Darling Picassos

at Avenue C
by Scott Hefflon

Darling Picassos smoked on the CD sampler I heard, so I was terribly let down to see them live in this club. While I try to be supportive of clubs offering live music to the community, the lack of crowd response and dead mix made this dynamic band sound and look flat. Plug cubist joke here. Over-dressed and apathetic club-hoppers just completely overlooked what was actually a very expressive band.

Rob Gonzales is just plain a great singer. Even in lame surroundings, he was engrossed in his music and lulled you in with him. Bassist Steve Earnhart is a nut. Wearing a Melrose Place t-shirt, he philosophized about the importance of excessive television viewing with such passion I hadn’t the heart to tell him I only get one channel. He also popped a bass string within the first 10 minutes of their set. That’s almost as tricky a feat as chopping down the largest tree in the forest with a herring. Suffice to say, he plays hard.

The guitar craftsmanship of Brad Fernquist is rich, layered, and memorable. Besides looking a bit like a disoriented Willam Dafoe, he lays down bad-ass riffs as Gonzales concentrates on melodies. Paul Giovine is a solid drummer, but he was lost in the murky “depths” of the stage because Avenue C has the lighting set-up of a storage closet. Despite the lack of human feedback, Darling Picassos proved themselves to be passionate musicians.