A couple weeks ago I was getting ready to head down to The Lounge on Elm St. to witness the greatness of Har Mar Superstar. A particular band who was opening up for him caught my eye… Best Fwends. Best Fwends? Needless to say a name so juvenile and comical had me, so I looked them up. Through the power of the interweb I found out they were from Ft. Worth. With a little further reading I noticed they played their music with iPods. iPods?! At that point I wasn’t sure if I was going to dig them, I mean, that seems a little hokey, ya know?
But, after the first band played it was time for Best Fwends to underwhelm me. I was wrong. And so was what I read on the interweb. It seems there are iPods involved in the Ft. Worth duos stage show, but, they aren’t exactly making music from it. And they aren’t exactly taking themselves seriously either. Anthony Davis and Dustin Pilkington are the masters of ceremonies for an epic punk rock karaoke set. They serve as their own backing band, creating and recording their music, loading it onto their iPod and letting said iPod play music while the two scream out their punk gems.
At first blush, you aren’t really sure what’s going on. Two twentysomething dudes up there performing with no band, flailing around, making faces at the crowd… all in front of a banner with cartoonish monster heads on it. But, the more the two did their thing, the more I enjoyed their show. It also helped that the people in the front of the room were getting into the show. It even better than that when the two giant inflatable gargoyles on either side of the stage were thrown into the audience and bounced around the room like beach balls.
Like most music that is out of right field, it seems the duo aren’t big in the States… go figure. But, they are somewhat popular in the UK and Europe… again, go figure.
If you can put up with the contrived buffoonery, you seriously need to check out Best Fwends. It’s worth the price of admission.
Lance Lester is a freelance writer, graphic designer, and opinionated music lover. To read more about what Lance is listening to, visit him on his personal music blog, Bona Fide Darling.
