Nasty Fancy

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of catching the Vinyl make their live debut at the Canton music venue, The Auricle, which by the way is one of the coolest venues I’ve kicked it at in a while. The bill was stacked with some fairly popular acts such as local band, Stiletto! and the Illinois band, The Forecast. But it was apparent the Vinyl stood out amongst the group.

Now I will give credit where credit is due: Both Stiletto! and The Forecast had amazing stage presences, but The Vinyl is definitely more my type of music. On that note, I arrived at the venue during The Vinyl’s second song of a respectable 6-song set list. Since the band is still in its early stages and working on an EP right now, there aren’t many places you can hear this wonderful set list unless you go check them out. Which I encourage you to do! Until then, follow them on tumblr as they share their recording process at Jungle Studio in Lorain.

Now on to the good stuff. Singer and guitarist, Sam Shaffer, commanded the audience that night with his polished vocals. Perhaps you remember this name from a previous post I did for a band called The Grand Revision. Well, if you don’t that’s okay, but one thing I could not stress enough in that review is how much this guy brings to the table. Combine that with a solid group of musicians (Quebec Gibbins (Drums); Jon Cheyney (Guitar) and Ryan Girard (Bassist)) who have also spent time playing in other bands, including the Grand Revision, this foursome blends sounds reminiscent of bands such as Local Natives and Pedro the Lion.

In all fairness, The Vinyl is not a direct copy of Sam’s old band, but you can tell this is just the type of music these guys like to play, so there are some similarities. In “You Already Know”, the third song on that 6-song set list, Shaffer spills his feelings on holding on, and this song in particular had one of my favorite choruses. After “You Already Know” came my favorite, “Savannah”. By the time “Savannah” played, it seemed like these guys were completely comfortable with how the performance was going, as they should have been.

They closed out the set with “Let It Go”, which you can watch a video of below.  The intro to the song was a nice touch, and I know that these guys will only get cleaner from here. Not that there were many mistakes made, but I’m sure they are ready to do it again and do it better. Stay tuned for when these guys release their EP. It’s going to be a good one, and you know Nasty Fancy will be there to review it and give you a more in-depth look at their sound.