[ATTENDED: March 8, 2018] Mal Blum and the Blums
I was unfamiliar with Mal Blum before this show. Mal Blum is a songwriter who plays both solo shows and with the backing band The Blums. Mal’s songs are great–catchy melodies and darkly comic self-reflective lyrics. But I am particularly glad to have seen The Blums because the backing band was great and really seemed to infuse the show with a lot of fun (I suppose the solo shows are fun as well, but this is all I have to go on).
Mal was front and center of course on guitar and vocals. On lead was Audrey Zee Whitesides and she was great–playing wild solos and then backing off to let Mal take center stage again. Barrett Lindgren was on bass and he was particularly excited to shout Go Birds! (he is from Philly and had been holding off shouting that for many shows now). On drums was Piyal Basu who was new for this tour (no pictures apparently). He did a great job–I particularly enjoyed the time when Audrey “encouraged” him when an upcoming tempo change was imminent.
Mal’s songs are introspective and seem to have a lot to say about ghosts (at least according to stage banter). On record these songs are kind of folkie–the lyrics really come to the fore. But live, these songs rocked. As I say, Audrey was a wailing machine adding textures and solos to really flesh out the songs.
I had listened to one or two of Mal’s songs before the show. When Mal said that they were going to play a bunch of new songs–“and don’t you just hate when bands do that, I know I do.” I had to laugh since pretty much all of the songs were new to me.
Mal is trans and prefers the pronoun “they.” Apparently Mal was depressed when they wrote the songs for the last album. (from the website: “In many ways, the album is a mental health record, written when Mal was at a low point, and re-worked and polished at a high one”). But they (Mal and the band) brought so much humor to the show. Mal was very funny as a front person–self-deprecating, but also having fun with her band. And Audrey was pretty hilarious whenever she got to the microphone.
When they came to the stage, Mal introduced them as “I’m Jessica Lea Mayfield” And Audrey chimed in “And the Blums.” Then Mal changed to “I’m Nick Jonas” Audrey: “And the Blums.” And they were having some kind of humorous something going on with Barrett–lots of jokes, many of which I didn’t hear on stage. Although when Mal said “birds of a feather flock together,” Audrey misheard it as “fuck together.” And Mal insisted that they were not that kind of band.
I don’t really know the names of the songs (yet). But the set was designed to start fast and loud and then get “medium” (ha) and then “slow” for a song or two and then back up. Mal sang a quiet song with just Audrey accompanying. Audrey admitted that she felt sad after the song. Mal: “then it worked!”
For the final two songs Mal asked if we wanted them both up or one sad and one up. The crowd voted for both up, but Audrey protested and wanted to do the sad one first. Mal concedes (after stating she was on our side). It may have been lyrically sad, but musically it was great and Audrey had a ripping solo at the end.
At the merch table I talked with Mal for a few minutes. I joked that the reason Audrey wanted that slow song was because of that solo. Mal laughed and agreed that that was probably the reason.
I always like to get to the show in time or the opening band, and this was one of those time when it was not only worth it but it introduced me to a singer that I want to follow more closely. And it’s very cool getting a chance to talk to the artist just for a few minutes after the show–especially when they are personable like Mal.
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