Toby Leaman drops the bass at Deep Cuts on Thursday, 5 October 2023.

Winkler opens a double-stack bill during the spooky month.

It’s fall! Which means you can’t find a pilsner on Deep Cuts beer menu…

Instead we’ve got autumnal beverages, including a tasty Märzen lager. A Bavarian-inspired brew with toasty malts that goes well with Oktoberfest celebrations.

The Medford brewery slash restaurant slash pub slash music venue got a little cute with the name: “I Turned Into A Märzen.”

Points awarded for respecting the umlaut. Even with made-up umlaut situations like Motörhead – respect the umlaut.

Points deducted for crafting a pun that’s based on a mispronunciation of ‘Märzen’ as ‘martian.’ That’s what the pun is based on, right? But listen to how the robot below pronounces the word. The umlaut transforms the ‘ä’ into a dipthong that sounds closer to the dipthongs in ‘flair’ or ‘pear.’ And the ‘z’ is more ‘ts’ (as in ‘tots’) than ‘z’ (as in ‘fizz’).

Tastes great though. Doesn’t have that over-caramelized quality that many domestically-brewed Oktoberfest beers have. Net win.

Winkler

The local five-piece was a natural fit to open. The headliner fans in the crowd picked up on the easy, breezy folk rock balladeering that trots out some Dr. Dog accents here and there.

Winkler makes a set look effortless, and songs sound inevitable. But dig a little deeper into their compositions and the layers of complexity start to emerge. The interplay of three- or four-deep vocals, with concomitant harmonizing, gives the music an added depth that rewards relistening. A lot of water under the bridge in the practice room.

Extra points for the wildcard instrument that complements the standard quartet of bass, guitar, guitar, drums. Maybe it’s a tambourine, or fiddle, or who knows what. Winkler needs a magic toybox like Sapling to hold all the bells and whistles.

Toby Leaman

Toby Leaman trotted out a three-piece on Thursday night. With no bassist!

He held down the guitar while the rest of the trio handled drums and keys. The sound was a kind of schoolhouse rock meets minimalist Beatles meets hifi garage fun. The pop instinct that helps propel Dr. Dog was in full force with little time wasted taking a bite out of the audience each song.

If you came for a Dr. Dog vibe you weren't disappointed, but you also weren't delivered a soft ball over the plate. Leaman’s not leading a tribute band.

Shout out to the man on the keys. The amount of juice this guy can squeeze from a synth hook, plus some light percussive backing, is impressive. The frontman hardly needed to do more than flick a stray guitar string or two to get the song cooking.

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