On Saturday, put down the end-of-the semester taurine drinks: Free Energy will give you wings.
The final Coffeehouse concert of the year will showcase the high-spirited rock musicians, who return to Duke from Philadelphia with their brand of warm, danceable music.
“I tell my mom that we’re a rock and roll band,” said lead singer Paul Sprangers. “But I don’t really know where we land on the music landscape anymore. Critics compare us to ’80s glam and pop rock—think Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. and Def Leppard’s Hysteria. But everything seems to occupy its own niche these days.”
Free Energy played at the Coffeehouse in September 2010 as the opener for indie punk stalwarts Titus Andronicus. Sprangers hopes to replicate the vigor of that evening.
“The Coffeehouse was crazy,” he said. “People were dancing all over the place. I’m excited to do it again.”
Experimental pop artists Deleted Scenes will also perform Saturday. The Washington, D.C. quartet is influenced by upbeat innovative funk from bands like the Talking Heads and the Go-Go’s as well as the indie gospel of the Danielson Famile.
“I’d say we have a quirky sensibility” said Dan Scheuerman, vocalist and guitarist for Deleted Scenes. “But people use that phrase to describe Zooey Deschanel these days.”
Both bands come to Duke with new material. Free Energy will play songs from their upcoming sophomore album, Love Sign. According to Sprangers, Love Sign takes to heart a few lessons the band learned from working with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.
“Murphy taught us how to commit to performing—how to have greater confidence,” Sprangers said. “A lot of that has made its way into our new record, which should sound much bigger than our debut.”
Deleted Scenes will perform tracks from an upcoming album that the band expects to write and record this summer and release in 2013.
“A lot of the songs we are going to play this weekend—in D.C. on Friday and Saturday at Duke—have never been played in front of anyone” Scheuerman said.
Fellow D.C. musicians and Saturday’s openers, Cigarette, are more introspective than Saturday’s headliners.
“Cigarette plays quietly and delicately,” Scheuerman said. “They make the sort of music you have to lean in to appreciate. But pay attention and you’ll love it.”
After Cigarette, though, the atmosphere should be buoyant, the last hurrah that Adelyn Wyngaarden, booking manager for the Coffeehouse, and Brian Contratto, Coffeehouse manager and current Recess music editor, were looking for.
“Brian and I are both graduating in May and we wanted to go out with a fun band that we can dance to,” Wyngaarden said. “We wanted to go out with a band that can bring the whole Duke community together.”
Before B.o.B and Basshunter arrive for LDOC, the last Coffeehouse show offers another chance to let off steam.
“You can only study so much until you need a break,” Sprangers said. “And when the time for that break comes, you want to dance. Maybe you want to high five your friends. If that’s you, you should come to Saturday’s show.”
Free Energy will play with Deleted Scenes and Cigarette Saturday at the Coffeehouse at 9 p.m. Tickets are free for Duke students.
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