Earl Greyhound @ Siren

By Brittany Borghi

Rounding the corner of the Stillwell Stage for the 4:30 set, one thing became clear to me: Earl Greyhound is immediately awesome.

Lithe lead guitarist Matt Whyte looked like Anthony Kiedis from the “Under the Bridge” video; long scraggly hair blowing in the beach breeze while he shredded the most delicious licks into the band’s funky blues rock songs. Contrasting him on bass was the psychedelic Kamara Thomas. The way she dressed was an appropriate synecdoche for the band’s overall sound: flowing, 70s style wrap dress with vintage Native American inspired feather earrings; a giant, pulsing girl-power afro; and a block of space-age silver face paint on her forehead.

While she was grinding her bass into the ground and howling a loud “Why-yi-yi-yo” in their opening song, “Sea of Change,” a second thing became clear to me: Earl Greyhound is pure sex.

I picked my jaw up off the pavement just in time for them to play “Ghost and the Witness” off their new album Suspicious Package. Whyte and Thomas’ echoing harmonies were the best I’d heard all day, and the song’s pelvis-injected, spine-winding goodness was hypnotic at least. Thomas’ bass pumped through the rest of the set, carried by Ricc Sheridan’s R&B inspired drums, smoothing it out during the melodic moments and pumping like an anti-war shotgun when things got more militant.

The trio was light-hearted about their overt sexuality, promising the crowd a “’Suspicious Package’ in a special place,” if they so desired. The band was selling the new album for however-much-of-a-donation people were willing to pay, and you could meet and chill with them after the set. Again, they are awesome.

Earl Greyhound – “Ghost and the Witness” [MP3]

More photos after the jump.

[All photos by James B. Hale/Knox Road from Siren Music Festival]