[ATTENDED: December 12, 2017] Groovy Movies
I had never been to The Black Box before. It is a smaller club inside the already small club Underground Arts (the main room is cordoned off). The setting is intimate and cozy with couches and a tiny bar.
When I got there, there were seven people waiting for the show to start.
I felt bad about that. I love a show to be not too crowded, but that was uncomfortably empty.
Groovy Movies, a Philly band, came out and did their opening set. And they were terrific. Dressed all in white, they played the greatest not-exactly-Beatles music I’ve ever heard.
It wasn’t that they played Beatlesesque songs, exactly. It was more like they took the earlier style of Beatles/Byrds pop songs–three-minute nuggets–but added the later sound to them–trippy bass lines, terrific harmonies and a modern flair.
The rhythm guitarist, Nick Carlisi switched to an organ half way through and that added a whole new layer to their sound.
It’s a shame to like a band so much and simply list their influences, but they wear them so clearly on their white sleeves, that it’s hard not to: The Monkees, The Byrds, The Beach Boys. It’s all retro without sounding dated. And man are the songs catchy.
I loved that they opened their set with a song called “1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9” and that those were the lyrics as well (that song is not available to hear anywhere else, but they have an album and a single online). I bought the cool trippy blue and yellow vinyl of their full length.
From what I can tell, the band is the brainchild of Carlisi, who chatted with me after the show. He was talking about how he just wanted to make fun music and wasn’t looking to make a ton of money–he even gave me a 7″ (cover inspired by the Love album Forever Changes 
).
I gather the other guys play with him when he plays live (the band’s site lists 6 touring members).
The set list was improvised. Nick asked the guys what they wanted to play. They played about half of the full length album. My favorite track was “Tambourine“–for the lyrics and the insanely catchy verses and chorus.
I really liked this band a lot and hope they do well. So here’s two of their videos.
About this first one, Nick said
I came across this channel called ‘CRFilmsCrew’ one day while randomly searching for an obscure Beach Boys song called ‘Brian’s Back.’ They make endearingly strange videos for Beach Boys and other various artist’s songs (mainly from the 60’s) using a bunch of Barbie and Ken type dolls. I was kind of obsessed with their videos for a minute. So, I decided to hit them up and ask if they would make a video for one of my songs and they said ‘yes’. I have no idea who they are. I don’t know if they’re women or men, adults or children. They gave me a list of rules about the lyrics, like ‘no swearing’ and ‘no using the lord’s name in vein’, which was pretty cute.
This second one is for “Tambourine” which I like so much
They were a great opening band and I hope to see them again. And so should you.
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