By: Billy Graves
I had a friend in college who took on the persona of a Soviet Russian at parties. Once enough people had shown up, he would get out of his seat, silence the crowd, and begin his monologue, which always started with: “Back in mother Russia…”. When Nick Urata, bottle of wine in hand, came on stage, I half expected a similar monologue. I was moderately disappointed to hear a resoundingly American accent address the audience.
I mention this only because from that point onward, I couldn’t imagine a more entertaining performance than the one DeVotchKa put on Saturday night at the Varsity Theater. That bands like DeVotchKa haven’t gained a greater groundswell of public support seems like an anomaly to me. The band has been around since 2000, and will soon release it’s fourth critically acclaimed album. It’s mariachi-meets-eastern European folk sound is, with the exception of new-comer Beirut, unparalleled in the world of indie rock. Nick Urata’s gorgeous vocal trill, often compared to Thom Yorke, has easily won over every male and female listener I’ve ever met. And yet the band remains relegated to indie obscurity. It doesn’t seem fair to me.
Obscure or not, in Minneapolis, DeVotchKa has a following. The owners of Dinkytown’s Varsity Theater must have been pleased to admit a near fire-hazard crowd to what opening act Norfolk and Western admitted was the largest audience of their tour. As a side note, Saturday night’s show was my first experience at the Varsity Theater, and I have to say I was impressed. Walking in to the Varsity Theater is like walking in to a scene from The Great Gatsby. I can’t imagine many venues that can pull off plush couches surrounded by red velvet curtains and get away with it as successfully as the Varsity. The Theater could easily be a venue where one feels out of place without a white pinstriped suit or low-cut cocktail dress. Thankfully, the DeVotchKa crowd wasn’t that kind of audience.
As I mentioned earlier, DeVotchKa far exceeded both my and my friends’ expectations. I’m always worried for indie bands who make their reputation off of brooding, contemplative music. While that style of music is great to listen to on a late night car ride back from the bar, the music seems unlikely to energize a standing room only crowd. DeVotchKa’s band member’s theatric outfits put that fear to rest.
DeVotchKa turned the angst-ridden indie rocker stereotype on its head during the first half of the set. Rather than play up the emotional seriousness of their music, DeVotchKa took a much more entertaining route. Some notes I took might clear this up (and clear up why I was disappointed that Nick had an American accent):
Tom Hagerman (violinist) = mad Russian Scientist at formal dinner
Jeanie Schroder (bassist) = Harper Lee from Capote
Nick Urata (front man) = wine drinking Ukrainian lounge singer
Shawn King (drummer) = straight out of School of Rock
The set moved from several dramatically foreboding songs (I explicitly remember a moment where the lighting went dark except for a single spotlight which centered on Nick Urata’s hand as he raised it above his head, only for it to come crashing dramatically down for another guitar stroke) to “having a fun time” for the remainder of the set. For example, Nick Urata had a UFO-sounding device that made noises of different frequencies depending on how close his hand was to it, which seemed to bring Urata a great deal of pleasure.
But the “having a fun time” really kicked into full gear when a besuitedgorilla man came on stage to play back up violin for “We’re Leaving.” If anyone had any doubt as to whether DeVotchKa transcended the angst-ridden snobbishness of the stereotypical indie band, I think a man in a gorilla suit simultaneously waltzing with Nick Urata and throwing bananas into the crowd safely laid that fear to rest. And while Nick Urata may have opted out of a Russian stage accent, I think its safe to say I forgave DeVotchKa; they gave one of the most entertaining indie shows I’ve witnessed.
Photo by Billy Graves.
Location Info:
The Varsity Theater
Artist Info: DeVotchKa
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