Broken Anchor's One-Man Show at Rockwood Music Hall

It's not every day that one of your favorite bands of the year invites you to construct their setlist, but then again, it's not every day that your blog grows a new arm.  The big news is that Dry Paint Signs is branching out into the podcasting world with Dry Paint Signs presents The Next Round.  Last night, I sat down with Austin Hartley-Leonard of Broken Anchor before his show at Rockwood Music Hall, and we talked about topics ranging from addiction to ball sweat.  I'll be posting the interview in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Austin recommended that I get to the venue before his set to check out Sometimes We Sing Together, a duo comprised of Ashleigh Haney on drums and Trey Lockerbie on guitar.  And as you may have guessed, sometimes they sing together.  "Thanks for comin', friends and fam," Ashleigh said graciously.  "I thought you said friends and fan, like we had one," Trey admitted with a laugh.  They definitely have a new one now.  After the cowboy folk standard "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie," Lockerbie relayed a story about how they'd recently opened a "hippie festival" in San Diego, claiming, "We just started playin' and they started comin'," he and Ashleigh imitating the fluid motion of the hippies.  Trey reprised the dance at one point in the rollicking "Big Black Car," but the song's highlight came when he and Haney delivered the line, "People stopped and they stared," and the pair took an extended pause to gaze at each other before jumping back in.  The audience chortled, enamored with the twosome.  But that little bit of comedy was only a taste of what was to come, as SWST put their hilarious spin on Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Snake Farm," getting full-blown belly laughs from the late-night crowd.

With the recent departure of drummer Mike Duffy, Broken Anchor has become a solo project for Hartley-Leonard.  Though he's currently developing an act that relies heavily on sampling, for last night's gig, he took the stage with only his guitar and a vocal effect pedal to emphasize certain parts.  By the third song, "Dear Diary," Austin had the room rapt with attention, everyone listening so intently to the haunting guitar that you could hear a pin drop, or as it turned out, a text message being received.  The only time I missed the drums was in this song, following the line "Something deep inside of you burned deep inside of me."  I guess I've just gotten too used to listening to the studio version where everything kicks in at that moment.  "This is a song written by one of my favorite guys in the world, A.A. Bondy," revealed Austin. "Yeah," offered a voice in the dark.  "One guy also feels that way maybe," Austin said, starting up "Oh the Vampyre."  "Ohio" was dedicated to his Uncle Mike from Cleveland.  "C-Town.  Do they call it that?" asked Austin.  Mike, sitting on a stool by the wall, shook his head horizontally.  "That song isn't about you, Mike. It's about a woman," Austin clarified.  On the closer, "Never Leave Me Alone," Trey Lockerbie rushed the stage to sing backup into a spare microphone.  I was worried I'd miss Duffy on this one too, so accustomed to his rapid fills and tambourine shakes, but by the time Austin wrapped it up with an elongated yell of "Never leave meeeee alone!" it was like this was how it always had been.  Having now seen Broken Anchor as an electric duo, an acoustic duo, and Austin solo, I'm stoked to see the sampler incarnation once he rolls back into town.

BROKEN ANCHOR - 07.17.13 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (29 minutes, 15 seconds)

SET -

Leave the Light On / Broken Anchor Blues / Dear Diary / Oh the Vampyre / Ghosts / Ohio / Always / Never Leave Me Alone