Words by Sean Moeller//Illustration by Shannon Palmer
Right off the bat, it’s important to note that Pete was a nuisance. Pete was a showstopper (inappropriately and literally) and hilarious (figuratively) and he wasn’t even in Maritime, as you already know from reading the band’s feature story just west of here (it’s enjoyable referring to location on a website as if you were inside an atlas, referring to the territory just off into the distance beyond the visible borders). Should you happen to be an amateur links hacker (the Pete of this story), it would be ill-advised and quite gauche to come upon Phil Mickelson (Maritime lead singer Davey von Bohlen of this story), beginning a practice round at your local course, and audaciously go about trying to outdrive him—challenging his manhood, right to his grill.

Pete, unafraid of making himself the center of attention here at The Mill Restaurant on a Friday night, regularly engaged von Bohlen from a side booth and allowed the southpaw (again Mickelson!) to verbally spar with the slightly blitzed newbie fanboy, all in a playful manner.

Starting the set with “The Window Is The Door”—the lovelorn, guitar-only opening track from 2004’s “Glass Floor”—the band then tore into new album opener “Calm,” with Didier’s sick, sick pounding. Von Bohlen then found his limelit adversary with his first spoonful of banter, explaining that they were from a city called Milwaukee in a state called Wisconsin to which Pete whistled in approval.

Von Bohlen then replied, “If I can impress you with my locale, you’re going to love songs.” And back came Pete, “We live in Iowa.”

“Touche, that guy,” von Bohlen returned.

Nothing could have prepared von Bohlen for the glut of participation in store from his new friend. It led him, at one point late in the night, to comment, “You’re really not being billed properly.”

After playing “Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts,” Pete piped up with a question about whether or not the band (von Bohlen and drummer Didier—formerly of Promise Ring, bassist Justin Klug and guitarist Dan Hinz) was playing Milwaukee’s Summerfest.

“Uh, we’ve played Summerfest before,” said von Bohlen. “This is typically something that happens after the show, over at the merch table.

“Do you play hacky sack? No, seriously. Maybe after the show, we can kick a little soft bag and talk Summerfest.”

Still before the night was through, Pete insisted on buying the band a round of beers, commanding the floor as he asked them what they wanted from center of a small dance floor. He brought Red Stripes for everyone as openers Bound Stems laughed their asses off at the young lad’s baffoonery.

Meanwhile, Maritime was putting on a devilishly great performance as von Bohlen had his indie-rocking waltz spit-shined and Didier was all animation behind the kit. The set was equally heavy on old material that from the stupendous “We, The Vehicles.”

Chicago’s Bound Stems, which will release its debut full-length on Flameshovel in September, played many of the outstanding tracks from that record in a warming slot for their labelmates on this 4-date Midwestern weekend. Lead singer Bobby Gallivan and multi-instrumentalist/singer Janie Porche were a riot to watch as they fed off one another’s theatrics and expressionism. Reading the blow-out that Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos singer Richard Edwards caused on the blogosphere this week, when he finally took public hombrage to being called a poor man’s Arcade Fire one too many times, I feel I have to be careful. I wrote in my notebook “American Arcade Fire” and now I want to scribble it out, but it’s just the uncanny resemblance to the kind of unbridaled energy that’s dialed directly from what seems to be a jet engine mating with a thunderstorm. And then they get pretty and nice. It’s a fantastic drilling that’s vamped up and not rehearsed. The artificial, bendy-wired vines twisted around the drum kit and microphone stands…those are rehearsed.

Purchase Maritime music at: Insound

Purchase Bound Stems music at: Insound

Bound Stems
Maritime