BRENTON NEWCOMB
Staff Writer
On Feb. 19, BJ’s hosted it’s regular bi-weekly music series with Last Call Entertainment, something that has become a staple of Fredonia’s music scene and has garnered sort of a cult status due to it’s repeating acts and fans.
Joining together this week were three exciting bands including Cooler, Marquee Grand and Fortunato. The show began with Fortunato, a group out of Rochester with a specialty in spaced out and vibey post punk instrumental music. The group played longspanned instrumentals that were heavy and not like that of a normal jam band. Often they would have samples in their songs or spoken word audio introducing the songs.
The group described their sound to be sonically driven from contemporary post rock bands like Caspian, Explosions in The Sky or Russian Circles.
Other influences that don’t reflect the group’s sonic nature include everything from The Beatles and DeafHeaven to author Kurt Vonnegut. According to the group, Vonnegut has, “Piqued some of our interest in sci fi, but his themes of social equality and the paradoxically barbaric nature of modern society inform our worldview.”
Interestingly, the band set-up like no other group I have seen with two members on the stage and the other two in front of the stage very near the audience. This they stated was more out of necessity for the amount of gear they had.
It was not only their first time playing in Fredonia but was also their first time sharing a lineup with the other groups.
They said of the fellow groups “We hadn’t played with Marquee Grand or Cooler before, but we certainly hope to again in the future. They’re good people who make good music and we couldn’t believe how fortunate we were to share the stage with them.”
Next to take the stage was Marquee Grand, the first local band to sell out the Rec Room in Buffalo during their album release show just this January.
The EP responsible for the record-breaking debut channels The 1975 as well as Blink-182. It features a healthy dose of catchy choruses.
The Alternative Rock group cites Gin Blossoms, Green Day and The Wallflowers as musical influences during their founding in 2015.
At BJ’s, Marquee Grand’s performance was a very crowd participatory event that called for a lot of singing along and dancing in the crowd.
Cooler, who has played at BJ’s in the past, wrapped up the night and played a fantastic set decked with their own light show including a neon lit flamingo and parrot.
The three-piece gets a heavy sound that seems unimaginable for three instruments to take on but is somehow achieved.
Last year when I reviewed a BJ’s show that Cooler was playing, their single “Metal Moths” had received over 175,000 streams.
The group has well surpassed that now and has over 230,000 streams on the catchy tune. The group remarked of the tune during the show that it was about, “saying some shit you can’t take back.”
Cooler has recently come out with a new single titled “Gentlemen,” which is a truly catchy song with ambient guitar chill vocals.
The group played an incredible set and was a perfect end to the night for all in attendance.