How Was The Show - Victory Ship at Uptown Bar and Café

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Victory Ship CD Release Party at Uptown Bar and Café on 11/26/08

By: David de Young

Victory Ship at the Uptown - Photo by Jenn Barnett (See Jenn's full photo set from this show here.)

On the busiest bar night of the year I decided to eschew the big crowds gathering downtown for the Transmission Dance Party at Club Jager and the Ike Reilly show at First Avenue. Nothing against those fabulous options, I just wanted try my luck further south at the The Uptown Bar.

St. Paul popsters Joey Ryan and the Inks (no relation to Pasadena folk singer Joey Ryan) played the first slot Wednesday night. We arrived just as they finished, finding the Uptown Bar already sold out by 10:40 p.m., or at least adhering to a “one in, one out” policy. Though I missed Joey Ryan, after listening to their songs on MySpace later I marked them down on my “to see” list.

Once we gained entry to the club, we were spot on time for Victory Ship, who were on hand to celebrate the release of their debut CD, Before the Fall. The band, once known as The Teeth, likely takes their new name from a type of WWII cargo ship built to replace shipping losses caused by German submarines. If so, that’s one of the more interesting sources of band names I’ve stumbled across in a while.

“Thanks for staying in town,” the band announced before beginning their set. One band member said hi to his Mom. And the set began . . .

. . . with blinding flashes of light. But this was no light show. Rather, it was a photographer apparently unaware of the etiquette of live music photography shooting flash photos with her Speedlight pointing straight up, thereby blinding all the fans behind her every few seconds. Many people up front took to holding their hands in front of their faces to shield their eyes. Though this went on for the entire set, it seems as funny in retrospect as it was annoying when it occurred; lest I sound like this guy, I will speak no more of it.

Pat Mazurek of Victory Ship

Victory Ship opened the set with “Tough Love,” the second song off their new CD. It starts out like a laid back Jayhawks tune then builds to blast you with a power more akin to Son Volt after about a minute or so. The band’s passionate harmonies and great songwriting are reminiscent of both those bands, but Victory Ship remains terribly hard to peg. In this song there was also the country feel of 1970s era The Eagles. Throughout their set and on their album, they always seemed to have one foot firmly planted somewhere in the 70s.

Speaking of the 70s, the next song was titled “Rod Stewart.” Though ironically perhaps, the vocals on the song reminds one more of Bon Iver than the scratchy voiced “Maggie Mae” singer. The crowd was enthusiastic and responsive. Women were jumping up and down and there was a great deal of supportive cheering. Though the energy was probably influenced by inebriation on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, it was surely also due to the song’s bouncy pop hook that accompanied the feel-good lyric, which could easily be an alternative name of the song, “Just want to be with you tonight.” There is no denying Victory Ship knows how to have fun while putting on a rock show.

The next song was a cover of Big Star’s “13” that had a rougher and heavier rock edge than the original. With raunchy guitars and great country harmonies, they injected the song with the spirit of both Wilco and Matthew Sweet.

Perhaps an indication the band was now warmed up and about to get really serious, guitar player and singer Derek Hellend (one of the band’s two songwriters) removed his hat. The middle of the set included several new songs, one of which sounded like the Beatles meet Neil Young, another which was reminiscent of the Doors. I couldn’t help but think that Victory Ship is a Band with a capital “B”. Their onstage communication is wonderful, especially between other vocalist and songwriter Pat Mazurek and bassist Mike Fruncillo. As a whole, the 4 piece creates a memorable groove, and they move as one.

All told, Victory Ship ended up playing 15 or 16 songs, quite the set for a band releasing their first disc. There were a couple more songs off the new CD: “Won’t Let Go,” featuring a touch of Fender Rhodes, then a song during which bassist Fruncillo went back to play Tom Hilde’s drums and Hilde took up the tambourine. The guitars splattered a bit like the original version of “Spirit in the Sky” as Fruncillo and Hilde both beat on drums behind the band.

“Off Da Flo” had a somewhat of a 70s Brit rock feel in the spirit of Led Zeppelin and maybe a little Replacements towards the end. (Their disc, by the way, was recorded at Blackberry Way studios, where the Replacements recorded Let It Be.) They finished out the set shortly after midnight with another folky song, “Lead Letters.” Cheers as the song started indicated the song was already well known by the audience.

Yer Cronies, who we reviewed a couple months back, closed out the night.