Their Chinese-fire-drill instrumentation, sinewy vocals and seat-of-the-pants spontaneity leave fans groping for descriptions: "Abba meets Zappa", "They Might Be Giants meets Crazy Horse", "Fleetwood Mac meets The Pixies", "Sonic Youth meets the Beatles are but a few attempts to label what is truly the magic of...Maggi, Pierce and E.J.Chinese fire drill? They have a tendency to switch instruments frequently, and I don't mean have the guitar tech hand over the other Fender. On one song Maggi will be singing, and she's got this Shelleyan Orphan-esque voice, and you're thinking "oh, ok, they're a folk band" -- then she switches to drums and suddenly it's Moxy Früvous (sooz's comment), or she's rocking out on the bass and the guest tuba player is...
Huh? Did she just say guest tuba player?
Why, yes, I did. Glad you're paying attention. Or the bassist will drop everything, run to the side of the stage and grab his mandolin. Suffice it to say it keeps things interesting on stage.
They had a well-timed sense of fun, sort of like the Squirrel Nut Zippers or They Might Be Giants on stage, and they ran through so many song styles it was impossible to either be bored or to catch one's breath. Once or twice I thought I had gotten caught in a New Orleans jazz funeral procession, and then they stopped in a coffeehouse to have a Folksinger Moment...then back to rocking out. Whew. Exhilaratingly amusing.
MPEBand: MP3 page (2 songs each from their 4 CDs)
CDs for sale: here
photo credit: Lisa Mitchell (from MPEBand photo page)
Posted by shannon at July 14, 2002 11:47 AM