Quinn S. and the Blackbirds @ The Gopher Hole March 1, 2008

Last Saturday saw a return to the stage of several talented individuals and good friends of mine under the guise of Quinn S. and the Blackbirds. Consisting of guitarist and singer Quinn Struke, drummer Keith Cborowski and guitarist and longtime Struke collaborator Brett Dean, the Blackbirds are the third generation of a group that started as Pykon and continued as Shout It Out when Ciborowski replaced Pykon member Warren Boin on bass.

Watching the set unfold was like watching the narrative of how a rock band comes together. Struke played a few songs hard and fast acoustically, some of which dated back to Shout It Out's tenure. Ciborowski came on and played some lead guitar work a little way through, and finally it was announced that the Blackbirds' portion, the electric portion, of the set had begun. The first few songs were sonic departures from the previous work of this group's members, played very tight and squared off, almost like Wire's more melodic tracks from their late '70s run such as "Outdoor Miner" and "Ex-Lion Tamer" if they were more deliberately developed as pop songs. The crowd started dancing to these which was refreshing to see after many a show filled with static audiences. Struke seemed to love this, and in all my years of seeing him live I don't think I've ever seen a band of his as comfortable with their audience before.

Struke then announced that the last song would be "the first one written as a band," and this was a return to form for Struke, Dean and Ciborowski. As much as I loved the clean punk arrangements of the earlier electric songs, I found this return to form most welcoming. Since Pykon's later days and through Shout It Out, Struke and Dean have been developing a sound which could be described as Replacements-esque power-pop combined with art punk angularity and innovation. However, there has yet to be a solid document of this sound available, and my biggest hope for the Blackbirds musically is that this sound will finally be developed and put out on record. The evening concluded with one-time Pykon drummer Dan Croke joining Struke and Dean on stage for a version of "Out of Focus," a fan favorite from that band. The Blackbirds' future looks bright. (Photo by Elise Zanetti)