[ATTENDED: October 27, 2022] Cuffed Up [rescheduled from December 16, 2021]
I’d only heard of Cuffed Up because they were scheduled to open for The Joy Formidable last year. I listened to some of their music and really liked it so I was glad they were still opening year later.
Cuffed Up had a great dual vocal set up between Sapphire Jewell and Ralph Torrefranca. Earlier this month, however, Sapphire left the band. She was replaced by Christina Apostolopoulos (which I didn’t realize until after the show, having never seen what the band looked like before). The rhythm section is Vic Ordonez on bass and and Joe Liptock on drums. The band is from L.A. but Liptock is from Philly and he was proudly wearing his Phillies T-shirt since the team was entering the World Series the next day.
The band came out and I was immediately impressed. The guitar interplay between Ralph and Christina was great (it’s hard to believe she’s new to the band). She played some great lead parts and I really enjoyed watching some of the chords she was making.
On my favorite song, “Canaries,” she mostly scratched her pick along the low string (and occasionally played the high chime of the strings above the top of the fretboard) while the rest of the band rocked out.
Every song had a really full sound and Ralph was a great band leader. It’s lazy to say they reminded me of Sonic Youth, but they did–mostly with the guitar sounds that Christina was making. Her backing and lead vocals didn’t sound like Sonic Youth at all, but it did complement the songs very well. Particularly in a song like “Bonnie” in which Christina shouts “Strike” while Ralph sings the follow up line. So
Strike one
When it’s all on me and there’s nowhere else to run to
Strike two
And I tell the lies of a compromised being
Strike three
Didn’t mean to fight back
Is it alright that I can’t tell the truth?
Strike four
I apologize for the lies
Wishing we were across the border now
A great juxtaposition in that song.
The one song that was different from the others was “Danger Danger” which was mostly drums and vocals while Christina played an occasional chord and Vic thumped out the occasional bass note. Ralph looked like he wanted to jump into the crowd for this one (he wasn’t playing his guitar) but decided against it.
They also played a new song “Mock Dance” which was unlike their other ones in that it had a really old school riff as opposed to washes of sound. They asked if we would give it a thumbs up or down and we gave it a thumbs up. I didn’t like it as much as their other songs, but it was certainly catchy and could be a hit for them.
Speaking of hits, they ended with “10 for 10,” a song that had just been released this morning (and they said was getting played in KEXP).
The band also hung out after and signed their (clear) vinyl, which as cool. I hope for good things for them and I’d certainly see them again.
SETLIST
- Finer Things
- Terminal Æ
- Canaries Æ
- Danger, Danger ⊄
- Mother/Father ⊄
- Bonnie Æ
- Mock Dance [new song]
- Small Town Kid ⊄
- 10 for 10 [new song]
Æ Asymmetry EP (2021)
⊄ Cuffed Up EP (2020)
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