Nico Stai

For music fans who fear the fate of music, Jane is here to tell you. Have no fear, Nico Stai is here. Myspace fans of Nico Stai have grown to love the acoustic harmony, hosted on their page, but to witness the band on stage is to find a hard rock set on Spaceland’s stage. Yet as our socks were rocked off, we couldn’t help but wonder could Nico Stai be the masked rocked band to save our fate?

There is the example set by “The Kings of Leon.” A southern rock band who started (musically) strong, made a big impact overseas, and struggled domestically. Finally on their third album with proper commercial production, “The Kings of Leon” sound like a watered down version of themselves covering U2. Molly’s Chamber is ten times better than Sex on Fire. But “Sex” with homogenized production is what sells in the states.

Fortunately amid the ceaseless banality of the L.A. music scene, we found a band that not only looks rock n’ roll but plays rock n’ roll; and is doing so at Spaceland!

I ventured out to Silverlake to catch “The Movies”, who have a huge buzz and are playing relatively innovative music in their own right, I was greeted with a throng of Sunset Strip types milling around the dance floor. At ten o’clock, Jeff Evans, Sean Stentz, Josh Mervin and Nico Stai took the stage as the sound of frenzied anticipation took the crowd. It was as if no one in attendance had seen these guys, a theory quickly dispelled as soon as it became apparent how many people were singing along to the opening song.

A blow by blow assessment of the show is pointless; The band opened strong and displayed a cultivated sense of showmanship while not neglecting energy or catchy choruses. It’s refreshing to see a band who’s members sing together on the choruses, even when there isn’t a microphone in front of them.

The sound of Traces of Americana, Wilco, The Stones, and The Replacements permeated the set. Mariachi horns accompanied the band on ‘Scream’ and did so in a way that both blended seamlessly with the show and added a new dimension of sound.

The most crucial hurdle for a local band to jump is to impress non-fans with a live show. We walked into Spaceland unfamiliar with Nico Stai. We left with Nico Stai as our Fan favorite, as was the case with everyone we talked to.