From the moment that Mother Vinegar took the stage and opened up with “Rich Little White Girl”, it was apparent that this was not an average “jam band” - as many had pinned them to be. In fact, the lounge flavored ode to a favorite suburban slut was anything but “jam band” inspired. Karl Engelmann’s lyrics were quite hilarious and appropriately tongue-in-cheek following opening act Nice Peter and his ballads about distastes for GuitarCenter and soft rappers. The weirdness would continue with “Ferris Wheel City”, which was apparently inspired by the 1893 World’s Fair (which took place in Chicago & is where the first Ferris Wheel was constructed & operated). The song sounded a bit like a Beatles melody over a racing drum beat and a punchy bass line from the low-ender Jeff Hinkle. The more the set went on, the more I realized that Mother Vinegar was going over the audiences’ heads. The machine-gun drumming of Kevin Cassels set a hypnotic tone for the musical freak-out, “Have a Sitar”. I thoroughly enjoyed this noise-rock inflected number; most of the crowd seemed to enjoy their beers.

The chatty room perked up in time to notice that Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee had taken a seat at the keyboard and began to accent the hasty strum of “Memories of Fredrick”. A nice solo from guitarist Tommy Dennison gave a crisp contrast to the piece that initiated a transition into “Latin Up Yer Ass”. This song was my personal favorite from the night, mostly because of its infectious Latin overtone, but partly due to the comic effect of Cummins on the keytar. I again found myself in laughter as Engelmann and Cummins dueled on their respective axes. As the rest of the set went on, I found other subtleties that ensured to me that these guys were not your average rock band. I may have heard a hint of some Phish ad-lib during “Zach”, but other than that, I found this set to be much more in the vein of the art-rock/avant genre. It was very moody music that at times seemed on the brink of self-destruction but still held together as a collective thought.

The second set began with more of a bang than the previous. The opening “Guilt” seemed a bit more malleable with its Pink Floyd inspired guitar runs. The crowd gathered attention by the time another member of UM took the stage - this time it was guitarist, Jake Cinninger. The dynamic between Karl Engelmann and Jake Cinninger has existed since their days in Ali Baba’s Tahini, so it was very fitting that they collaborated on a punk rock rendition of “KaBump”. Cinninger would sit-in on the next tune as well, “Cold Beers at Mickey’s Pub”. Coincidentally, this rocker paid homage to one of the pubs at which the two wrote many songs together - it even gave a nod to the infamous Padgett profile. After the guest spots, the band dug into a few more hard rockers. At this point, I felt like Mother Vinegar was just getting the kinks out of the sound and settling in. After educating the crowd on what a proper “Syncopated Strangers” sounds like, MoVin was able to ease into a very congealed closing to the set.

It started with the funky rhythm and harmony of “Pimp in a Pinch”, which contains one of the more humorous lines in the catalog with “Light fixture on the hot tramp, kept rubbing my genie lamp”. We got some ranting and raving in with the pop-culture slam, “Poster Prose”, before we were settled down with the seemingly innocent aspirations of “Big Dreams”. Perhaps the most powerful song of the night was “GypsumCave”, which I found fascinating due to the nice melody that chased this outlaw story around. It gave me the perception and imagery of a man indulging in his wildest sins, but feeling guilty about his actions when the day was done. The closer, “Apples”, seemed to be a work in progress - although it seemed to be a good exercise in stretching out some power chords, solos, running bass lines and galloping drums;it seemed to lack the definitive boundaries in its sections. It left me the impression that this was a newer song that still has a few kinks to be worked out. That may have been a fitting impression for the show in general.

So, Mother Vinegar’s first show outside of their home base in the Southeast wasn’t a huge success. What was the problem? In my opinion, part of the problem may have been the difference in what the crowd was expecting from what was delivered. I felt that the crowd was looking for extended sections of music and what they got were rawer and more to-the-point approaches than may have been expected. What I saw in Mother Vinegar was a band with talent, unique ideas and a boldness that will only open more doors for them.Their dabbling in reggae, punk, funk, latin, jazz, blues and art rock was plenty to keep my interest throughout the night and many more shows in the future. Give Mother Vinegar a few more years to let the audience grasp their brand of weirdness and these guys will turn a few heads.

- By Brandon DeJaynes

check out some pictures from this show at our Photo Gallery