TIFFY Sounding Spiffy
TIFFYOn Thursday, 29 September a four-band bill graced O’Brien’s Pub, including headliner TIFFY. The Boston-based fuzz-poppers roll six deep and threatened to put the stage of the scrappy Allston bar under grave duress. But not before openers Headband, Orbiter, and Teenage Tom Petties had their turn.
HeadbandThe Bay State’s Headband is a trio that plays 90s-style indie skronk pop in the venerable tradition of loud, quiet, loud. There were a few off-kilter solos squirreled away in the mix that would have made Stephen Malkmus proud.
In fact, Pavement had toured through Boston the previous night at the upscale Wang Center – a far cry from the downbeat O’Brien’s Pub.
But like Perry Farrell said onstage while playing an empty room with the Psi Coms while the rest of Los Angeles was at the Dead Kennedys show up the street: “All the real punks are here.”
Locals Orbiter were a sorta last-minute replacement for Trash Rabbit. Orbiter is a rock n roll trio that crafts peppy, poppy uptempo numbers. The drums sounded like they were falling down a flight of stairs, in a good way. One of the members was to make a second appearance as bassist, keyboardist, guitarist for TIFFY later in the evening.
Teenage Tom PettiesTouring act Teenage Tom Petties were on the road all the way from Derby, England. Derby is a town in the meaty middle of the country, equidistant from good touring destinations like Liverpool, Manchester, and London. They hit a few of those locales, then high-talied it to the USA for a select run of dates along the northeastern seaboard from Portland, Maine to New York City. The band is a five-piece power pop ensemble that trotted out reliable riffs along with a few dead queen jokes. Shades of Archers of Loaf.
TIFFYHeadliner TIFFY closed the bill. The stage had just accommodated five performers with Teenage Tom Petties. Could it handle six? Three guitars, one bass, one keyboard, and a drum set squeezed on a stage packed tighter than a clown car.
The band is the brainchild of Tiffany Sammy and uses their multiple guitars (and keys) to juice up the received pop-rock lexicon with interesting layers and textures. What might otherwise have been a standard riff turns into a power pop orchestra of sound. The sound system at O’Brien’s Pub, on the other hand, is not quite prepared to wire an orchestra. There were a few PA glitches to start, but most were cleaned up by the finish. Extra points for a stellar cover of Cher’s “Believe.”
Trace Mountains outlines summits at Deep Cuts.