Friday Night At The Sound Factory: My Take
Wow, when I sat down to write this post, I didn’t even know that my fellow Gazzblogger Bill Lynchwas also at the Sound Factory last Friday night (Bill, when you see me out, come up and say “Hi’–once I’m in a bar for more than five minutes the tobacco smoke has usually rendered my field of vision to about three feet–I can’t see anybody!). I’d been trading emails with the guys from Seven Minutes to Midnightfor months, as I’ve 
been courting them to be my guests on Radio Free Charleston. This was my first chance to see them live. Doctor Senator(I love the name) was an unknown quantity. I settled in near the stage and hung out with Justin, Roy, Thomas and Ed from Seven Minutes while Doctor Senator took the stage.
I was blown away. Annie’s powerful vocals sounded like the result of a gene-splicing between Debbie Harry and Ann Wilson (That’s Annie to the left) Her bandmates, Alan, James, and Traggle were firing away in a Husker Du-ish frenzy. The band delivered a powerful mix of well-chosen covers and promising originals. And at the end, I had to go pester them to be on RFC, too. They were amazing. We will be hearing more from Doctor Senator in the future. The guys from Seven Minutes To Midnight were worried about following them.
They didn’t have anything to worry about. When they took the stage I was struck out how the recordings on their MySpace page did not do them justice. These guys are four young virtuosos–tighter than most bands in town that have been together for decades. They only did one cover tune, and their originals sounded like Dave Matthews Band with balls. Maybe the next time I write about the band they’ll have some photos on their MySpace page that I can swipe. I was blown away by the level of musicianship. It was the beginning of an incredible weekend, and I felt like I’d seen the future of the Charleston music scene. Look for both bands on Radio Free Charleston in the coming months.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Yeah, I tend to kind of lurk. You had the front table, I had the one in the back near a gaggle of college girls.
I stand by my choice.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:41 am
“Dave Matthews with balls”. I don’t care, that makes me laugh every time.
June 28th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Debbie Harry and Ann Wilson? Which one is the guy? I bet Ann. She always wore outfuts that would have concealed the tell-tale bulge.
July 9th, 2007 at 11:01 am
[…] On Wednesday night, Seven Minutes To Midnight (above) and Doctor Senator (right) take the stage with The Suits. Regular readers of PopCult will remember a couple of weeks ago I raved about Seven Minutes and Doctor Senator. This is your chance to see what got me all excited. Seven Minutes To Midnight sounds like The Dave Matthews Band with balls, while Doctor Senator sounds like Husker Du backing up Debbie Harry or Ann Wilson. Both bands are phenomenal and I’m looking forward to hearing The Suits, too. […]
September 26th, 2007 at 9:37 am
[…] I became a huge fan of Doctor Senator the first time I saw them open for Seven Minutes Till Midnight back in June. After months of scheduling glitches we decided to record them on location at The Sound Factory downtown. At some point in the future we’ll be bringing the band into LiveMix, but for now check out the rockin’ performance of their song “Jesus Fish” in this episode. Alan, Andy, Travis and Annie put on one of the best shows in town and I know they’ll be playing more and building a growing fan base. […]