According to the official decree, they play a refreshing take on Brit Invasion-era Beatles & Kinks. And this is true. But what they also do is bring to life the have-fun ethos of those smiling, handsome young bands. Locksley, as I caught them last night at CBGB, effortlessly personify the honest glee that defined rock n roll of yore.
Shtick But Not Slick
These days, retro often means regressive -- or, at it's best, a style over substance imitation of yesteryear's most commercial. So when Locksley took the stage wearing Sgt Pepper's-style matching big-buttoned uniforms and began to play tunes that would have made sonic sense in my mother's teenage record collection, let's just say I withheld judgement. But the Brooklyn-based, Wisconsin-raised quartet -- Jesse Laz on lead vocals and guitar, Kai Kennedy on lead guitar and vocals, Aaron Collins on bass and back-up vocals and Sam Bair on drums -- were having something on stage that is not as common as you might think: fun. And, this "fun," which is a hard thing to perform, was also "fun" to watch. In a quick second, I caught the infection.
But Locksley didn't only put on a show worth giggling about: they also played a classy, professional 45 minutes of music. Each song was jumpy and catchy, fresh and original -- even if the flavor was vintage 1964. Throughout their set, the delivery was tight, the sound was excellently mixed, the lighting flickered in emotive unison with their beats and even the breaks between songs (which were obviously practiced but never felt rehearsed) felt well-timed. And during the entire set they didn't talk at, but interacted with, the audience (jokes, beers and hats were shared).
Presumably, some people there had heard Locksley's tunes before they attended the show, and their dancing/cheering/giggling was an expression of their glee at witnessing such energetic renditions of those tunes. But here is a glowing endorsement: I'd only heard one Locksley song before, and I was still able to fully enter each crystal-clear, tightly spun song and to love, right off, what hit my ears. And another: the band, who obviously weren't sharing my first time glee, delivered each note with enough gusto that it seemed they were.
What I saw on stage, grinning ear to ear, were four guys who loved what they were doing -- unabashedly, unpretentiously, unaffectedly. What I felt from the audience was a breath of fresh air (in the form of a great rock and roll show). Not so bad for a Wednesday night out.