By: Andrea Myers
Chicago alt-country rockers Backyard Tire Fire livened up the 400 Bar Friday night with a set of solid, sexy blues tunes. The three members of Backyard Tire Fire - lead singer, guitarist and piano player Ed Anderson, bassist Matt Anderson, and drummer Tim Kramp - were dressed in coordinating plaid cowboy shirts, and had so much grit and charm between the three of them that many of the women in the audience danced wildly and uncontrollably in front of the stage for most of set.
The trio played songs primarily off of the aptly titled Bar Room Semantics, a jangly, clean-cut disc full of Whiskeytown jams, minus a bit of the twang. Ed Anderson's voice sounded timeless and confident, reminiscent of Jack Johnson if he had a little more soul, or Ryan Adams if he would stop trying to be so damn prolific and just let his voice ring true. In a strange moment of chance I was about to jot down "Sounds like Tom Petty" in my notebook as Anderson sang the line "I want to be Tom Petty / I want to play guitar/ I want to be Tom Petty / I want to be a star."
Ed switched between a battered, golden-toned Les Paul, a harsher sounding Fender, and an acoustic guitar, while brother Matt's fingers flew nimbly down the neck of a five-string bass. The band rolled right through from one song and into another, barely giving the audience a chance to catch up to their quick tempo and mood swings. A group of loaded ladies did a tipsy two-step as Ed wailed away on a slide guitar part during "Trying to Get Paid," a song that could have just as easily been an arena rock anthem in the 1970s. As their set wore on the songs became longer and more complex, but even the longer solos remained focused and captivating.
At a slower point in the set, Ed sat down at a Rhodes keyboard to play a moody, building ballad that crescendoed into a crashing, plunking keys solo. As Matt and drummer Tim continued the pulsating jam, Ed stood up and grabbed his Les Paul, ending the drawn out song with a technically complicated slide guitar solo. Ed's face scrunched tight and he seemed to grimace at the notes coming out of his guitar, as if he had no control over the winding, swooping directions of the improvised melody.
The band really revved up toward the end of the night with a couple of great covers, including an almost exact replica of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl." Matt stepped up to the microphone to add vocal harmonies as the audience rallied together in a unified dancing, bobbing motion. The drunken dancers really got their kicks as the song concluded, with Ed and Matt proclaiming: "Pa sent me money now / I'm gonna make it somehow / I need another chance / You see your baby loves to dance / Yeah, yeah, yeah."
Photo by Andrea Myers.
Location Info:
400 Bar
Artist Info: Backyard Tire Fire
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