Days of the New and The Last Straw packed out Club 527 Jan. 22 for an evening of music and debauchery.
The opening band was The Last Straw and honestly stole the show from the much more widely know Days of the New. As residents of Murfreesboro, these guys were stoked about playing their hometown and had a lot of fans come out for support.
Leading the band was Kyle Daniel. Having an outfit almost more entertaining than the band’s set, he led his group with pride. Somewhere between the flowered guitar strap, leather-ridden vest and animal tooth necklace there was a pretty talented guitar player who knew how to hype his crowd.
The embedment of some very talented individuals is the No. 1 redeeming quality for a group who keeps a genre alive that could have died in 1977 right alongside Ronnie Van Zandt. Quincey Meeks delivered some unyielding slide guitar and the occasional rip on the harmonica. The backing keys of Adam Botner brought some Tennessee blues to the sounds of The Last Straw. This group had a stacked rhythm section, which featured an entire set of congas and hand drums in addition to bass guitar and drums.
Promoting its new album, Brought To Life, Daniel threw in a little advice about the upcoming CD release show, Feb. 26 at 527. He warned his audience, “Don’t bring your mother. Well bring her if she looks good. If not then bring a hard hat.” The hard hat advice was more than likely intended for those who drink in excess.
After about an hour-long set, the guys did a self-invited encore and then left the stage, to be next taken by Days of The New.
Now this portion of the show had some promising hope. The stage was filled with five Taylor acoustic guitars, a six-string bass, a drum set and a stand-up bass that had to be at least six feet tall. The crowd was filled with drunken fraternity guys all pumping their fists into the air and screaming at the top of their lungs. The index and pinky finger rock symbol could be found anywhere the eye could see. We were about to see Days of the New!
A balding Travis Meeks, who could not have weighed more than 150 pounds, took the stage wearing an all-black outfit, which featured a knee-length jacket as its centerpiece.
Days of the New has had a series of bad luck over the years. After its formation in 1995, the band released its first album, which went platinum. Unfortunately, the two following albums sold only 500,000 and then a mere 90,000 copies. Meeks also went through a period of drug addiction, which landed him a role on the A&E show “Intervention” and has also left behind a long trail of former band members.
This particular show was quite surprising in the fact that it was not much of a rock show. There was a long period of time when the group performed some primarily instrumental music that sounded more classical with hints of Latin or Middle Eastern influence.
Meeks has a distinct way of playing his guitar, which sounds and looks different than your average musician. He knows how to make an acoustic sound almost like a sitar. If only this masked the fact that each song sounded about the like the one before it, this probably would have been a much better show.
Regardless, the band hammered through a set that lasted a little over an hour and made sure to play its most known hit, “Touch, Peel And Stand.”
While not currently signed to any label, Days of the New is expected to release its fourth album at some point this year. It is to be called “Purple,” and according to the band’s Web site, will “highlight the maturity of his [Meeks] playing style and evolution of the Days of the New sound.”
